HARWICH — Critical budget items will be the focus of the June 22 annual town meeting. Other articles, especially those likely to generate prolonged discussion, will be postponed. That is, if the town can hold the session on June 22. “I’m still skeptical we’ll have a June annual town meeting,” Selectman Michael MacAskill said last Friday. If the meeting is held, Board of Selectmen Chairman Larry Ballantin...

HARWICH – With the COVID curve far from flattened in the United States, and Massachusetts continuing to see new cases, it came as no surprise when Governor Charlie Baker canceled schools across the state on April 21, but Monomoy Superintendent Dr. Scott Carpenter was ready. “It’s one of those things that on some level I think was a bit of a relief,” he said. “I, personally, went into this thinking it was going...

Shortly after Governor Charlie Baker announced on April 21 that schools across the state would remain closed through the end of the academic year, Monomoy baseball catcher Sean Gould drove to Whitehouse Field, crouched down behind home plate, and held his arm out as if prepping for one more catch. It’s a catch that won’t be coming. On April 24, the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) vote...

For the first time since World War II, there will be no summer baseball in Chatham. In fact, there will be no baseball at any of the Cape’s ballparks until 2021 after the Cape Cod Baseball League officially canceled its 2020 season amid concerns regarding COVID-19. News of the cancellation was announced by the League on April 24 via a statement on their website that reads: “ The Cape Cod Baseball League Execut...

The coronavirus pandemic has created extraordinary conditions that require a response unlike any seen before. With many people out of work and cut off from friends and family, the need for volunteers to meet the demand on food pantries, the need for personal protection gear and services provided by local governments and nonprofits has never been greater. Fortunately, local residents have stepped up and are makin...

“If you’re fond of sand dunes and salty air, Quaint little villages here and there, You’re sure to fall in love with old Cape Cod...” The lyrics are sweet and the sentiment is chowder-thick in the gold record-earning anthem to seaside charm crooned by Patty Page back in 1957. If ever there were an unofficial theme song for the Cape, “Old Cape Cod” is unmistakably the one, adapted into lyrics by Milton Yakus ...

Do you know someone who is going above and beyond in this extraordinary time? Let us know! For the next few weeks we'll be highlighting those who do good deeds in our local communities by selflessly helping their neighbors. Drop us an email at editor@capecodchronicle.com if you know of any good deeds you'd like to see exposed. Snowy Owl Offers Coffee Care Packages Customers of Snowy Own Coffee Roasters c...

Local residents have been extremely generous to organizations providing relief to those in need during the coronavirus crisis. But it's also important to recognize that nonresident homeowners—summer folks—are also helping in a major way, even though they weren't exactly welcomed here when the when the current situation began to unfold. Despite being admonished for leaving places like Boston, New York and New J...

Preparation Is The Best Strategy Editor: I have been told that rather than recommending that people wear masks in grocery stores towns have to mandate their use in supermarkets. Several cities and towns in Massachusetts currently  have such mandates in place.  As I walk around shopping I’m surprised how many people there are that ignore the recommendation to wear a mask. With summer coming I have a great co...

ORLEANS — When it comes to the future of its former operations center on West Road, the Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank “is really not inclined to work with the town to develop an (affordable housing) project long-term before they can get out of it,” Director of Planning and Community Development George Meservey told the affordable housing trust April 21. Options are still on the table, however. Meservey said...

ORLEANS — The town’s affordable housing trust entered “final negotiations” with Cape Abilities to purchase outright a 1.25-acre property at 107 Main St. that could be developed as affordable rental apartments, trust chairman Alan McClennen confirmed last week. The proposed purchase was on the agenda of the board of selectmen, whose approval is required, in an executive session held last night (April 29). At th...

It was a day of heartbreak in the local sports world as the MIAA and the Cape Cod Baseball League each voted to cancel their pending seasons. Following the lead of Governor Charlie Baker, who closed schools for the rest of the school year across the state on April 21, the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association, which oversees high school sports, voted unanimously on April 24 to cancel the spring at...

  I went to go visit my father today. One of those absurdly sunny, clear April days full of green and warmth and lies. In January, when he had gone up to my sister Meg’s place outside Boston until we could get his care sorted out, it hadn’t been bad for a winter day. The whole winter hadn’t been, except for that morning when I had gotten a call at 6 a.m. from the Chatham Police that they had brought Dad home, ...

Joseph Patrick Buckley, Jr., 93, of West Chatham passed away peacefully during an afternoon nap on Monday, April 13th at the CareOne nursing home in Newton, Massachusetts, where he had been staying since February.  Ten days earlier, he had tested positive for coronavirus, but he had not been exhibiting any symptoms from it.     Joe was born October 12, 1926 on Bearse’s Byway ...

Welcomes Airport Scrutiny Editor: Leaders in our community should welcome and expect careful scrutiny of their statements, especially when those statements are made to influence public policy.  Challenging these statements is a public duty for all citizens especially when those statements undermine the operation of our public institutions.  I am proud and grateful to be in a country where free speech is all...