ORLEANS — The selectmen and town administrator are working on including a wide-ranging discussion about rules for dogs and their owners on the agenda for their July 17 meeting. “We had agreed to get into this after [last year's] dangerous dog hearings,” Selectman Mefford Runyon said at the board's July 3 meeting. “We were talking about soup to nuts, regulations, enforcement.” Earlier, he observed, “Everybody...

CHATHAM – It was another fine and festive Fourth of July as the annual Chatham Parade rolled through town, this year honoring men and women of the United States Military. The Phillips Farm family had one of the first floats in the parade, a powerful piece featuring a copper-painted revolving globe supported by military men and women surrounded by poppies, with veterans waving American flags at the back. Fan...

Thanks to fine summer weather and plenty of patriotism, crowds of holiday revelers attended the annual Independence Day parade in Orleans Thursday. The theme of the July 4 parade was "Orleans Rocks!" And the rockin' procession started at Eldredge Park Way and Route 6A, making its way to Main Street and Route 28 and back to the start. Awards will be given to the top business, non-profit and family floats. Fi...

CHATHAM — While the general contractor has promised to complete the installation of a new observation deck at the fish pier by July 19, as of Tuesday, no construction was visible except for a few laborers methodically working on a small concrete ramp. What was visible was a chaotic scene exacerbated by the construction zone. While an 18-wheeler backed in to unload fish and several refrigerated trucks jockeye...

CHATHAM – Don't look for a food truck downtown during this summer's Mondays on Main music events. In a split vote, the chamber of commerce board of directors voted recently to not submit paperwork the board of selectmen needed to act on a request to allow the Mom and Pops Burgers food truck downtown during the weekly music strolls. The issue will be tabled until after the summer. Chamber President Stephen W...

CHATHAM — Saying it cannot ignore “dysfunction” on the charter review committee or the complaint lodged against one of its members, selectmen will be putting that group under the magnifying glass. Board members Monday resolved to take up discussion on both the complaint lodged against charter committee member Seth Taylor and on the ability of the committee as a whole to carry out its charge. The concerns ...

CHATHAM – When Susan Carroll and Jamie Neithold-Nash set out on a special sojourn in Spain this spring, little did they know a painted rock seen along their trek would sum up their trip perfectly: A Traveler is a human being on a spiritual journey. A Pilgrim is a spiritual being on a human journey. While the pair's shared journey along the Camino Walk had its share of human moments, both Nash and Carroll agree ...

CHATHAM – It's taken nearly three years, but Lindsay and Fred Bierwirth's vision of creating a combined fitness center and co-working space has finally come to fruition. “There were certainly many, many times when we thought this day would never come,” Fred Bierwirth said Monday during a ribbon cutting for the new facility at 323 Orleans Rd. in North Chatham. But even then, with the building's occupancy permit...

It's the official start of summer, and there's no shortage of activities over the coming week, starting off with Fourth of July parades on Thursday. Chatham's parade steps off at 9:30 a.m. at the corner of Main Street and Shore Road, and proceeds down Main Street to Crowell Road, ending at Tip Cart Road. More than 90 floats, groups and vehicles both antique and modern are scheduled to participate, with more mu...

Program Keeps Thousands Of Kids Fed Over School Vacation CHATHAM – Summer on Cape Cod is often synonymous with endless beach days, Americana band concerts, and lobster roll picnics. But, for many children, summer also brings uncertainty and hunger.  “The students who depend upon free and reduced school meals for more than half their daily calories during the school year are at risk for hunger during the s...

CHATHAM – Coming back from a devastating fire was not, shall we say, a smoothie for Emack and Bolio's, but it wasn't exactly a rocky road either. After the building that houses the ice cream shop at 2 Kent Place, just behind the Children's Shop, was destroyed in a blaze last Halloween, a team of builders, tradesmen and contractors kicked into gear to get the structure completely rebuilt and the shop open for b...

SOUTH HARWICH — If he had one wish, 11-year-old Sawyer Nicholson of East Harwich wouldn’t go back in time and erase the accident that left him with severe burns on his feet. His real wish is that you listen to his story and avoid the pain he had to endure. Sawyer was 10 last September when he and his family gathered at the end of Red River Beach to celebrate his grandfather’s 85 th birthday. It was a grand ...

HARWICH — It has been 175 years since the Man with the Branded Hand became a central character in the abolitionist movement on Cape Cod. Harwich resident Captain Jonathan Walker suffered the pain of a branding iron bearing the letters “SS” after been imprisoned under Territory of Florida law as a “slave stealer.” The abolitionist movement had momentum locally in those days, as was well documented with the foun...

HARWICH — The appeals board upheld Building Commissioner Raymond Chesley’s position that the rear fence of Perks Coffee Shop and Beer Garden does not meet the criteria for a structure and thus does not violate sideline setbacks to the abutting Port Restaurant and Bar. The two restaurants, which are separated by that fence, are in the midst of a property line dispute that one member of the board called “petty b...

HARWICH — It took a year, but the proposed mixed-use convenience store with two apartments above was approved this past week for the former Getty gas station site in the middle of Harwich Center. “I’m really happy and excited about this,” Saumil Patel said after the project was approved. “Getting a perfect design the committees and neighbors like has taken some time.” Patel hopes to complete the purchase of...