CHATHAM – The town is seeking to dismiss the lawsuit filed by Skydive Cape Cod, Inc., seeking $100,000 in damage for the company's inability to operate out of Chatham Airport for the past several years. Expressing concerns about safety, the town declined to renew Skydive Cape Cod's contract in 2013. The town was later ordered by the Federal Aviation Administration to issue a contract for skydive services at th...

CHATHAM – For the first time in its 55-year history, the Chatham Conservation Foundation, the Cape's oldest land trust, has hired a full-time director. Matt Cannon, who previously worked as the Foundation's part-time director of land stewardship, was named the organizations first executive director/land manager at its annual meeting earlier this month. Cannon had also worked part-time for the Harwich Conservat...

CHATHAM – Designs for an 1,800-square-foot building to house the town's shellfish upweller and a gangway and float system along the waterside of town-owned land at 90 Bridge St. will be refined after members of three waterways-related committees agreed that was the best option for use of the property. The upweller will sit on pilings above the water to the east of the property, parallel to the Mitchell River d...

CHATHAM – Liana Johnson stands at the back of her Ocean Port Lane property and points to the trees covering the slope that rises behind her home. Without assurances a buffer zone of trees will remain when that upland property is developed into a 14-lot subdivision, she's worried that her land could be damaged by runoff and erosion. Rain gardens and stormwater bio-retention areas shown on the plan for the proje...

HARWICH — The last time viewers watched fireworks associated with the Harwich Cranberry Festival was a soggy Friday night in September 2008 along Red River Beach. This year, the tradition is being revived through the efforts of the Harwich Chamber of Commerce. “The Harwich Chamber of Commerce is the organizing and coordinating group for this long tradition in partnership with the Harwich Cranberry Festival,...

HARWICH — The town received several competitive bids for the Saquatucket Harbor marine side reconstruction project expected to begin in October. Two of the base bids were within the $7 million appropriation approved in the May for the project. There were seven bids filed with base bids ranging from $6.8 to $9.1 million. There were three alternates also provided in the bid package. The low bidder was BTT Marine...

For years, local youngsters have enjoyed hands-on lessons in biology, climate science and ecology thanks to programs sponsored by the nonprofit Friends of Pleasant Bay. Soon, they'll be getting those lessons out on the bay itself, on a custom-built floating classroom. The 35-foot-long pontoon boat is being designed by South Carolina-based American Pontoon and is expected to be built this fall and winter. If al...

CHATHAM ─ John Schiffner might have moved on from his post as head coach of the Chatham Anglers, but that doesn't mean he's finished with baseball. Instead, he's taking his talents from the sandy shores of Cape Cod to the evergreen hills of Orono, Maine where he will serve as the assistant baseball coach for the UMaine Black Bears. According to Schiffner, he will be working with hitters and infielders, servi...

BREWSTER/ORLEANS ─ It all came down to one run. Unfortunately for the Orleans Firebirds, that run wasn't in their favor during the Cape League playoffs as it lifted the Brewster Whitecaps to a 2-1 victory that put them into the finals and in position to win their first CCBL Championship since 2000. The Firebirds' final game started out in promising fashion with the league-leading home team taking an early...

Writers rule unequivocally, even when feigning writer's block this week at the Monomoy Theater when Neil Simon, Anton Chekhov, and Bernard Cornwell share the story-telling professions in the heart-warming comedy "The Good Doctor." The Monomoy Theater Company transports the audience to a 1910 theater in the Russian countryside where the cast re-enacts 11 of Chekhov's lyrical and laconic short stories. "The G...

 Sadly, the prolific American playwright A. R. Gurney died in June at the age of 86. Elements Theatre Company’s “Sylvia” is a fitting tribute to the man who liked to poke fun at the anxieties and foibles of the upper-middle class. “Sylvia” is an unusual love story. It centers around a stray dog named Sylvia (played by a younger adult female), who chooses her new owner Greg, as he dozes in a New York City park....

Everyone experiences the feeling. Wouldn’t it be nice to be a kid again? Attending the Cape Cod Theatre Company’s production of “Peter Pan and Wendy” brings out the child in all of us. By sheer osmosis, surrounded by that special sound of laughter and joy of children in the audience, you’ll feel the years just melt away. The power of live theater is alive and well at this home of the Harwich Junior Theatre. Pe...

It wasn't surprising to learn that a white shark killed a seal in Chatham Harbor last week. It was bound to happen, since sharks tend to be present where their favorite prey is located, and there are plenty of seals in the harbor. What was a little surprising was the debate that was sparked when we shared photos of the predation on our Twitter and Facebook accounts. The images were bloody and graphic, and were...

Town Deserves Explanation Editor: When vacationing in your lovely town at the beginning of August, I read and watched on TV the discovery of a the body of a young man missing for nine months, found in a decommissioned USCG boat within sight of where he was last seen. I was shocked to see the cold response by the Police Chief of Chatham upon finding their missing person 100 feet from where he disappeared. I ...

Although the bugs were out, the show above was, as usual, thrilling. Windless on the Oyster Pond, its surface like glass – no, molten glass or perhaps liquid chrome – our boat, Tilikum, made a track slowly past the channel buoy. Oddly, a cloud of wood smoke met us there, drifting up from the marshes to the southwest. Before I recognized the smell, I looked at the motor to be sure that the extra oil I put in th...

ORLEANS — Impulse buying took over Main Street Friday and Saturday during the famed Sidewalk Sale. From Snow's to Friend's, prices were trimmed, reduced, and even slashed on everything from pocket flasks ($14.99 down to $10.99 at Snow's) to canna lilies ($14.99 to $9.99 at Snow's). Both sides of Main Street were packed with bargains and bargain-hunters. Nadine Broude of Brewster brought friends from Canada ...