ORLEANS – Three months out from October's special town meeting, the select board still has plenty of work ahead of it in crafting a short-term rental bylaw for voters' consideration. The board has been working with Town Counsel Michael Ford in recent months to craft a bylaw to better regulate the operation of short-term rentals in residential neighborhoods. Of particular concern is the increased commercializat...

ORLEANS – About a week after the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in which 19 students and two teachers were killed, Gussy McKusick came before the select board with a call to action. "I'm here tonight because I'm tired of crying myself to sleep," she said. "I am grieving about what happened in Uvalde, but now I'm frustrated and I'm angry." Encouraging the town to "think globally and act lo...

BREWSTER – Hiring a program administrator was the first goal of the Brewster Housing Production Plan approved by the Select Board June 30, 2017. Three weeks later, the town completed that goal by hiring Jill Scalise as housing coordinator. A self-proclaimed “data person,” Scalise is Cape Cod’s lead contact for administering Regional Community Development Block Grant funding for housing rehabilitation and child...

BREWSTER – The Brewster Fire and Rescue’s ladder truck flew a huge U.S. flag under sunny blue skies, luring hundreds of visitors to Conservation Day at Drummer Boy Park last Saturday. This year’s theme was “Our Water Resources: We Are All Part of the Solution.” “I have lived here for 20 years, and I’ve never experienced anything like this!” said Ellen Wendell. “This is wonderful!” Town Administrator Pete...

Karl Leroy Clark Jr., 93, passed away peacefully on June 28 at Liberty Commons. He could not say enough good things about the treatment and care the staff provided during his stay there. Karl made many new friends at Liberty Commons and was elected the President of the Residents’ Council. Karl was born in Brewster as the eldest child of Karl and Mildred (Dugan). He is predeceased by brothers Willie, Eddie and sis...

Jack E Brown (75) of Harwich, Massachusetts died peacefully surrounded by family on June 24, 2022. Jack leaves behind his wife of 53 years, JoAnne (Saracino) Brown, their children and spouses Jessica (Andrew) Plumridge, David (Cindy) Brown and Matthew Brown, and grandchildren Zoe, Nathaniel, Dylan, Colin and Owen. He is also survived by two sisters, Pamela Rutter and Cindy Frankovich. He was preceded in death by ...

William H. Case, Jr., born February 14, 1945, passed away July 30, 2021.  Will accomplished a lot in his time, teaching many about navigation, boat mechanics, operations, and dealing with people. He was a man of few words, but what he said was enough.  He had an infectious smile and was impressive to watch. However, there was no accomplishment greater than his love and gratitude for Orleans and Pleasant Bay.     ...

CHATHAM – Call it the first post-COVID parade. That seemed to be the sentiment among the thousands who lined the route of Monday's much-anticipated Independence Day procession. Crowds were nearly back to pre-pandemic levels, and there were more than 72 entrants in the parade, not the most ever but an improvement over last year's limited event.   Many of the entries capitalized on the theme of “Chatham:...

Even though Chatham has gone farther than most Cape towns in implementing protections for old buildings, the town is still losing its historic heritage at an alarming rate. Elsewhere on the Cape, the situation is even more dire. The mission of Protect Our Past, a nonprofit group formed in 2019, is to create media that shines a light on the gradual erosion of the region's built environment. It aims to use films...

CHATHAM — Last Thursday, flanked by his family, fellow officers and the department’s past leaders and their families, Michael Anderson took his oath of office and became the town’s chief of police. Even as he paid homage to his predecessors in the department’s 100-year history, Anderson said he is committed to modern policing that is transparent, accountable, empathetic and effective. After having been sworn i...

NORTH CHATHAM — At a time when gun violence seems to be in the headlines almost every day, local schools have been hosting active shooter training and lockdown drills. But a new partnership considers an equally horrifying possibility: a violent intruder at a nursing home. On June 21, Broad Reach Healthcare hosted public safety officials for a “tabletop exercise” exploring how officials would respond to a hypot...

NORTH CHATHAM — When it comes to finding ways to protect swimmers, surfers and boaters from shark encounters, a real-time white shark detection system is the holy grail for public safety officials. While such a system remains elusive, researchers are gaining useful insights that bring them closer to someday achieving that goal. “This is the basic question we’re trying to answer: the when, where and how do whit...

HARWICH – The affordable housing trust is looking at the use of Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) in a public/private partnership as a way to develop affordable housing. In the trust’s June 27 meeting, resident David Bernie and Scot Butcher of Chatham, a tax incentive finance/tax credit service provider, laid out a route to expanding affordable housing stock without development costs to the town. The 1...

HARWICH – The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection is proposing major changes to septic system regulations to address the impacts of nitrogen discharge on surface water quality. The proposed changes would require accelerated nitrogen discharge reductions in 30 watersheds across the Cape, requiring that they be completed within 20 years, half the time previously stipulated. The changes to the re...

HARWICH – Organized by two recent Monomoy High graduates, a protest took place in Brooks Park last Thursday gathered to voice opposition to the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Though boisterous at times, the protest began quietly with a moment of silence for women who have died due to unsafe abortions. The protest was organized by Jade Kennedy and Olivia Prisco, 2022 graduates of Monomoy Regi...