Help For Successful Launch Editor: The villages of Brewster, Chatham, Harwich and Orleans have a heart for giving. So does Hyannis! Protect Our Past, the newly formed not-for-profit organization which is focused on changing the tide of the current trend of losing historic properties, was at the receiving end of such generosity. I want to publicly thank the following businesses that gave selflessly for the r...

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 805 lung injury cases related to e-cigarettes and vaping have been reported in 46 states—including Massachusetts—and one U.S. territory. Twelve deaths have been confirmed. Vaping products containing THC appear to have played a role in most cases, but no single product or chemical links all of the cases. Last week's declaration by Governor Charlie of a...

“Everything’s up to date in Kansas City They’ve gone about as far as they can go.” Oscar Hammerstein I am often asked how I find subjects for my Cape Cod Chronicle articles. My answer is that sometimes ideas just come to me as I am walking and sometimes they evolve from events in my life. This article comes from the latter. We all drive cars today that are literally filled with hundreds of computers a...

A Community That Paints Together... Editor: On behalf of the Guild of Harwich Artists, thank you (again) Harwich for supporting our “for art and community” mission. Saturday, during the Harwich Cranberry Festival, the Guild hosted our annual “Make-It-Take-It” event at the community center. Like our spring “Mystery Painting Puzzle,” the MITI engages the community with a hands-on painting experience. Upwards ...

Observers of town government, or probably any level of government, will know that there’s a familiar pattern that plays out day after day, year after year. A crisis happens or a problem arises, and elected officials and town staff work to find a solution. If there’s anything worse than reactive governance, it’s probably government that’s not reactive at all. Still, when town officials explore really creative, ...

Airport Plan Threat To Town Editor: Believing that my home-seeking-and-buying experience is representative of some other Chatham homeowners, I am writing to express great dismay at the intentions of the airport commission to carry out a master plan of extensive expansion that will create safety risks and negatively affect quality of life. After several years of considering numerous coastal towns and looking...

Harwich officials made the right move in nominating the section of Route 28 in West Harwich known as Captains' Row to the Cape Cod Commission as a District of Critical Planning Concern. Given the development pressure that is creeping into this area, a DCPC designation can't come too soon. The neighborhood, from the Denis town line to the west bank of the Herring River, contains a dense grouping of well-preserv...

It’s a big boat. Feels like a big boat. Twenty-eight feet and I’m still testing its limits. A couple weeks back, the weather being ideal and the tides right, I was able to take the Chris-Craft out with some friends for the afternoon. After making it over the hump, where low water can be as low as two feet (for a vessel that draws two and a half feet of water) at the bend of the Oyster River, the world opened u...

I first noticed them last spring, soaring tandem over my head, emitting a series of staccato piercing shrieks. As they neared, there was no mistaking the distinctive red glow of their spread tails. Well, lookie lookie at who’s vacationing in Harwich Port this summer. The Harwich Port Red Tail Hawks had arrived. We’d have to duck into the house as one swooped down at breakneck speed to grab its dinner: a vole, ...

Just for the record, Cape Cod was within the projected path of Hurricane Dorian. While it ended up passing far off our coast, it did bring more than two inches of rain and winds of 45 miles per hour to the region. And, for the record, except in early “spaghetti” projections when its possible impact ranged from Louisiana to Tennessee, Hurricane Dorian was never expected to affect Alabama. The aftermath of Pr...

Our Drinking Water Is Safe Editor: I have been a member of Sustainable Practice for nearly two years now and am the leader of the Chatham chapter of the organization. We are making progress across the Cape with respect to our municipal plastic bottle ban initiative; however, through our community outreach efforts, it has become clear to me that many people believe our municipal water is unhealthy to drink. ...

Selectmen Not Doing Their Job Editor: The United States can talk to the Taliban, but our selectmen won’t talk to its own citizens about skydiving. So as you reported last month, it’s off to court again—this time to the state Appeals Court in Boston. Citizens for a Safe Chatham Airport is bolstered by an impressive array of legal expertise for the hearing there. This makes the fifth time court proceedings...