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💔 Daughters Honor Parents Lost to Ice

💔 Daughters Honor Parents Lost to Ice

Plus: 28-year-old buys beloved Grumpy's

Cape Coddah
February 20, 2026

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Good morning Cape Cod. We've officially hit that point in February where winter feels like it's been going on for approximately 17 months and spring still feels like a distant rumor someone made up to mess with us.

In this week’s Cape Coddah:

10 acres dividing Brewster
$10K reward after geotube collapse
Events and live music

Let’s get to it.

💔 Daughters Honor Parents Lost to Ice

Kathleen "Kit" Boucher, 71, and Gerard "Jerry" Boucher, 72, died after falling through ice at First Encounter Beach in Eastham on Valentine's Day while walking their rescue dog Casey. Kit's body was recovered; Jerry's had not been located as of February 19.

Their daughters, Katy Boucher and Amy Lawson, established Kit and Jerry's Foundation for Good (kitandjerry.org) to continue their parents' work, including Jerry's plans to buy beds for St. Joseph's House in Hyannis and equipment for the Brazilian Resource Center medical clinic.

The couple, originally from West Hartford, Connecticut, met in tenth grade biology and married in 1975. They moved to Eastham in 2008, where Kit volunteered with IFAW and Jerry rebuilt the Council on Aging deck. Casey, their black lab mix, is staying with family and "doing much better than anticipated." Read more»

📈 Nantucket Cocaine Levels 3x National Average

Eight months of wastewater data show consistently elevated cocaine levels in Nantucket's sewage, with October and December 2025 spikes nearly three times the national average, even as police made several major cocaine busts including the largest in department history.

Other substances like fentanyl, meth, and nicotine remain far below national averages. However, the cocaine metabolite benzoylecgonine (BZE) has mostly stayed near national averages despite high cocaine levels, suggesting dumping events, small-scale disposal, or cocaine consumed with alcohol, which changes metabolism.

Health director Roque Miramontes says the $30,000 annual program provides "near real-time, ground-level information" to behavioral health partners and medical providers. "If this data contributes to even one intervention that saves a life, then it's worth" the cost, he said. Read more»

SPONSORED BY: CAPE SZN

☀️ Find Your Cape Vibe

Whether you're politely declining plans, repping mom life by the water, choosing your side of the Cape, declaring your coastal identity, or making it clear where you're headed, we've got your perfect match.

Lots of designs, one love for Cape Cod. Each sweatshirt and hoodie is soft, cozy, and made for every moment from coffee runs to beach sunsets. Pick the one that speaks to you, or honestly, grab a few, because your Cape wardrobe needs options.

Summer's coming. Make sure you're dressed for it.

🏖️ $8.85M Bought One Season of Sand

Despite an $8.85M sand replenishment project in 2024 that added 300,000 cubic yards of dredged sand to Town Neck Beach, much has washed away after winter storms, leaving a 12-foot crumbling sand cliff separating dunes from the high tide line.

The beach has been sand-starved since the Cape Cod Canal's construction in the early 1900s, when jetties disrupted the natural southward sand flow from Plymouth. Senator Ed Markey called it "an engineering mistake" and "an Army Corps responsibility."

The 2024 work was authorized as a Section 111 Shore Mitigation project—one of only 30 ever authorized since the 1970s. The permanent designation means future federal funding and Army Corps work can address continued erosion without decades of bureaucracy. Read more»

📸 @expressions.gallery |📍Brewster Flats

Tag @thecapecoddah to get your photos in the Coddah!

📋 The 10 Acres Dividing Brewster

Brewster's select board voted to proceed with a feasibility study for housing on 10 acres of the former Cape Cod Sea Camps pond property near Route 137, despite opposition from the Brewster Conservation Trust and residents concerned about water quality.

The town bought the 121-acre Sea Camps properties for $26M in 2021, with comprehensive plans approved in 2024 designating the 10 acres for potential housing with a wastewater treatment facility. Critics say the land, partly in a Zone II protection area for municipal wells, should remain undeveloped for habitat protection, while affordable housing trust members argue there are "no current feasible alternatives."

Select board member Ned Chatelain says treating effluent from existing homes would actually clean up drinking water and two estuaries. The feasibility study will take 12-18 months. Read more»

Harsh winter weather froze harbors, pinning in about 20 commercial fishing vessels in Saquatucket Harbor, prompting Barnstable County to approve $50,000 for private tugboat ice-breaking after state funding requests failed.

LISTEN: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution researchers discovered what may be the earliest preserved whale recording, a humpback whale song captured March 7, 1949, near Bermuda on a Gray Audograph disc.

Chatham's select board reversed its decision to change the July 4 parade route, voting unanimously to keep the traditional Main Street to Crowell Road path rather than turning down Old Harbor Road.

🥞 28-year-old buys beloved Grumpy's

Thomas Holmes, 28, bought Grumpy's breakfast spot on Route 6A in East Dennis at the end of January, promising "absolutely nothing will change", same staff, same menu, no renovations.

Holmes, vice president of strategy and operations at HelloTeam and investor in Shucker's in Woods Hole through Wicket Hospitality, first visited Grumpy's 10 years ago with his now-wife Katelyn as part of her family's Dennis tradition and "completely fell in love with it."

Former owner Jim Manning put the restaurant up for sale last fall for close to $800,000, attracting at least six serious buyers. Holmes didn't purchase the property, which Manning still owns, but sees himself as a steward of Manning's 30-plus-year legacy as other iconic Cape restaurants like Thompson's Clam Bar and Joe Mac's close.
Read more»

Tisbury is considering eliminating its 75-night annual cap on short-term rentals while implementing a 3% community impact fee that could generate hundreds of thousands of dollars.

A 1938 Madaket cottage was demolished without permit despite approval only for addition and renovation, prompting a $1,000 fine on the owners, while Historic District Commission members questioned whether the penalty deters illegal demolitions of historic structures.

New SSA general manager Alex Kryska unveiled an 18-month improvement plan following December's scathing inspector general report on the failed $2M website project.

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🚨 $10K Reward after Geotube Collapse

The Sconset Beach Preservation Fund is offering a $10,000 reward after alleging vandalism caused a partial collapse of erosion-control geotubes along Sconset Bluff, with long, straight cuts found along the fabric bags filled with sand and water.

Former Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis, hired to investigate, concluded the "clean, linear cuts are consistent with a premeditated and willful act of vandalism" likely caused by someone slashing the tubes with a knife, though he has no coastal engineering experience.

The controversial geotubes protect Baxter Road homes from bluff erosion but SBPF has fallen behind on supplying required mitigation sand, possibly accelerating erosion on adjacent beaches. A proposed expansion cleared state environmental review last week but still needs Department of Environmental Protection approval. Police have made little progress identifying suspects. Read more»

👋 Meet: Chucky
🐾 Doberman Pinscher Mix
🎂 4 years old
♀︎ Male
Available to adopt at MSCPA-Cape Cod

FRIDAY - FEBRUARY 20

Firefighter Story time @ Centerville Library | 10
Free Admission @ CC Maritime Museum | 10 AM
Caravan Puppets @ Wellfleet Library | 11 AM
Stone Carving @ Creative Arts Center | 12 PM
Craft Workshop @ Naukabout Brewery | 12 PM
Adaptive Gardening @ Hyannis Country Grdn | 1
K-POP Demon Hunter Trivia @ Naukabout | 3:30
Roller Skating @ CC Challenger Club | 5:30 PM
Wax Trapping Collage @ Cult. Cent. of CC | 6 PM
Outermost Contra @ Wellfleet Pres. Hall | 7 PM
Astronaut Suni Williams @ Marine Bio Lab | 7:30

SATURDAY - FEBRUARY 21

Supporting Momma Club @ S. Dennis Library | 9
Story time @ AWSC | 9 AM
Suncatcher Workshop @ Cult. Cent. of CC | 10
Snowflake Workshop @ Sandwich Glass | 10 AM
Polar Plunge @ W. Dennis Beach | 10:30 AM
Ukulele Story time @ Wellfleet Library | 11 AM
Author Craig Thomas @ Riverview School | 11
Music Production 101 @ Hyannis Library | 12 PM
Comedian Paul D’Angelo @ Sea Crest Resort | 7
Comedy Night @ Flying Bridge Restaurant | 8 PM

SUNDAY - FEBRUARY 22

Fiber Arts Circle @ Wellfleet Library | 11 AM
Majong @ Dennis Library | 12:30 PM
Auditions @ Cape Rep Theatre | 1 PM
Invasive Species @ CC Msm. Nat. History | 1 PM

SUNDAY - FEBRUARY 22

Ric Allendorf @ Love Farms | 1 PM
Piano Recital @ CC MOA | 4 PM
Tim Ray Trio @ Highfield Hall | 4 PM
Rose Clancy @ Chatham Squire | 5 PM
Jim Nosler @ Margaritaville | 7 PM

_{Nothing in this section is sponsored. We'll let you know when something's sponsored.}

Friday

40 🌡️ 33 | ❄️ | 💧 80% | 💨 ESE 13 mph

Saturday

36 🌡️ 26 | ☁️ | 💧 42% | 💨 N 9 mph

Sunday

37🌡️ 33 | ☁️ | 💧 14% | 💨 ENE 14 mph

💧🌡️ Water temperature = 33ºF

55 Louis Street, Barnstable
Asking $599,000
4 🛏️
2 🛁
1,548 sqft
4,792 sqft lot

_{Nothing in this section is sponsored. We'll always let you know when something's sponsored.}

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