CHATHAM — Some matters coming before the board of selectmen are muddy, but not the proposal to rename Muddy Creek as “Monomoy River.” Board members summarily dismissed the idea Tuesday. The proposal came from Chatham resident George Olmsted, who argued that the name “Muddy Creek” is a poor description for the estuary, which has better water quality and clarity since the installation of the Route 28 bridge. C...

CHATHAM — For 17-year-old Caroline Verrilli, a Chatham lifeguard who sometimes works at the Oyster Pond, it's fun to gaze out on people waterskiing or tubing far beyond the swim area. “But when they fall off, I worry,” she said. And Verrilli, whose family summers on Cape Cod each year, has good reason to worry. Not only could she be pressed into service for such an emergency, but she knows what it feels l...

CHATHAM — In the past year, several town committee meetings have spawned heated debate; one prompted the chairman to call police, and in another, a shouting match devolved into a brief fistfight. In response, it might be time for board and committee chairmen to come together for training on how to encourage proper decorum in meetings. That was the perspective of selectmen, who discussed meeting decorum Tuesd...

CHATHAM – Again, one of the Sharks in the Park – now the Sharks on the Lawn of the Eldredge Public Library – has been stolen, just two weeks before an online auction of the artwork is slated to end. The Chatham Real Estate's shark was painted by artist Heather Labbe. Another shark painted by Labbee, sponsored by Minglewood Homes, was taken from Kate Gould Park in June but found in a nearby parking lot. The ...

PROVINCETOWN — Imagine the days when great nations relied on brute naval force – big guns on big ships – to stake their economic claims. Actually, in places like the South China Sea, it still happens today. Late last month, a replica of the 17 th century Swedish armed merchant ship Kalmar Nyckel visited Provincetown, taking passengers aboard for a sail and a history lesson. Actually built by the Dutch in ar...

CHATHAM – Last year, a total of 2,415 recreational shellfish permits were issued to residents, nonresidents and seniors. The permit sales generated nearly $120,000 in revenue, but the amount of shellfish harvested by those folks is a big question mark. While commercial shellfishermen are mandated to report their catch by state law, recreational shellfishers reporting is voluntary. “Some people are very dili...

HARWICH — The fish were flapping onto the deck of the Division of Marine Fisheries vessel from the new artificial fish reef constructed 2.8 miles outside Saquatucket Harbor last Thursday as state officials took a measurement of the success of the benthic structure built to create new fish habitat. “I'm very impressed, it's verification of it working,” Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Matthew Beato...

EAST HARWICH — The 3.3 acre parcel on Route 39 to the west of Harwich East Plaza has been sold to Eastward MBT, LLC, Trustee of Eastward Homes Business Trust of Chatham. The purchase ties this parcel together with a 7.4-acre parcel also owned by Eastward Homes, which extends to Route 137. A year ago, Agway of Cape Cod had a purchase and sales agreement on this property and was planning to build a 9,932-square-...

HARWICH — Brooks Free Library is open again to the public after two weeks of the main library being closed due to a failed electrical component that darkened the building and shut down its emergency lighting system. The cause for the failure in the transistor inverter board is still not clear, but the town has had to shell out $10,582 for a new unit and for installation. This is the second time in less than a ...

HARWICH — The Harwich Conservation Trust took time in its annual meeting to honor The Compact of Cape Cod Conservation Trusts as the organization's Conservationist of the Year. HCT also honored the local Tour de Trash organizers as Volunteer Group of the Year. HCT held its 28 th annual meeting at the Wequassett Resort and Golf Club on Aug. 1 and as part of that gathering the trust announced a $125,000 pledge ...

HARWICH — Approximately 25 non-resident taxpayers attended the annual session with selectmen Monday night receiving a number of positive reports from department heads and a citizen's presentation on the successful re-nourishment of Grey Neck Beach. There were a few questions relating to plans for improvement to Saquatucket Harbor. Harbormaster John Rendon updated the group citing 25 cases of marine assistance ...

Joshua Dykens, 23, was taking a semester off from Cape Cod Community College (CCCC), working in a West Chatham gas station, when he had an epiphany. “By the summer I realized I didn’t want to be doing this for the rest of my life, the next 40 years,” Dykens said during a recent interview in the West Chatham Dunkin’ Donuts. Up until then Dykens, a personable young man with infectious enthusiasm and drive, ha...

Chatham resident Elizabeth Rudnick Hessler recently published a new novel, “Pete's Dragon: The Lost Years,” a kind of prequel to Disney's 2016 remake of “Pete's Dragon,” which will be released in theaters, including the Chatham Orpheum Theater, this Friday. On Saturday, Aug. 13, Hessler will be at the Orpheum at 6 p.m. to sign copies of the new novel. We recently spoke with the author at the Lazy Lobster, whic...

It has been a difficult time for Brooks Free Library, the municipal library in Harwich Center, with technical problems that have nearly crippled the institution over the past couple of weeks. With failed lighting circuits, the library has had to shut off access to the building at a time of year when that library is the center of this community, serving more patrons that other libraries of similar size on the Cape...

Democracy Means Working Together Editor: Nestled in the Kansas prairie sits a small land grant college older than the state itself, a Methodist institution named Baker University. In its ivy-covered buildings, I learned that democracy required me to study, research and interact with others. At Baker, John Dewey’s Democracy and Education followed the Father, Son and Holy Ghost in importance. "Democrac...

James C. Spence Jr., 91               HARWICH PORT - James C. Spence passed away on Thursday, July 28, 2016, at Cape Cod Hospital following a major stroke.             He was the husband of the late Doris Anderson Spence, who passed away in 2012. Jim was born in Chicago, Ill., on Aug. 10, 1924. The son of Miriam and James C. Spence Sr., he spent his childhood in Chicago along with his sisters, Nancy a...