HARWICH — Selectmen continue to wrestle with the cost of permits as the town looks at bringing fees in line with the costs of running the building department. The topic has drawn some interesting debate, and selectmen could not come to a conclusion on increases in fees recommended by Building Commissioner Raymond Chesley. Over the past three weeks selectmen have been debating an increase in building departm...

CHATHAM – Chatham Charlie was a “heart dog,” a special dog out of many beloved dogs, who wiggled his way deep into hearts. For Charlie’s “humans” Paul and Robin Litwin and, it turns out, for an awful lot of other people, the beautiful golden retriever with his huge smile and extraordinary personality made each day a little better. In his capacity as unofficial “ambassador” for the town of Chatham, Charlie lure...

Fred Bennett has been a fisherman for about 60 years and he just stared, perplexed, at a graph supposedly showing a halibut, tagged to track its progress, moving in the water column. He shook his head in consternation and looked at fellow captain Mike Anderson who has spent more than 40 years on the water. How is that possible? Bennett wondered. Anderson was laughing. It’s not, he said – unless the st...

CHATHAM – The central portion of the iconic house at the corner of Shore Road and Seaview Street will be saved from the wrecking ball. Peter Polhemus of Polhemus Savery DaSilva Builders Architects told the historical commission last week that the firm has been working “quite intensely” with owners Ronald and Ann Cami on a design that will incorporate the original 1927-section of the building at 233 Seaview St....

What convinced Angela Sanfilippo, president of the Gloucester Fishermen's Wives Association, that filmmaker David Wittkower could tell the story of the decline of the New England commercial fishing industry was that he wanted to interview fishermen and let them speak in their own voice. “That never happened,” she said. In most stories in the media about the industry, fishermen's words “are always twisted,” she...

CHATHAM – A plastic barrier system is being eyed to protect against flooding and perhaps combat erosion in the Little Beach neighborhood. Last Thursday representatives of Muscle Wall were at Outermost Harbor Marine to demonstrate possible uses of the four-foot-high polyethylene structures, which can be linked together to form a continuous wall. “We refer to it as giant Legos,” said Chaz Housley, general man...

CHATHAM — For many seasonal residents, this is the weekend for cleaning up, packing up and heading south for the winter. But before they go, members of the town’s summer residents’ advisory committee gave their annual report to selectmen Monday, staking out positions on a number of key issues facing the town. Committee Chairman Colette Trailor said her group and its subcommittees received detailed informatio...

CHATHAM — On Aug. 18, the environmental education group Ocean Protection Advocacy Kids, or OPAK, led a small group of ocean advocates on a marsh scavenger hunt through the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge. After getting an introduction from refuge staff, participants set out into the field with a guide. Students learned how to use a seine net for population studies, and how to use water quality testing kits ...

HARWICH — For the past dozen years town hall departments have had their doors open and staff has been working until 8 p.m. on Mondays as an exercise in convenience to working people who may not be able to conduct business on the usual 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. schedule. But that practice will be changing. Beginning in January, town hall will be open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. five days a week. As a tradeoff for provid...

HARWICH — The planning board will be acting on mixed use and site plan review special permits for the former Mill Store property located along Route 28 in West Harwich. The proposal calls for retail use of the existing building and the addition of a three-bay garage with an apartment above. The applicants seeking the special permits are Ty Cronin and John Doherty, who have the property under contract to purcha...

HARWICH — The Conservation Law Foundation has filed federal lawsuits against the Wequassett Inn and Wychmere Beach Club charging the town's two largest resort complexes with illegally discharging pollutants which are impairing the health of local marine waters. “Nitrogen pollution is killing the Cape's beautiful waterways,” Christopher Kilian, vice president of strategic legislation at CLF, said in a statement...

EAST HARWICH — With a splash of champagne on its bow, a 37-foot pontoon boat named the Friend of Pleasant Bay was officially commissioned Saturday afternoon as a floating classroom and research platform. “She’s the belle of the ball,” Pleasant Bay Community Boating President Ted Baylis said. His organization has officially taken ownership of the vessel from the Friends of Pleasant Bay, which purchased it. Th...

CHATHAM – Roughly a year ago Anne Van Vleck became the new chief development officer at the Housing Assistance Corporation on Cape Cod in Hyannis, a job focused primarily on fundraising. But just filing paperwork and making calls wasn't enough for Van Vleck, who saw firsthand the realities of finding affordable housing here, so she decided to take steps, literally, by running the Falmouth Road Race in support of ...

HARWICH – Larry Souza is well aware of the revolving-door situation regarding head coaches and Monomoy football. He's been on the sidelines with three different coaches in as many seasons, which is why, as the program's fifth head coach since its inception, Souza is planning on sticking around for a good while. Football has been in Souza's blood for ages, his passion blooming when he first laced up cleats as a...

Even though it’s the last play of their 34th season, Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater is heating up the stage with “Raging Skillet,” a scorching comedy about cooking, taking chances and family dynamics. Known as a “rebel anti-caterer,” Chef Rossi broke the jello mold from the beginning. Filled with humorous reflections and recipes, her 2015 memoir “The Raging Skillet” was turned into a comedic play by Jacques L...

It is nearly 50 years since George V. Higgins introduced us to Boston’s grubby criminal underworld in “The Friends of Eddie Coyle.” In 2001 Dennis Lehane introduced us to a new generation of criminals and grifters in “Mystic River.” So debut author Matt Fitzpatrick of Chatham, 47, is swimming into a rich literary tradition with his first novel “Crosshairs: A Justin McGee Mystery” (Green Place Books, 2018). ...