George Bernard Shaw once said, “No man will ever write a better tragedy than ‘Lear.’” Doing justice to Shakespeare’s words is no easy feat. Elements Theatre Company deftly portrays King Lear’s tragic life with spectacular pageantry and suspenseful swordplay befitting the grand ruler. The almost three-hour-long story begins with the aging King Lear of Britain (Brad Lussier) abdicating from his throne. Intending...

CHATHAM – Petite quahogs are off the menu, at least in Massachusetts. The state marine fisheries advisory commission has removed quahogs from a draft regulation that proposed allowing the in-state sale of undersized farm-raised oysters, surf clams and quahogs. Removing so-called “petite” or “gem” quahogs from the proposal was endorsed by Division of Marine Fisheries Director David Pierce and came at the strong...

WEST CHATHAM — Having just raised two of the walls for his new Habitat home, elbow to elbow with volunteers he'd only just met, Jean-Claude Butter said there aren't many words to describe the feeling. “It's a great experience, like seeing the birth of your child,” he said. Butter, his wife and three children came to Chatham from Haiti in 2012 and have been living in rented quarters. The prospect of living in...

CHATHAM – On a recent sunny morning, Harwich summer resident Deborah Cline was walking the loop in Chatham with her husband when she spotted a structure that resembles, from certain angles, a big bird house on a white post on the corner of Main and Water Streets. Intrigued, Cline paused to examine Enlow Free Library, two shelves of free books that tantalize from behind a glass door. Intrigued, Cline pulled out...

CHATHAM – Monomoy Regional School Committee member Amy Middleton is stepping down from the regional education panel. In announcing her resignation this week, Middleton said restrictions placed on school committee members limited her effectiveness as a representative of the community and, perhaps more importantly, as a parent. “It pains me to do it because I really felt like I could make a difference,” she s...

CHATHAM – The shark sculptures on the lawn of the Eldredge Public Library have once again proven too tempting; two were stolen earlier this week, but unlike one taken a few weeks ago, both were recovered. Sharks sponsored by Cape Cod Five and Ducks in the Window were taken down sometime during the night on Sunday or early Monday morning, according to Janice Rogers, who oversees the Sharks in the Park project f...

CHATHAM – The sighting of an injured and bleeding seal, apparently a recent victim of a shark attack, prompted the closure of Lighthouse Beach to swimming on Sunday. The beach was closed for about two hours while harbor patrol and park department staff searched the waters immediately adjacent to the popular beach. Harbormaster Stuart Smith said the seal was later seen along the shore, apparently alive but with...

Twenty-five years ago tomorrow, Hurricane Bob sped across Southeast Massachusetts, causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage and shattering a peaceful Cape Cod summer. Winds gusted to 98 mph in Harwich and 115 mph at Stage Harbor from the Category 3 storm, trashing the boats in area harbors, downing countless trees and leaving more than 300,000 Cape and Islands residents without power. Still, owing ...

CHATHAM — Any recent wet weather aside, the town's water system is being taxed to its limits by this summer's drought. But even more importantly, it's feeling the pressure of increased demand year after year. Last week, selectmen had an update from Water and Sewer Advisory Committee Chairman Larry Sampson, and heard again that the amount of water being pumped from the aquifer is increasing year to year. Board ...

HARWICH — The proposed $7 million Saquatucket Harbor waterside renovation project will be put on hold for a year while the town works through additional permitting issues required by the Army Corps of Engineers. There are two issues the town will need to address. One is the need for additional biological testing of dredge material in the harbor, while the other relates to a 408 permit, requiring the Corps to a...

NORTH HARWICH — Each year, more people visit the Family Pantry's headquarters for help with food, clothing and other necessities. Thanks to generous supporters and a partnership with the Chatham Council on Aging, the Pantry will be taking their work to the streets next month. With donations from the Simon Foundation, the Greater Boston Food Bank and TD Bank, the Pantry has purchased a second-hand refrigerate...

EAST HARWICH — There were two motor vehicle accidents in less than 48 hours last week at one of the worst intersections to travel on Cape Cod, Route 39/ Pleasant Bay Road. One of the accidents was a three-car collision which occurred when a vehicle stopped at the southbound stop sign on Pleasant Bay Road observed a vehicle heading east on Route 39, which stopped to take a left onto Pleasant Bay Road and anothe...

HARWICH — The town's building commissioner over the past two years, David Riquinha, has announced his resignation. Riquinha, who lives in Dartmouth, will be taking a similar position closer to home and family in the town of Wareham. Riquinha said it takes him an hour and 10 minutes to get from Dartmouth to Harwich, and it will only take him 20 minutes to go from Dartmouth to Wareham. The new position he will t...

HARWICH ─ Monomoy jiu jitsu teacher John Herring won't do anything he wouldn't expect his students to do, which is why on Saturday Herring, a brown belt, took to the mats of the Sapateiro Invitational against black belt opponent Matt Arroyo in Herring's first-ever pay-per-view event. Though Herring fell to Arroyo during a transition in which Arroyo seized an opportunity to put him in a choke hold, he learned...

CHATHAM ─ The music has stopped at Veterans Field. While some neighbors of the ballpark might feel a sense of relief, true baseball fans know what the silence means: another summer season of the Chatham Anglers has come to a close. Fans knew it was baseball time when the tunes started playing through the sound system beginning in June, peppered with the announcements of players at bat, the on-field action, h...

HARWICH ─ After a whirlwind summer in which the mantra was pretty much eat, sleep and breathe baseball, the players that comprised the 2016 Harwich Mariners have headed home. Save for a handful of local club team games, Whitehouse Field is quiet, the lights that glowed almost nightly now dimmed. But the whispers of another standout summer still echo in the dugouts, the outfield, and in the countless memories ma...