CHATHAM — Harbormaster Stuart Smith was not showing preferential treatment when he allowed his brother's boat mooring in Ryder's Cove to be used by Selectman Seth Taylor. That's the opinion of Town Counsel Douglas Louison, who investigated the matter at the request of resident George Myers. Louison said Smith was following established practice last May in issuing the third party permit to Taylor, allowing...

HARWICH ─ There are plenty of sharks in the waters off Cape Cod, and then there's the one on Jay Hannon's front lawn. No, it's not real, but it has had many passers-by slowing down for a second look, which suits Hannon just fine. “He loves the attention,” said his wife, Michele. The shark's name is Bruce, based both on the character in “Finding Nemo” and the legendary mechanical beast in “Jaws,” and he's ...

HARWICH — Decoys and bird carving were center stage at the Elmer Crowell barn last week as carvers and collectors came to examine the workshop in which Crowell, considered the father of modern bird carving, conducted his work. “This is so beneficial for the town of Harwich. There is so much history here,” said bird carver Paul Phillips, a West Harwich resident. Phillips has assisted with setting up the new loc...

HARWICH PORT — After three and a half years under the leadership of an interim minister, Pilgrim Congregational Church has hired a full-time pastor, The Rev. Dr. Susan Cartmell. Church leaders carried out a national search, but in the end, didn't have to look very far. An author and scholar, Cartmell is also the wife of the interim minister, the Rev. Peggy O'Connor. “The people in this church have been ju...

HARWICH — The Bell's Neck ring was completed on Friday with a chainsaw-cutting ceremony which removed a wooden barrier along the Cape Cod Rail Trail, creating a passage way to the former Hall property and connecting the loop of public trails around the West Reservoir. The Bell's Neck Conservation Area is one of the town's premiere nature preserves and encompasses a large stretch of the Herring River, which lea...

HARWICH PORT — Two boaters are lucky to be alive after a fishing trip off Allen Harbor went badly awry last Wednesday afternoon. Shortly after 3:30 p.m., a man aboard a 28-foot center console boat radioed the Chatham harbormaster to report an empty inflatable motorized boat south of Allen Harbor. Chatham's 21-foot patrol boat, which was patrolling off Harding's Beach, diverted to the scene. Assistant Harbormas...

CHATHAM ─ The West Division All-Stars were on fire in the 2016 Cape Cod Baseball League All-Star Game on Saturday, but it wasn't from the hot, humid weather. Instead, it was their bats that were blazing as the best of the West defeated the beasts of the East 8-0 at Veterans Field. BJ Myers of the Harwich Mariners took the mound for the East at the start of the annual event, shutting down the first three West...

CHATHAM ─ Don't be fooled by the significant collection of soccer balls tucked around Caroline Kennard's house. While the 10-year-old from Chatham definitely possesses a love of the game, there's another sport she also loves that recently earned her a big win: competitive jump rope. Forget what you remember from your playground days. Competitive jump rope is a sport that takes skipping rope to new heights th...

HARWICH ─ Team Jackal was so close to winning their first Harwich Headhunt since its inception 13 seasons ago, but the team of tourney creators once again missed the mark as a bigger fish once again took the top prize. For Ryan Burke, co-creator of the Headhunt with brother Sean, not winning (again) just means they'll have to keep the tournament around another year, which suits its participants just fine. Th...

There’s nothing like watching a dysfunctional family in crisis to put one’s own problems into perspective. The Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater lures the audience into a world of family secrets in their new musical “Unexpected Joy.” This world-premiere musical brings together some acclaimed talents, and the net result is impressive. The book and lyrics are by Tony Award-nominated playwright Bill Russell...

The aptly named song “Greased Lightnin’” captures the spirit of the Academy of Performing Arts’ production of “Grease,” with its enticing energy emanating from the stage and the natural chemistry apparent between cast members. From the start, “Grease” revved up its engine to break records. It was the longest-running Broadway show of its time, opening in 1971 and running for nine years. It was eve...

Children find magical worlds all the time in literature. Dorothy found hers over the rainbow, Alice fell down a rabbit hole and the Darling children literally flew there. In C.S. Lewis’s “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” (and in the adapted play by Joseph Robinette), four siblings stumble upon the fantasy world of Narnia through the back of a wardrobe. Just as in Oz and Wonderland, there’s an evil queen, ani...

  Try A Little Civility Editor: To well over 6,000 people, the town of Chatham is home, but it is a town and home of a special kind. Chatham is also a state, regional and international destination. Visitors come here from all over the world. Walk down the street and you can hear the tones of England or the lilt of an Irish brogue, and, within a few blocks of the downtown area, it would not be remarkable to...

Reflecting on last week's editorial about the fascination with sharks, especially graphic shark predations on seals, we realize that despite these being examples of nature in action right on our doorstep, there is another factor at work here, a single entity that is the cause of both the proliferation of seals along our coast and the recent arrival of great white sharks. Hillary Clinton. And, through an in-...

Several years ago, I wrote that an entire Chatham summer passed by more quickly than two weeks in January. A number of readers wrote me to agree. Others stopped me on the street to concur. Well, this year, it is quicker than that. Picture if you will a huge rollercoaster. Most of us have spent a number of nervous moments on rollercoasters in our life. Perhaps not lately for some of you, but even now, I still r...