HARWICH — Selectmen on Monday night approved a charge for an ad hoc parking committee that will examine municipal parking problems in town which are impacting public ways. The absence of public parking in the Harwich Port village was the impetus behind forming the committee, but it will look at issues town wide. “It's not an egregious problem all year long,” said Selectman Donald Howell, who drafted the cha...

HARWICH — Council on Aging Director Judi Wilson will have been on the job for just over a year when she leaves in mid-September to return to her former position as COA Director in the Orleans. Wilson tendered her letter of resignation to Town Administrator Christopher Clark on Aug. 10. Wilson took the position in Harwich last Sept. 5, replacing Barbara Anne Foley, who served as director for 18 years. “After...

HARWICH — Historic district and historical commission members expressed disappointment over the demolition of an 1860-era structure on Forest Street, which commissioners said went well beyond the scope of work originally identified in the notice of intent application. “I was very disappointed when I saw the house was completely demolished,” HDHC Chair Mary Maslowski said last week during a follow up hearing be...

CHATHAM – On a balmy summer afternoon, Paul Galop sat on the front porch of his home doing a little Sudoku in his favorite rocker, another Cape League summer in the books, Galop's last as commissioner. Though his retirement from the League approaches, don't expect Galop to take up a more permanent place in that rocker. He's got bigger plans, although baseball will always be a part of his life. Galop first beca...

The ball fields are largely silent and the crowds have all gone home, but the 2018 season of the Cape Cod Baseball League still echoes on with the release of this year's All League Team. The full list was announced last week, with a number of familiar players making the annual roster. Chris Thoms, the official statistician for the Cape League, worked with interns Bobby Greeley and James Palazesi to pore over t...

It's a warm summer evening at the Martin Vanderhof New York home. Martin is the patriarch of a warm and welcoming extended family whose dinners begin with a prayer of Thanksgiving: "We all have our health and leave the rest to you!" "You Can't Take It With You," George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart's three-act comedy, makes for a sizzling conclusion to the Monomoy Theatre's 83rd summer season. Guest Director Mic...

CHATHAM — Local author Elizabeth Rudnick Hessler has novelized countless films for Disney, one of the world’s largest entertainment conglomerates, including recent live-action remakes such as 2015’s “Cinderella” and 2017’s “Beauty and the Beast.” Hessler’s latest Disney adaptation is of “Christopher Robin,” a film released in early August featuring classic characters such as Winnie the Pooh and Piglet. “I f...

Andrew Singer of Yarmouth has just released his compelling new memoir “China Sings to Me: A Journey into the Middle Kingdom and Myself” (Station Square Media, 2018). Singer, 52, who practices law in Dennis, spent the 1986-1987 college year in China. In 1986 both China and Singer were very different, and one of the great pleasures of this well-written coming-of-age story lies in observing how Singer changes and...

ORLEANS — Thirty-five years ago, Chatham Town Counsel Frank Shealey rose in Barnstable Superior Court to declare that the town “since time immemorial has been a seacoast town. Other than for tourism, fishing is our largest industry. The fishermen have a pier and a mooring...that's all. The restraints were addressed in the bylaw which allows lobster pots to be stored under home occupation with issuance of a spec...

ORLEANS — The old highway department complex on Bay Ridge Lane looks like an estate sale waiting to happen. More than a patina – call it an encrustation – of age has settled in many of the buildings. In one garage, there's a hulking generator that appears to date back to the Model T assembly line. “When they run it in the winter, they have to keep the garage doors open 18 inches,” said Tom Daley, the town's ...

ORLEANS — In its search for the perfect blend of free market encouragement and community character protection, the planning board is rolling out two revised draft zoning bylaw amendments to regulate marijuana establishments. The first addresses all uses, while the second would amend the first to allow cultivation in residential areas. At the board's Aug. 14 public hearing, members agreed by consensus on what...

Donald O. Chapman               HARWICHPORT- Donald O. Chapman, 82, died peacefully on Thursday, August 2, 2018 at Wingate at Brewster Nursing Home. He was the beloved husband of Janebeth (Schaberg) Chapman, with whom he shared nearly 60 years of marriage.             Born on November 5, 1935, in Union, N.J., he was a son of the late Lewis and Jesse Chapman. Donald was a graduate of the University of Mic...

John J. McMahon Jr.                 John J. McMahon Jr., (Mac) 69, a 44 year resident of Chatham passed away at his home of natural causes on July 30, 2018. Born in Hartford, Conn. in 1949, as a child he also spent summers in Old Saybrook, Conn. Proud and loving father of son, Casey J. McMahon and his wife Wesleigh L. McMahon, and son, Andrew J. McMahon and his wife Erika J. McMahon. Loving grandfather to Oliv...

SOUTH CHATHAM — A tiny neighborhood playground, partially completed and left in a state of disrepair for more than a month, could soon be fixed up. In 2015, neighbors successfully lobbied for improvements at the South Chatham Park, located off Judy’s Lane, a 35,246-square-foot parcel that contains a tennis court, a small play area and room for one or two cars. They argued that the playground equipment, a lar...

CHATHAM — The conservation commission voted unanimously last week to issue emergency certification for dredging near the North Inlet to Chatham Harbor. The vote came after a hearing that was contentious at times. Minister’s Point property owner Gerald Milden told the commission that dredging in the harbor is responsible for erosion of his land and other properties. After Milden made a series of heated com...