HARWICH — The conservation commission has been at odds with Lothrop Avenue property owners for almost a year over an addition and porch built without the proper permits. In an after-the-fact filing, the commission last week denied the project under the town's wetland protection bylaw, while approving it under the state Wetlands Protection Act. The property at 30/24 Lothrop Avenue is owned by Jeffrey A. King an...

The signs of summer are there to see in every supermarket aisle: specials on hot dogs and hamburgers, soft drinks and the ingredients for s'mores. Like it or not, the July 4 holiday seems to be about food as much as our nation's independence. But one doesn't need to look very far to find hunger on Cape Cod, according to Family Pantry Executive Director Christine Menard. “The face of hunger on the Cape is your ...

EAST HARWICH — The Cape Cod Chronicle and non-profit Pleasant Bay Community Boating have teamed up to provide the public with live, hyper-local weather information, available anytime. As part of the partnership, The Chronicle purchased and installed a weather station at PBCB’s campus in East Harwich and South Orleans.  The sailing and boating program now has access to accurate wind readings and other weather d...

WEST HARWICH — There will be new faces greeting people at the Commodore Inn, but they will not be unfamiliar to many people in the community. Longtime Council on Aging Director Barbara-Anne Foley and her husband John are starting new careers as managers and innkeepers of the 27-room resort. “It's a big step, literally a dream come true,” Barbara-Anne Foley said of the decision to leave her council on aging pos...

HARWICH ─ When Paul “Spanky” Demanche attends Monomoy football games this fall it will be as a fan cheering on his son and not as head coach of the program. On June 22 Demanche signed his official contract to serve as athletic director of Plymouth North High School, ending his tenure in Harwich and beginning a new adventure. Demanche said he first became aware of the job when it was originally posted roughly...

CHATHAM ─ The hill on Crowell Road is always the toughest part of the annual Chatham Harbor Run, but this year it saw more smiling faces crossing the finish line than not. Perhaps it was the ideal weather on Sunday, or the fact that nearly 200 runners earned themselves the bragging rights of having finished a summertime 10K, no easy feat. Ian Nurse was the first overall runner in the event, coming down the c...

HARWICH ─ The forecast threatened rain but runners in the Harwich 5K were undaunted as they took to the streets for the annual event, running into summer in stride. Crossing the finish line first and far ahead of the pack was Sam Thomas of Brewster who posted an impressive time on the 3.34-mile course of 16:18.2, a full two minutes ahead of second-place finisher Andrew Groff of Lancaster, Pa. Emilee Palme...

HARWICH ─ The morning of her first-ever pickleball tournament, Jan Belleville was nervous. After all, it was the first time she'd taken her game to the competitive level. In the end, Belleville had nothing to worry about, ultimately playing toward a medal win in the area's first Women's Intermediate Pickleball Tourney. The event was held June 21 at Brooks Park and featured a host of local athletes competing ...

Most people subscribe to the tenet that it is better to give than to receive. Whether it be a kind gesture to a stranger in need or a contribution of one’s talent, such patronage touches lives and sparks inspiration. It’s a philosophy to which Chef Rock Harper faithfully adheres. Now, with his latest role as chef de cuisine at the Chatham Wine Bar and Restaurant, Harper is seizing a new opportunity to us...

“What good will she be to us?’ says Marilla Cuthbert, who had commissioned a young orphan boy to help her brother on their farm, Green Gables. “We might be some good to her,” responds Matthew, Marilla’s sibling. Anne, the girl they got instead of a boy, has already captivated him just on the short ride back from the train station, as the character did with so many readers of Lucy Maud Montgomery novel “Anne of Gr...

Men are from Mars, women are from Venus. Remember that book? It rang true because as a woman it sure is difficult to really understand men. We think they can be so crass and seem to have a hard time getting past their machismo sometimes, right? (And I’m sure men are just as confused about women.) In the latest Cape Rep play, “Men on Boats,”10 women got a chance to explore both the mystery of testosterone and reen...

Whether you're a Chatham resident, a summer visitor, or a resident of any other Cape Cod town, we've got one last errand for you to do before the big holiday weekend begins. Before the end of the day Friday, we'd like you to consider adding your signature to the town's petition that seeks to reverse the land claim by the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge. Specifically, the petition asks Gov. Charlie Baker ...

Time To Reassess W. Chatham Project Editor: I recently read an article that stated that the Massachusetts State budget will be $400 to $500 million short of what is required when the fiscal year ends on June 30. This opens up the question of how priorities are reviewed to fund the most urgent needs in the state since not all needs can be met. This immediately brings into focus the $4 million-plus West Chat...

I had a visit last week from my favorite centenarian. Juliet Bernstein, who turns 104 next month, dropped by The Chronicle office to give me a copy of a new book, “We The Resilient: Wisdom for America from Women Born Before Suffrage.” The book features profiles of women who are all 97 years of age or older; women, in other words, born before the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution gave women the right to ...

Christine ‘Tina” Clark Spring    Christine (“Tina”) Clark Spring (Christine Clark, MD), 74, grandmother, mother, wife, pediatrician, and good friend, died at her home in San Francisco in hospice care on May 21 from metastatic breast carcinoma.     Dr. Clark was a lifelong summer resident of Chatham and Harwich. The highlight of each year was sailing on Pleasant Bay with her friends and six grandchildren....

This past weekend US Coast Guard officials spent more than four hours scouring the waters off Plymouth looking for a possible person in the water after finding an adrift kayak. While the search was eventually suspended and no missing persons reports filed, indicating that the vessel likely floated free of its mooring, the situation is a powerful reminder that even paddle sports such as kayaking, canoeing, and sta...