HARWICH — The man who has set town property lines, located parcels with limited descriptions and assured town projects are located on municipal property is retiring after 18 years of serving as the town's professional land surveyor. Paul Sweetser spent his last day in the office on Monday. “Retirement will be bittersweet,” Sweetser said on Monday. “I'll really miss all of the people I worked with up here over ...

HARWICH – The Monomoy Sharks gave it everything they had in a freezing cold Thanksgiving Day game against the St. John Paul II Lions, but in the end, in spite of a stellar performance, it was the visitors who came away with a 12-6 win. The game marked the first time the two teams played each other on Thanksgiving Day. In years prior, the Sharks battled the Sacred Heart Saints. But when the Saints weren't able ...

CHATHAM – Cold? What Cold? Frigid temperatures were no match for the hundreds of determined runners and walkers in the 2018 Chatham Turkey Trot, which saw a terrific turnout in spite of wintry weather. Runners began lining up for the traditional and informal Thanksgiving Day race just before its 8 a.m. start, creating a sea of smiling faces from the intersection of Pond Street all the way through the downto...

What happens when you add an element of mystery to shopping – when you never know what you might find? That’s the way it is at Second Glance Thrift Boutique in West Harwich. Every day the merchandise on the floor is a bit different and it’s always seasonal. And with prices so reasonable, you better not hesitate to purchase what you like. The store even accepts credit cards. “If you see it, we say buy it, be...

The most dangerous four-letter word in the digital world is “Send.” “Once you send it, you have no control over it,” Bill Burke of the Cape and Islands District Attorney's Office community outreach program said, during a recent “Parent University” on technology and social media at Monomoy Regional High School. “You can never get it back.” That not only goes for potentially illegal activities like sexting an...

Fortunately, folks in our neck of the woods take climate change and the resulting rise in sea level seriously. Chatham's experience in the past 30 years, since the 1987 break in North Beach, has provided a vision of how rising sea level will impact the shoreline in a number of ways. It's shown how unexpectedly flooding and damage can occur during a storm or even an unusually high tide, as well as the efficacy of ...

Letter Captures Right Spirit Editor: We laud Maria Mazzer’s recent letter "Take Care of Each Other" (Nov. 8). Her articulate response to the fracas that is consuming our nation was poignant and insightful. Her call to action for each of us to harness the power of compassion, kindness, and the words we speak, illuminates a clear pathway that each one of us can chose right now, today. It highlights how impera...

About 20 years ago, on a warm early June day, I was still wearing my neoprene waders. It wasn’t because the waters of Stage Harbor were still too chilly for me while I spent four hours scratching for quahogs. Rather, I figured I could get through enough of the spring before the summer shift over to digging steamers in my bare feet on the flats. Cooler canvas waders were for those who would be digging littlenec...

On Nov. 14, Monomoy Regional High School held its annual Breakfast of Excellence to honor high-achieving students and alumni. This celebratory breakfast featured awards presented to students for outstanding performance on MCAS and to AP Scholar award winners as well as Adams Scholarship winners. Adams Scholarship winners 2018 (students who scored in the top 20 percent of MRHS testers in math, ELA and STE combi...

ORLEANS — This town is known as the business hub of the Lower and Outer Cape, but it's also the human services hub. And that's due in no small part to the business community. With the holidays approaching and the need increasing, the Homeless Prevention Council (HPC) and the Lower Cape Outreach Council (LCOC), both headquartered in Orleans, are working hard to keep Cape Codders from Brewster and Harwich to P...

ORLEANS — They won't have a common plan when they meet with regulators to discuss dredging Nauset Estuary, but the selectmen of Eastham and Orleans will have a common purpose. The boards came together at Eastham's library Nov. 26 to air concerns about the key resource they share, one that Orleans fisherman Bill Amaru called “the prime jewel of the Outer Cape.” But the estuary has lost its sparkle, shoaling u...

CHATHAM — Maybe having a new council on aging at the community center site or near Volunteer Park would have allowed more interaction between seniors and young people. But in the end, selectmen heard arguments from young and old alike that a town-owned parcel off Middle Road would be the best home for a new senior center. The board voted unanimously to pursue plans for a new senior center on a wooded parcel ...

This holiday season you can brighten a local family’s life by contributing to the Chronicle’s 15 th Annual Helping Neighbors Fund drive which aims to raise $60,000 for the Family Pantry of Cape Cod by Christmas. Support Helping Neighbors “The people who we serve are Cape people,” says Christine Menard, ...

CHATHAM — An ad hoc committee has released its vision for the future use of the Eldredge Garage land, and it includes a parking lot, a small wildflower meadow overlooking Mill Pond, public restrooms and a transportation center. Capping a year’s work and 17 meetings, the Eldredge Garage property planning committee presented its recommendations to the board of selectmen Monday. The detailed report will now go ...

CHATHAM — Until about a decade ago, Andrew Fitzgerald, Jr., was known to most of his family and friends only as a loving man with a keen wit, a retired sales engineer, a volunteer at his church and an avid football fan. And way back in his youth, he had been in the United States Coast Guard. What they didn’t know was Mr. Fitzgerald’s role in the greatest small boat rescue in Coast Guard history. He was th...

CHATHAM – Planning board members hope the public will provide feedback on a revised accessory dwelling unit (ADU) zoning bylaw amendment at two upcoming forums. The bylaw is designed to encourage more diverse housing choices by allowing year-round apartments in single-family homes. While the units will not have affordability restrictions, officials say allowing apartments in homes can help families meet the hi...