Author Archives: Richard M. Serkey

Editor’s note: David Lee Delaney, a longtime Plymouth attorney, died on June 12 after battling a rare form of lymphoma. Dave Delaney was a highly respected colleague. Like him, I began practicing law in Plymouth in 1974 and remained here for my entire professional life before retiring 45 years later in 2020. A good real […]

Kudos to Lori Fitzgerald for her courage in confronting ICE agents in North Plymouth and for having the presence of mind to video her encounter with them. North Plymouth is a neighborhood that was settled by immigrants, who were able to set down roots in America because of the benevolence of the Cordage Company, which […]

On May 8, the PI reported that Select Board Chair Dick Quintal misspoke on April 29, when he stated that Southeastern Massachusetts Pine Barrens Alliance (“Southeastern”), together with others, had sued the town in April 2025 to stop construction of a business park on Hedges Pond Road despite having  previously received a “sweetheart” lease on […]

Select Board candidate Scott Vecchi has a serious credibility problem. At a forum on May 1, Mr. Vecchi claimed that a “toxic environment exists at the Plymouth Police Department” and blamed Police Chief Dana Flynn and Town Manager Derek Brindisi for it. The Plymouth Independent has reported Mr. Vecchi worked for more than 25 years […]

I am writing to vigorously object to the character assassination of Zoning Board of Appeals member David Peck by Becca Bankhurst in her letter to the editor following the ZBA vote on the Cedarville commercial development on Hedges Pond Road. Mr. Peck works hard to measure every case that comes before him against the requirements […]

A recent writer to the Plymouth Independent claimed that “town officials and their pro-development appointees on town boards and committees keep rubber stamping market rate housing”. That claim overlooks the fact that in many cases, rightly or wrongly, state law limits the ability of towns to deny permits to applicants whose projects meet the requirements […]

In April 2024, the town entered into a purchase and sale agreement with the purported owners of property on White Horse Beach to acquire it in order to demolish the longstanding former Full Sail bar. The agreement was contingent upon Town Meeting approval of $655,000 for the land and $220,000 for the cost of demolition. […]

I am writing to once again urge the town to take action to remove the [former] Bert’s Restaurant eyesore: The time for further negotiations with the owners of this property has long since passed. Nothing concentrates the mind better than the adoption of an action agenda and the commitment to carry it out in a […]

I did not attend the North Plymouth Steering Committee meeting at which a proposal to construct multifamily residential housing at Benny’s Plaza was discussed, but the PI article about the meeting reported that the proponents’ presentation got a raucous and obscenity-laden response from many of those present. I am vicariously embarrassed for the Town of […]

I have great sympathy for the injustices visited upon the Wampanoag Nation, but I’m nevertheless opposed, for several reasons, to reciting a proposed “land acknowledgement statement” at the commencement of all municipal meetings. First of all, the proposed statement is, in my opinion, based on the implicit premise that all non-Wampanoags are, in some way, […]