HARWICH — The 69-article annual town meeting warrant is expected to ignite some fireworks on Monday night with such controversial topics as funding for a pet crematorium and sewer infrastructure in East Harwich. There are other topics that certainly will draw debate, including using a $1 million grant to offset the cost of the Saquatucket Harbor landside project; a $6.7 million East Harwich fire station replac...

HARWICH — The low bid for the reconstruction of the East Harwich fire station came in $700,000 more than the estimate projected by the project architects Kaestle Boos Associates, Inc. Selectmen on Monday night voted to support the $6,750,000 project to be placed before voters in the annual town meeting. Fire Chief Norman Clarke apologized for the early estimate provided the East Harwich station #2 rehabilitati...

To read the 2018 Harwich Annual Town Meeting warrant, click here .

HARWICH – A stronger response is needed to the nation's opioid crisis, beginning with legislation that will target the hardest-hit communities, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren told an audience of over 200 Saturday. “One hundred and fifteen people die every day,” Warren told the group in the auditorium of the Cape Cod Regional Technical High School. She said that those deaths are the equivalent of an airplane crash ...

HARWICH — Like spring flowers, arts and culture are blossoming in Harwich. The seed that was planted a year ago when selectmen approved the use of the former middle school for a cultural center is blooming. This weekend will be the start of ArtWeek, a statewide celebration of the arts in the commonwealth, and Harwich will be center stage with demonstrations, performances and exhibits. But that is just one peta...

HARWICH — The water commission will hold a public hearing May 4 on proposals to change to quarterly billing and adjust the rate structure to reflect four billing cycles. The commission supported the changes after weighing a peer review analysis and fee rate study. “The dollar value of the rates stay the same,” said Water Department Superintendent Daniel Pelletier, but the per gallon tier use numbers will be ad...

HARWICH — Opponents of the proposal to build a pet crematorium adjacent to the pet burial ground on Queen Anne Road stood before selectmen Monday night requesting that the town meeting article seeking $577,950 to build the facility be withdrawn from the warrant. The statements presented to the board related to government competing with private enterprise and the use of taxes to build the facility when the town...

If you've taken a stroll through your favorite conservation area lately, you might notice something other than buds on the bushes and birds in the trees. Local forests are littered with trees that were downed by the series of coastal storms that battered the area last month. And that means fuel for forest fires. There were several small brush fires around Cape Cod early this week, thanks to dry conditions and ...

HARWICH — Saturday's first World Fish Migration Day drew a lot of interest in the herring that migrate to headwaters ponds to spawn. But the fish were not as plentiful at the run as the people who came to observe the them. The event was sponsored by the Barnstable County Cape Cod Cooperative Extension, state Division of Marine Fisheries, Harwich Conservation Trust and the Harwich Natural Resources Department a...

HARWICH — As voters head into town meeting next week to act on funding phase two of the comprehensive wastewater management plan, town officials and their consultants last Thursday night sought to answer outstanding questions on the minds of residents. At a cost of $24.7 million, phase two would sewer 640 properties in a portion of the Pleasant Bay Watershed and fund 90 percent of a pumping station that would ...

HARWICH – After more than six months sailing the high seas, the Swain family is safely back in their home on the shores of Long Pond, returning to the routines of work, school and the daily life of landlubbers. While the family – dad Steve, mom Sarah, and kids Lucy, Jessie and Stanley – are happy to see their relatives, friends and two rescue dogs Mayday and Turtle, there's a bit of a wistful longing for the o...

WEST HARWICH — A lot of activity will be taking place around the town's herring run, but the cold spring weather has slowed the migration of the anadromous fish moving into headwater ponds to spawn. “It's been slow and the last week has been very cold, but we're starting to see them in small numbers,” Brad C. Chase, a diadromous fish biologist with the state Division of Marine Fisheries, said on Friday. “The C...