In Harwich: Ford And MacAskill When voters go to the polls on Tuesday they will be asked to fill two seats on the board of selectmen. One of those seats is presently held by incumbent Michael MacAskill, who has served for four years. The other two candidates are Thomas Sherry and Stephen Ford. Sherry is familiar to many of the voters in town, having run for the board a year ago and lost by 21 votes to Selectma...

A Vote For The Schools Editor: Harwich voters: Please take the time to cast your vote for school committee candidate Merideth Holden Henderson on Tuesday, May 21. This is a critical time for our town and our Monomoy School District. Our public school systems face so many challenges: balancing state mandates, the individual needs of all students, providing fair and attractive contracts to faculty and staff, ...

It’s the last of the wood fire season. The wood stove season. The months—middle of October, November, December, January, February, March to the middle of April—when we warm our downstairs with the wood stove. Except it is the middle of May. By the time this sees print, to tempt fate, temperatures could zoom in to the 70s. But such is not the case. I sit and write and have, yet again, used paper bags and paper ...

ADUs Will Change Chatham  Editor: A Chatham Town Meeting warrant article that requires a serious look is the planning board’s proposal to allow accessory dwelling units (ADUs) on all residential and business properties. The purpose appears to fit into the 365 committee’s laudable concerns about our demographics, with too few young people able to find jobs or housing. Sadly, this amendment to our zoning byla...

Which holiday generates 11 percent more telephone traffic, is responsible for one quarter of all plant and flower sales and results in the sale of 152 million card sales? Hint: It’s right around the corner. The second Sunday in May is always Mother’s Day, so decreed by President Woodrow Wilson in 1914. Variations of holidays celebrating moms have been going on for, well, forever. Early Egypt feted the goddess ...

Next Monday's town meeting in Chatham promises to be one of the lengthier sessions in recent years, with a 71-article annual warrant and a single-article special town meeting scheduled for Tuesday, May 14. Quite a few of the measures promise to spark discussion, ranging from funding for a new senior center to land acquisition, proposals to ban plastic bottles and Styrofoam containers, and withdrawal of the town f...

A couple of weeks ago I posed a question to folks on my social media network: “What are the 20 most historically significant buildings and locations in the town of Harwich?” Harwich has an historical society, an historic district and historical commission, a handful of addresses listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and at least two facilities specifically dedicated to its history. It has over 70...

There’s a lot of misinformation about Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), which will create more year-round housing by making it easier for homeowners to build and rent out in-law apartments. Let’s clear up a few things: Myth: This is a drastic change to zoning and our neighborhoods, adding density, and overcrowding homes. Reality: ADUs are already allowed under existing zoning and have been for hundreds of ye...

At last year's Massachusetts Municipal Association convention, Harwich received the Kenneth E. Pickard Municipal Innovation Award for its pet cemetery project. But what seemed like a good idea has escalated into a fiasco. The cemetery commission improperly used funds from its revolving account for site work at the 2.25-acre town-owned parcel on Queen Anne Road, including construction of a gazebo. That $70,000 was...

Ban Is The Responsible Thing To Do Editor: I am writing in support of the municipal plastic bottle ban proposed by Sustainable Practices that would prevent the town of Chatham from buying plastic bottled beverages. Each year 35 million plastic bottles are thrown away and only 9 percent of plastic bottles are recycled. At school, I see plastic bottles in the trash can instead of the recycling bin. And though...

“On the road again Just can’t wait to get on the road again Goin’ places that I’ve never been Seein’ things that I may never see again And I can’t wait to get on the road again.”   Willie Nelson wrote and sang “On the Road Again” which won the Grammy for Best Country Song in 1980. The song has become one his most popular recordings. Willie, even at 85, still does lots of touring and spends lots ...

Editor's note: Letters to the editor regarding candidates for the May 21 Harwich town election will be published through our May 9 edition. Letters about the May 16 Chatham town election will be published through the May 2 edition. The deadline for letters to the editor is Monday at noon. End Pet Cemetery Debacle Editor: There is an expression “when in a hole, stop digging.” This expression is quite ap...