HARWICH PORT — Painstakingly, one boatload at a time, a contractor has begun to dredge Saquatucket Harbor. The work began last week, and as of Monday morning, two scows filled with silty sand had been removed from the harbor, leaving about 22 loads to go. Working from a barge, crews use a large excavator fitted with a clamshell scoop to remove the dredged material, loading it on special barges. The work is m...

Like communities across the nation, Lower Cape towns are planning their Veterans Day observances Saturday. All of the activities happen at 11 a.m., the 11 th hour of the 11 th day of the 11 th month, when the armistice was signed that ended World War I 99 years ago. In Chatham , the ceremony will take place inside the community center. Participants will include local members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars...

HARWICH — A decade ago town officials pursued an Adams Grant to develop a cultural and historic identity for Harwich Center that would spur economic growth. While that didn't come to fruition, there have been several initiatives over the past couple of decades that have been marginally successful in using town cultural assets to attract tourists. A new program may help realize those earlier visions. The tow...

HARWICH ─ If the electric bill at Monomoy Regional High School has gotten lower recently, folks can thank Aidan Kotoski, a high school junior with a passion for saving energy in the hopes of helping the planet. Through the Earth Club at MRHS, under the tutelage of advisor Sally Angiola and with a grant from the Harwich Garden Club, energy monitors were purchased and installed at several locations around the ...

HARWICH — Affordable and workforce housing has become a major focus of the board of selectmen and the planning board as the town considers establishing a housing trust and hiring a part-time housing coordinator. More than a month ago, selectmen raised the issue of tweaking the town's accessory apartment bylaw to make it easier for homeowners to provide a second housing unit on their property. One concern cente...

Addiction to heroin and other opiates reaches across all socioeconomic boundaries, but a new study claims that young men in the building trades on Cape Cod are five times more likely than others to overdose and die. The findings, presented in a study by the Barnstable County Department of Human Services issued last month, ultimately raises as many questions as it answers. Researchers don't know why, for inst...

HARWICH – At a League of Women Voters of the Cape Cod Area-sponsored lecture about presidential powers Saturday, October 28 at the community center, Dr. Peter Ubertaccio, professor of political science and Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Stonehill College, gave a clear and informative picture of how executive powers were designed and how they have changed since the founding fathers created the constitu...

HARWICH — The Harwich Employees Association is showing its generosity heading into the holiday season by making donations to four local charities. “Every year we allocate a certain amount of funds to charities,” said Wellesley Marsh, the association's president. “This year we chose four charities.” She said the local union has chosen to give $300 each to the Mitten Giving Tree; The Family Pantry of Cape Cod...

HARWICH — Many cases of child sexual abuse go unreported. But when a child or teen does summon the courage to disclose the abuse, they're as likely to turn to a peer as they are to talk to a trusted adult. For that reason, Monomoy Regional High School is partnering with Children's Cove to create a new teen task force to address the problem. “Child sexual abuse affects one in four girls and one in six bo...

HARWICH — The Judah Eldredge property, located in the Six Ponds District in East Harwich, did not receive a recommendation for purchase as open space by the real estate and open space committee again this year. The committee, however, did support the use of $200,000 in Community Preservation Act funds to obtain a conservation restriction on the 15-acre Cornelius Pond property, off Queen Anne Road, which the Ha...

HARWICH — The planning board is in the process of putting more teeth into the Commercial Village Overlay District in Harwich Port, converting what are currently voluntary guidelines into mandatory zoning requirements. Town officials had been of the opinion the overlay district in Harwich Port was a zoning provision with the same legal force as other zoning bylaws, but that understanding was challenged when Cum...

HARWICH — Capital plan requests for next year run nearly $39 millions, driven by implementation of wastewater infrastructure, addressing the need for the East Harwich Fire Station improvements and the resurfacing of Lower County Road. Town Administrator Christopher Clark presented the plan to selectmen Monday night, emphasizing this is the “first crack at what's been submitted.” He said the numbers in the plan...