HARWICH — The need to expand services at the community center and cultural center was a clear message sent by selectmen Monday night to Town Administrator Christopher Clark and staff. The message comes on the heels of a few parents urging selectmen a couple of weeks ago to open the community center on Sundays and holidays for their children. The message certainly had the ear of selectmen. On Monday night board...

HARWICH — Selectmen on Monday night rejected a charge by former board member Linda Cebula that they violated the Open Meeting Law last month. Cebula alleged the board violated the law by its agenda for the Nov. 13 meeting lacking “specificity” and a posting error for the board's interview/nomination subcommittee on Nov. 16. In the instance of the Nov. 13 meeting, Cebula stated selectmen provided “no indicat...

HARWICH — The appeals board has upheld Building Commissioner Raymond Chesley's issuance of a cease and desist order halting a commercial sand mining operation in a pit off Jay Z Drive. The board also took the position that it has no legal basis to deny the use of Jay Z Drive by commercial vehicles accessing the pit. The rulings essentially allow trucks to access the pit but prohibits its operation unless a new...

HARWICH — For the last decade, visitors to the Harwich Historical Society’s Brooks Academy Museum could climb the stairs and explore a model railroad display depicting Harwich in the first half of the 20th century. But in a couple of weeks, the display will be dismantled to make way for new exhibits. The circular layout depicts scenes from Harwich...

HARWICH ─ The Monomoy girls basketball team was back on the court Dec. 1 prepping for the official start of their 2017-2018 season with an unofficial but still important scrimmage against Mt. Everett as they look toward a solid future during a year of rebuilding. Admittedly, said head coach Pete Richer, the team is young in comparison to previous seasons, with just one senior on board. “Maddie Leonard is ...

ORLEANS ─ While local high school athletes are busily preparing for the opening games in their respective winter seasons, local athletes laced up running shoes and donned clever costumes in celebration of the annual Santa Stampede in Orleans on Dec. 2. The 2017 event was well-attended and featured folks in all manner of attire that included everything from Santas (naturally) to Christmas trees, nutcrackers, ...

  Everywhere you look in Second Glance Thrift Boutique in West Harwich you see beautifully-decorated Christmas trees – large and small, white and green. Support Helping Neighbors Women’s clothes in red, green and black, suitable for any holiday gathering you might be planning to attend, are hanging nearb...

AOC Helps With Bell-weather Recovery Editor: I have had the good fortune to lead one of the quirkiest clubs available in any high school for well over a decade. The Monomoy Ringers are a wonderful group of students who volunteer their time and talent to perform handbells throughout the community. Because we are not a regular part of the music department we rely on donations and grants to help us cover our e...

Last month I introduced the topic of the monuments that populate our town, promising to explore them in future Discovering Harwich columns, focusing on the people memorialized there, when and why their monuments were created, and what their message might be for Harwich today. In this second column I will share the information I have gleaned about the memorials that are somewhat inaccurately self-identified as ...

Anyone can rent a room in their home, but while its not unusual for seniors to do so as a way to supplement their income, provide in-home personal care or just companionship, it's not the ideal solution for most young people who want a place of their own. It's debatable whether separate apartments in single-family homes would be more ideal, but the idea of allowing additional units within existing houses as a way...

Dorothy W. Fehrle               CHATHAM -- Dorothy W. Fehrle, 94, passed away on Friday December 1, 2017. She was the wife of Karl Fehrle. She was born on December 23, 1922, the daughter of the late Herman and Emma (Anger) Wolff. Services will be private.  

A new, affordable preventive dental care program sponsored by the Chatham Health Department will be held on four Thursdays through March in the community center. “Since we have so many elders and a lot of working people who may not have health care or dental insurance here in Chatham, we saw a need,” says Judith Giorgio, the town’s health agent. “We’re really excited to be able to offer this program.” The f...

You could do a whole December’s worth of shopping with one stop at the Orleans Farmers Market in the cafeteria of Nauset Regional Middle School on a Saturday morning. And everything you’d carry out is locally sourced and perhaps even benefits a charity. If December shopping isn’t for you, this market will continue every Saturday through the end of April. Then it returns to its outdoor venue at Depot Square. ...

ORLEANS — What services are as basic to residents as the sea breezes they inhale just by living here? Which are the ones they should pay for each time they use them? Selectmen spent an evening Nov. 28 delving into the old question of which town services should be supported by all taxpayers and which by user fees, searching for a combination that would take the pressure off an annual operating budget that can...

ORLEANS — You'd hardly have known from the selectmen's discussion last week on raising revenues that a revenue committee created by town meeting spent many months looking at that very question. The committee had its differences with the board, and even with town meeting, which approved some of its initiatives and passed by others. John Laurino, chair of the now-defunct committee, watched the Nov. 28 selectme...