Joseph Seaver Higgins, 38, of Harwich passed away at Brigham & Women’s Hospital on November 11 th after an 8 month battle with a rare form of stage 4 lung cancer. He was the beloved son of James H. & Frances L. (Kent) Higgins.             Joe was born March 16, 1978 at Cape Cod Hospital and grew up in Orleans. He was very active in Lower Cape Youth Hockey, skating with the in-house program...

CHATHAM – The town's attempt to block a citizens group's lawsuit that seeks to prohibit skydiving at Chatham Municipal Airport has been denied by the state appeals court. “We're disappointed,” said Chairman of Selectmen Jeffrey Dykens. “We've tried to exhaust all legal avenues for dismissal of complaint” in order to avoid prolonged and potentially expensive litigation. Associate Justice Eric Neyman turned d...

When Chet Grocki of Chatham was in high school in the 1950s, he was sometimes called out of class to play Taps at a military funeral. Local men from his town in Connecticut were fighting and dying in the Korean War. As a trumpeter in the Connecticut All-State Band, Chet was in demand for this somber task. “It was the beginning of my awareness of the idea of military service—what it ultimately meant was peop...

CHATHAM – Selectmen voted Tuesday to call a special town meeting for Monday, Jan. 23 at 6:30 p.m. to ask voters if they want to purchase the Eldredge Garage property. A group of residents and business owners have a purchase and sales agreement with the Eldredge family and intend to assist them in getting the property ready for town acquisition, potentially to be used for public parking. The board also voted...

CHATHAM – On Jan. 1, single-use plastic bags will be a thing of the past in Chatham. The board of health, which passed the ban a year ago, issued a reminder last week that it will be implemented on the first day of the new year. “We wanted to let the public and the merchants know it's going into effect Jan. 1,” said Health Agent Judy Giorgio. “We want to make sure they're all prepared.” Health department...

Local voters backed Hillary Clinton in Tuesday's presidential election, sent William Keating back to Congress and elected a first-time candidate to the state senate. Truro Democrat Julian Cyr captured the Cape and Islands Senate seat being vacated by Dan Wolf, defeating Harwich resident Anthony Schiavi. Cyr managed to beat Republican Schiavi in his hometown of Harwich as well as in Orleans, but not in Chatham....

Chatham, Harwich and Orleans will each hold ceremonies marking Veterans Day on Friday, Nov. 11, beginning at 11 a.m. The Chatham ceremony will take place in the community center. In the past the ceremony has been held at the downtown rotary, but after last year's event was held in the community center due to weather, many people said they enjoyed the indoors setting better, said organizer Robert Franz. “Bei...

CHATHAM – When surf is breaking on the Chatham Bar and fishing boats are either on their way out of the harbor or coming back home, the Coast Guard has taken to positioning one of its near-shore lifeboats near the entrance channel. “We have not done this in previous months,” said Station Chatham Senior Chief Corbin Ross. Members of the commercial fleet requested the move, however, due to increased shoaling on ...

CHATHAM – Cape Cod is a great place to teach science. “We use our environment as much as we can,” said Monomoy Middle School seventh grade science teacher Melinda Forist. It's evident from her students' projects that the natural world is not just something they study in books; they do actual water quality testing, conduct energy efficiency audits and conduct experiments in the field designed to help endangered...

HARWICH — Town officials are seeking $550,000 for alum treatments designed to prevent algae blooms in Hinckley's Pond, and they're hoping the community preservation committee will provide the funds. Town Administrator Christopher Clark said he's hopeful that the committee will endorse the request. Two years ago, citing concerns that the pond has no real public access, the committee voted 5-2 not to support a s...

HARWICH — Zoning bylaws are dry and confusing. They set out a vision for the way land can be developed, but it can take decades before any real change happens. And getting public consensus on a common vision can be maddeningly difficult. New Harwich Town Planner Aly Sabatino said the key strategy for crafting good zoning and regulating land use is two-way communication. Town officials need to help ordinary c...

HARWICH — Though the numbers are very preliminary, it could cost between $130 million and $160 million to replace the aging Cape Cod Regional Technical High School with a brand new facility. Superintendent Bob Sanborn delivered the news to the Harwich board of selectmen Monday, and to Chatham selectmen Tuesday. Officials have been warning for years that the project would be a costly one. “I expected it to b...

HARWICH — The husband-and-wife team of Jack Burns and Lynda Brogden-Burns, best known as the animal control officers in Harwich and Brewster, spend their working hours caring for the towns' furry and feathered residents. In their free time, they're focused on their own rambunctious four-and-a-half-year-old. Aiden is a German shepherd who recently won the coveted Performance Award of Merit from the German Sheph...

HARWICH/OSTERVILLE ─ It's been a wild 2016 ride for the Monomoy girls varsity soccer team, whose season came to an end this week when they fell to Sturgis West in the MIAA Div. 4 South first round after defeating Bourne 4-2 in the preliminaries. In spite of the loss, head coach Jenn Peterson was proud of her team's accomplishments. “ To go from never making the tournament to winning a game and gettin...

SCITUATE ─ It wasn't the way the Monomoy field hockey team wanted their season to end, but when the dust settled across the turf at Scituate High on Thursday, the Sailors claimed victory with a 2-1 final score in the MIAA Div. 2 South first round. Monomoy, the 12 th seed in MIAA Div. 2, took an early 1-0 lead against the No. 5 Scituate Sailors on a nice goal from Emma Mawn assisted by Carly Donovan roughly ...

HARWICH ─ The 2016 season of the Monomoy boys soccer team came to a halt on Friday night when the Sharks were stunned by the Millis Mohawks in the preliminary round of the MIAA Div. 4 playoffs, which ended with a final score of 3-1. “We knew they were going to be a tough opponent,” said Monomoy head coach Keith Clark. “Full credit to them. They're very physical and talented. They play in a league against a l...