HARWICH — The community preservation committee voted last week to recommend that voters support two major funding projects for historic preservation and open space at the annual town meeting in May. The committee is endorsing funding for the Brooks Academy foundation and basement addition project and funds to assist the Harwich Conservation Trust with the purchase of the 31-acre Jenkins bogs property. The C...

HARWICH — Town Administrator Joseph Powers has entered into a new contract agreement with the board of selectmen that extends his tenure for more than three years. Powers has been serving as interim town administrator for a little more than a year. Last August, after interviewing four finalists for the town administrator’s position, selectmen were unable to obtain the super-majority vote required by the town c...

HARWICH – Educators at the Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School are eagerly exploring ways to use a recent gift of photographs, many depicting iconic moments from the civil rights movement. In one photo, the leaders and organizers of the August 1963 March on Washington sit at the feet of the sculpture of Abraham Lincoln in his memorial; in another Marlon Brando stands with his arm slung over James Baldwin’s shou...

HARWICH — Allen Harbor Marine Service is seeking permits to locate a 4,000-square-foot marine repair and maintenance facility on the lot just east of Villa Roma restaurant on Route 28 in West Harwich. The board of appeals approved a variance for the building in December. Owner Craig LeBlanc of Cool Change, LLC was before the planning board last week seeking a site plan review special permit and use special per...

HARWICH — The pandemic has hit the performing arts hard. With the ability to put on shows and classes now limited, the Cape Cod Theatre Company/Harwich Junior Theatre revenues were down by $475,000 last year. “We have to re-invent ourselves,” said Rob Zapple, a member of the theater's board of directors and a longtime guest director. It became clear alternative space was needed to accomplish that goal, he said...

NORTH EASTHAM – There was little margin for error for the Nauset Regional High School girls’ basketball team during Saturday’s matchup against Falmouth. The Warriors were without senior forward Korin Mereste, a key contributor on the post who’s battled an ongoing ankle injury the past couple weeks. In her absence, Nauset’s other three seniors, co-captains Avery Burns, Makayla Hutchinson and Ashley Ross, answer...

It’s beginning to look at lot like…spring football season? Well, we’re not quite there yet, but the Massachusetts high school football season is right around the corner. On Friday, the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association Board of Directors unanimously approved football as one of the sports that can be played during the Fall II season, which is set to take place between Feb. 22 and April 25. T...

Amy Hinesley wants to leave Monomoy Regional High School in better shape than she found it. The senior from Chatham has made a concentrated effort to make a positive impact on her school and she’s fully immersed herself in the high school experience — excelling not only in academics, but musical theater, band and athletics, too. And then there’s the laundry list of extracurricular activities Hinesley has be...

When you find something you like, you stick with it. That may be part of the rationale behind “The Ivan Variations,” a new full-length album by the Chandler Travis Philharmonic which consists of not one, not two, not nine, but 12 distinct versions of the same song. Now I know what you're thinking. Who wants to listen to the same song over and over 12 times? You do. Because this is not your average everyday album...

It’s not lost on us that, exactly a year after Massachusetts recorded its first case of COVID-19, we’re already making a vaccine available to members of the public. That’s a truly remarkable achievement, and in that light, it’s reasonable for public health officials to ask us to be patient as vaccine production and distribution are ramped up. Still, our patience is running thin. It’s well known that, demogr...

He was one of the last of the old Chathamites, witness to and participant in the town's 20 th century growth from a sleepy fishing village into a vibrant summer resort community. Last week we said goodbye to Benjamin K. Goodspeed, whose mild manner and good cheer permeated almost every aspect of Chatham life. There aren't many left who remember Chatham in the Great Depression and World War II, or who actually...

A 'Right Size' Nauset High Needed Editor: The Nauset Regional School Committee (NRSC) continues to mislead voters on the factors that are driving up the cost of the proposed high school reconstruction. The NRSC told the Brewster Finance Committee that the 290 School Choice pupils at Nauset in FY 2020 did not cost Nauset taxpayers anything. This is false and insults our intelligence. Nauset received less ...

Since the start of the pandemic, and even today, there’s been conflicting information about which face masks are best to use. Some advocate high-filtration N95 masks, while others swear by cotton masks or gaiters. And last week, Dr. Anthony Fauci advocated doubling up on masks for additional protection. The only thing that’s not in dispute is that wearing face coverings remains absolutely essential in the fight a...

ORLEANS — The select board and finance committee were set to meet with members of the Nauset Regional School Committee last night (Feb. 3) about the high school building project. In just under two months, voters in the four member towns will be asked in a district-wide election to approve the $132 million effort, for which $36 million in state reimbursement is anticipated. In the weeks before the March 30 el...

ORLEANS — With 53 miles of shoreline, you would think there’s enough for everyone to enjoy in this town. Yet some stretches are more convenient than others, some to the point of inconvenience to the property owners whose land abuts heavily-used town conservation or conservation trust property. Sometimes the overuse gets to be too much even for longtime Cape Codders who are happy to share their shore front, a...

ORLEANS — The charter review committee, which is examining the town’s organizing document for possible changes, heard from a citizen at its meeting Feb. 2. That’s news. Rick Francolini was the first ever to take advantage of the public comment opportunity the committee’s offered at its semi-monthly sessions. “You’re kidding,” he said. “I’m glad to be the first. I hope I’m not the last.” So does the commit...