HARWICH — Cultural districts should serve to develop the character and a story line for their communities, Luis Cotto, of the Massachusetts Cultural Council told stakeholders in Harwich recently. Cotto, the council’s program manager, came to help local officials plan for two cultural districts in town. In two meetings on Thursday, proponents off the districts in Harwich Center and Harwich Port met with Cotto a...

HARWICH — The hope was the town would be treating Hinckley's Pond with alum before the end of the year, but the conservation commission has not acted on the request, absent a response to the proposal from the state's Natural Heritage and Endangered Species (NHES) program. Natural Resources Director Heinz Proft was before the commission in early October seeking the commission's approval for the proposed alum tr...

HARWICH — The storage of lobster pots in the off-season on Cape Cod has become more of a challenge as land becomes developed and locations for such storage are more difficult to find. Ken Weeks has been a lifelong lobster fisherman and he is facing that problem. Weeks was before the conservation commission last week having filed a notice of intent seeking a variance to store up to 800 lobster pots on his prope...

HARWICH — The proponent of a new mixed-use complex on the site of the former gas station in Harwich Center has withdrawn the application from historic district and historical commission review. The proposal for the 4,000-square-foot structure has been before the commission for nearly the past six months. Attorney Howard C. Cahoon told the commission this past week his client, Samuil Patel, has decided to withd...

During his first full day in Churchill, Manitoba, Kevin Clayton saw moose, beluga whales, a wolf and a polar bear. The massive bear was lounging on a beach and wasn't particularly interested in the helicopter hovering nearby. “It was sitting in the wrack line, where I wasn't expecting it,” Clayton said. Over the next week, he got plenty of chances to see polar bears and was even able to observe the release of ...

SOUTH HARWICH — Less than a year in her tenure as the second executive director in the history of WE CAN, Dianne Gauthier has resigned from that post. Gauthier left the women’s advocacy group “to pursue other career opportunities,” board President Pam Kukla wrote in a Dec. 6 email to supporters. “The board will be announcing the search process in the next few days,” Kukla wrote. Gauthier, who came t...

HARWICH – Educators in the Monomoy Regional School District took their message regarding fair contracts public last Wednesday when many stood outside their respective schools holding signs that read, “Monomoy Educators Go The Extra Mile.” But with rumors flying as contract negotiations continue, Superintendent Scott Carpenter emphasized that he and the school committee have the district's best interests at heart....

HARWICH — The sidewalk along Route 28 from Saquatucket Harbor to Harwich Port is considered the missing link in improved pedestrian safety and economic development along the expanded harbor waterfront. But officials a state Massworks Infrastructure Program grant that would have covered nearly 70 percent of the cost has been rejected. The town was seeking a grant for $576,500 to be matched with $250,000 town me...

NORTH HARWICH — The death of a seven-year-old boy Saturday has left his family, his friends and his young classmates reeling from the loss. Police say Damien Larsen was at his grandfather’s home on Main Street Extension Saturday afternoon when he was critically injured by a piece of heavy equipment, a skid steer loader. The accident happened at around 3:15 p.m. at 106 Main St. Harwich police officers and ...

HARWICH — On a 3-1 vote, selectmen approved a contract agreement with Community Development Partnership, an Eastham based nonprofit, to serve as the town's new housing consultant. Selectman Michael MacAskill cast the dissenting vote, expressing concern the town was rushing the appointment, given the absence of a recommendation by the new affordable housing trust. Town Administrator Christopher Clark, who is...

HARWICH — Storefronts in the village should be living entities generating economic growth and stimulus, members of the newly formed Harwich Center initiative committee agreed during their first session last week. There was certainly renewed energy behind the revitalization of Harwich Center expressed at the gathering, with more than a dozen people coming together with the committee and expressing ideas on how ...

HARWICH — The Cape Cod Regional Technical High School building committee has selected Brait Builders Corporation of Marshfield as the general contractor for the new high school construction project. Brait Builders' $91,376,000 bid was $12 million below the initial construction estimate approved by the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) and $8 million below the adjusted professional cost estimate pr...