HARWICH – The conservation department issued an emergency order allowing the demolition of the former Handler Auto Parts buildings located along Route 28 in Harwich Port after safety issues were raised about the conditions of the buildings and activities on the property. Conservation Administrator Amy Usowski said the police and fire departments sent letters of support for the removal of the structures. The bu...

HARWICH – Wastewater and taxes will be the weighty issues facing voters in Monday’s special town meeting. Several articles seek funds for wastewater design and engineering projects and to make changes to the town’s comprehensive wastewater management plan. Another article seeks to increase the short-term rental tax from 4 to 6 percent. Two additional articles would direct 25 percent of the short- term rental t...

HARWICH - A dozen town officials and affordable housing-related committee members took a tour last Thursday of the 13.3-acre former James Marceline cowyard property off Pleasant lake Avenue, now under the jurisdiction of the town’s affordable housing trust. The tour served to introduce committee members to the property as town officials head into a special town meeting next week seeking to take by eminent doma...

HARWICH - The Exchange Building in Harwich Center was the tallest and most elegant building on Cape Cod for nearly 80 years. It would still be today, according to historian Nancy Viall Shoemaker, if it hadn’t been demolished in 1964. The building, which was located at the corner of Main Street and Pleasant Lake Avenue from 1885 to 1964, was 58 by 100 feet, and rose 104 feet above the village center, Shoemaker ...

HARWICH – Longtime Cape Cod educator Terry Russell was awarded the Massachusetts Association of School Committee’s Division VII All-State Committee honor, the Monomoy school district announced Oct. 8. Russell, a Harwich resident, worked in the Barnstable school system for 40 years, the last 22 of which came as principal at Barnstable Middle School. He joined the Monomoy Regional School Committee in 2011 and ha...

HARWICH – “In these halls lies so many opportunities academically and vocationally,” student and Cape Cod Tech SkillsUSA President Etzer Lindor told a crowd of more than 150 people gathered for the ribbon-cutting for the new Cape Cod Regional Technical High School last Friday. The ribbon-cutting was held a year after the school opened, postponed due to the pandemic. Enthusiasm was not damped by the delay, howe...

HARWICH - The  Harwich Cranberry Arts and Music Festival may yet be saved. A lack of volunteers in the festival over the past several years caused the festival committee a couple of weeks ago to declare that September’s Harwich Cranberry Arts and Music Festival may have been the last. But after a call for volunteers, 28 people showed up last Tuesday at the chamber of commerce office expressing an interest in v...

HARWICH – Neighborhood opposition to the proposed Chloe’s Path development off Sisson Road remained strong as proponents of the 96-unit proposed affordable/mixed unit housing project made another attempt Monday to gain the support of selectmen. Opponents said the project will violate an environmental deed restriction on the property and disrupt the neighborhood. The owner's representative countered that ...

Former Z-Boy Wentlze Ruml Wants To Increase Opportunities On The Cape HARWICH – The Zephyr skateboarding team revolutionized skateboarding in the 1970s. Now team member Wentlze Ruml IV, owner of Cape Cod Skate Shop in West Harwich, is looking to rejuvenate the sport locally. The Z-Boys, as they were called back then, were a mix of surfers and skateboarders from the Venice and Ocean Park areas of Southern Ca...

HARWICH PORT – More than a dozen shops and businesses in the village will be joining together on Saturday to sponsor the first Harwich Port Merchants Fall Festival, featuring music, contests, craft sessions, face painting, raffles, specials and sidewalk sales. With a hint of fall in the air, the festival will include a raft of seasonal activities from a pie baking contest at Reciprocity's Cross Street Studio t...

HARWICH – Selectmen Monday supported the transition of the housing coordinator function from a contractor to a new part-time town employee, although given the duties of the job, a number of town officials supported making the position full time. Over the past few years the town has been using coordinator services provided by the Community Development Partnership, Inc. (CDP) a non-profit located in Eastha...

HARWICH – Rev. Susan Thomas has been hired as the first female settled pastor in the 274-year history of the First Congregational Church of Harwich in 274 years. Thomas became the pastor of the church on Sept. 10. Trustee Robert S. Buchanan said the church is embarking on a new journey as it welcomes the 63rd settled pastor in its long history. Thomas has two master’s degrees from Columbia Theological Semin...