HARWICH — Because of a problem with the building's emergency lighting system, Brooks Free Library will be offering reduced services for the next few days, officials announced this morning. Most of the library building itself is closed to the public but limited services will be available in the lobby, where patrons can check out books and movies from a small collection; they can also pick up items on hold.  Chi...

HARWICH PORT — Two boaters are lucky to be alive after a fishing trip off Allen Harbor went badly awry Wednesday afternoon. Shortly after 3:30 p.m., a man aboard a 28-foot center console boat radioed the Chatham harbormaster to report an empty inflatable motorized boat south of Allen Harbor. Chatham's 21-foot patrol boat, which was patrolling off Harding's Beach, diverted to the scene. Assistant Harbormaster B...

Muddy Creek has a new bridge, better water quality, and a new group of devotees who are visiting by canoe and kayak. Chatham resident George Olmsted thinks it's time for the waterway to get a new name, as well. Olmsted says he'd someday like to drive across that bridge and see a little “Monomoy River” sign where the Muddy Creek sign used to be. “Muddy Creek is not an attractive name. And furthermore, at thi...

EAST HARWICH — The Harwich Conservation Trust has signed a purchase and sales agreement with the Marini family to acquire 17 acres of land with 1,400 feet of frontage along Muddy Creek. The acquisition is seen as important in protecting the headwaters of the creek that feeds into Pleasant Bay. “This gives us a window to raise the funds to purchase the property,” Harwich Conservation Trust Executive Director Mi...

HARWICH — Parking and inclusion of a restaurant are among the issues that need to be worked out before the Harwich Port Plaza proposal makes its way before the planning board for Village Commercial Overlay District site plan approval. Attorney Michael D. Ford detailed changes proposed for the 28,008-square-foot parcel in the center of Harwich Port during a pre-conference meeting last week. The focus was not o...

HARWICH — Town officials have begun examining the draft final report on the nitrogen attenuation potential in Cold Brook in the Bank Street Bogs. The evaluation assesses the waterway's ability to naturally absorb nitrogen as a way to improve water quality and reduce the need for costly sewer construction. The study was prepared by the Coastal Systems Group from the School for Marine Science and Technology at U...

HARWICH — Phase three of the Brooks Park recreation department expansion will be heading to the planning board this week for site plan special permit approval. The plan is to add tennis and basketball courts, more parking, a picnic pavilion and new restrooms while providing better connections to the bike trail. The project was funded in the annual town meeting in May with $188,000 in Community Preservation Act...

HARWICH PORT— TD Bank is working with The Family Pantry of Cape Cod to “Bring Change” to the way services are provided to food pantry clients. The campaign will help The Family Pantry provide mobile service to clients who are lacking transportation. “TD is partnering with communities across our footprint to support people and organizations that are making a real, local difference,” said Paula Warhol, field m...

HARWICH — Recognizing her $3.6 million bequest, Cape Cod Hospital has named its intensive care unit in honor of the late Elizabeth Munroe Arnold Stevens of Harwich. “Libby was such an inspiration, and we are honored that she remembered Cape Cod Healthcare in this way,” President and CEO Michael Lauf said in a news release. Her sister, Judith Palmer of Harwich Port, said Stevens was treated at the hospital o...

HARWICH — With Massachusetts Department of Transportation's plan to have Route 6 through town paved this fall, town officials are seeking improvements at the Exit 10 interchange that would reduce back-ups and accident levels. Deficiencies in acceleration lane length have been cited as cause for traffic delays and excessive accident rates there. “All summer long there are traffic tie ups there,” Lincoln Hooper,...

WEST HARWICH — Close to 20 years ago, town officials received a complaint from a woman living in the Pinewood Village Condominiums that she and her daughter were experiencing skin rashes when washing with the development's private well water. The state Department of Environmental Protection was called in to take samples, which showed high levels of five compounds related to dry cleaning and metal de-greasing t...

HARWICH — Life has its twists and turns, but the beat goes on. That's a lesson that Michael Dunford knows well. He joined the Harwich Town Band at the age of about 12 in 1975, and went on to a successful career as a banker, professional drummer and record exec. On Tuesday, he'll be back in the bandstand, where it all started. Following the lead of his mother, who had played in an all-girl drum and bugle cor...