HARWICH — In the next few years, voters will be asked to fund a number of big-ticket capital projects, but the funding requests from the fire department will be a bit lower than originally expected. Facing the need for a new ladder truck and a new pumper, the department will instead seek to buy a "quint," which can perform both functions at a fire scene. The move could save taxpayers around $900,000 over the cost...

HARWICH — The town has begun what will be a series of informational sessions between now and the spring town meeting to educate residents about changes being made to the comprehensive wastewater management plan. There is the potential for major changes to the plan. Gov. Charlie Baker signed special legislation for the DHY Clean Waters Partnership, allowing Dennis, Harwich and Yarmouth to work together and poss...

SOUTH HARWICH — Some high-profile seasonal visitors to town will enjoy new waterfront accommodations next spring, thanks to the Harwich Conservation Trust and AmeriCorps Cape Cod. Last Thursday, volunteers erected a new osprey nesting platform on conservation land in the salt marsh behind Red River Beach. Funded by a donor to the Trust, the platform was assembled in the beach parking lot, carried across the ma...

HARWICH — The Cape Cod Commission gave its unanimous approval to the selectmen’s request to establish the West Harwich District of Critical Planning Concern. The request will now be sent to the Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates for enactment as a county ordinance. If approved by the assembly, the town will have one year to adopt and incorporate implementing regulations in its official bylaws, regulations...

When Kathy Andrews was growing up in Chatham, she longed to play baseball like her older brothers, but back then girls weren't allowed to play. Fast forward a few years and Andrews is celebrating her recent induction into the New Agenda Northeast Hall of Fame. Andrews, a longtime coach and physical education teacher at Monomoy Regional Middle School, was nominated by Mary McGrath Dowling and Cheryl Poore, some...

SANDWICH/MILFORD – It is said that all good things must come to an end, but in the case of the Nauset Warriors 2019 boys varsity soccer team, that end came too soon and once again via penalty kicks that led to a Milford win in the Div. 2 South Sectional Finals on Nov. 17. It was a one-goal game until the final minutes of regulation play, and then, courtesy of a free kick and one well-placed shot on goal, it wa...

These days of craziness in the world are leaving me sad, worried and just plain upset. Everyone’s talking but no one’s listening. We might as well be a big old flock of bickering grackles swaggering about in the backyard looking for the best treats and tidbits while pooping wherever we want, when we want, with no regard to anyone or anything else. We’re making a racket and making a mess and we don’t care. Som...

Chatham Elementary School Attendance Improvements In 2018, Chatham Elementary School received zero out of four points from the state accountability system for attendance. In 2019, due to efforts both at home and at school, the data showed positive trends and CES earned three out of four points. However, with CES' lowest performing scores, the data still reflects the need to continue the focus on how abs...

I had rowed out the night before, in the moonlight, into a nearly empty Oyster Pond. November light is so very different, as the last of the leaves have fallen and the shores are almost luminously brown dusted with gold and rust. Not that I could have seen that in the dark. But I did see a fair amount. The lights of the few remaining occupied houses ringing the pond, the streetlights down at the beach on Stage Ha...

In his recent book “The Geography of Risk: Epic Storms, Rising Seas, and the Cost of America's Coasts,” Pulitzer Prize winning author Gilbert M. Gaul suggests that the 20th century pattern of coastal development has doomed vast swaths of prime real estate to potential destruction. Thousands of miles of heavily developed shoreline lies in the path of increasingly powerful storms and rising sea levels. Building eff...

Pause Airport Master Plan Process Editor: I want to add my voice to the increasing number of citizens who oppose the master plan for "upgrading" the Chatham Municipal Airport. Alternatives 2 and 3 are unacceptable. I and others want more town selectmen, fire safety personnel, and the code enforcement office involved in hearing the concerns we citizens are raising, such as: * Increased (not decreased) saf...

CHATHAM – Since its founding in 1942, the Chatham Chamber of Commerce has welcomed only those businesses based in town to join its ranks. Some out-of-town enterprises that didn't compete with locally-owned businesses were allowed to join on a case-by-case basis, but for the most part the chamber maintained a closed membership. In recent years it was the last Cape chamber to do so. Now the Chatham Chamber has j...

ORLEANS — Bluefish Outfitters, the parent company of Goose Hummock Shops, won’t drop anchor for marina and boat storage at the former Beth Bishop parking lot on Route 28. “We have found an alternate site and will not be asking to store boats on the property at this time,” David Bailey, outdoor center manager for Goose Hummock, wrote in an email Nov. 13. At the Nov. 6 zoning board meeting, the company withdre...

ORLEANS — The zoning board has denied the appeal of a building permit issued for 21 Great Oak Rd., a large house under construction that has been listed for short-term vacation rentals for up to 22 people at a time. Vince Ollivier, who lives across the street, filed the appeal based on Hydrangea Properties’ permit request for “construction of a new residential home.” In an interview earlier this month, he sa...

Sharon Gotch Cobb, 76, of East Orleans, died suddenly on November 7, 2019 at Cape Cod Hospital. Born in Streator, IL to Hulda (Greenberg) and Frank Gotch. She will be truly missed by her loving husband of 45 years, Peter H. Cobb. After graduating from Streator High School in Illinois, Sharon attended the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, earning herself a Master’s Degree in Education, finding her place ...