CHATHAM — The name “Old Colony Rail Trail” is a nice tribute to the railroad that once serviced Harwich and Chatham, but it doesn’t communicate some key information: where the trail goes. “I see bikers between Thompson’s Field and [Route] 137 looking at maps and trying to figure out where they are,” Harwich bikeways committee member Shanna Nealy said. Nealy and her group met last week in a rare joint session...

CHATHAM – After months of negotiations between developer Eastward Companies and neighbors along Ocean Port Lane, the planning board last week approved a 13-lot subdivision off Barn Hill Road. The seven-acre Hunter's Rise development is one of the largest new residential subdivisions in town in recent years. The board approval came after Eastward Companies agreed to a 20-foot buffer strip along the subdivision'...

CHATHAM – The recent cold weather, coupled with seasonal habitat restrictions, will delay dredging near Fox Hill and Pleasant Bay. Planned dredging of the entrance to Mill Creek in the spring should still be on schedule, said Coastal Resources Director Ted Keon. The Barnstable County dredge Codfish was due to clear shoals from the channel between Pleasant Bay and Ryder's Cove, off Fox Hill, a few weeks ago,...

CHATHAM – For 27 years the Cape Cod Commission has been evaluating the economic and ecological health of the Cape. On Jan. 14, Paul Niedzwiecki, executive director of the commission, delivered a lecture at the community center about the ways that climate change is likely to affect the economic and ecological health on Cape Cod and what the commission is doing to protect it. The lecture, titled “The Price Tag: Eco...

CHATHAM – The historical commission has decided to end its effort to declare Stage Harbor Road a National Historic Register District after an overwhelming majority of property owners in the neighborhood said they opposed the nomination. “There's no question of the historical significance of the street,” commission chairman Frank Messina said Tuesday, but without the support of a majority of the people who own ...

CHATHAM — Citizens still have more than a month to sound out on the future of the former Eldredge Garage property, but so far, public parking and rest rooms seem to be the most popular suggestions for the town-owned parcel. Last Thursday, more than a dozen neighborhood residents and other citizens shared their visions for the property with the Eldredge Garage property planning committee. The group will conti...

HARWICH — The finance committee has approved recommendations by its subcommittee studying stipends for elected town officials, include increasing the stipend for selectmen from $1,500 to $2,400 annually. The final decision will rest with voters in the annual town meeting this spring, finance committee member Dana DeCosta, chairman of the subcommittee, said this week. It would be the first increase in the stipe...

HARWICH — Outer Cape Health Services, Inc. has applied for necessary town permits to move forward with its proposal to establish a medical clinic on the first floor of the Kennedy Building across Route 28 from Saquatucket Harbor. OCHS was scheduled to go before the conservation commission last night for a request for determination of applicability for the project, which is located in the FEMA flood hazard zone...

HARWICH — “Small business is our bread and butter on Cape Cod,” Cape and Islands Senator Julian Cyr, D-Truro, said this week as he plans to address the needs of local businesses in forums this week and next. Cyr and State Representative Sarah Peake, D-Provincetown, will conduct a town meeting-style forum for members of the local chamber of commerce on Friday (tomorrow) between 2:30 and 4 p.m. at the Pilgrim Co...

HARWICH – When a quartet of thresher sharks died on Cape Cod Bay beaches in December, it was a sad day for shark enthusiasts, but the deaths presented a unique opportunity for the STEMinist Club at Monomoy Regional High School. After all, it’s not every day budding scientists get a firsthand view of a shark dissection. On Jan. 11, club members watched in awe as Marianne Long, education director for the Atlanti...

HARWICH — Finance committee member Ed McManus, a former selectman and the town's representative to the Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates, has taken out nomination papers for a seat on the board of selectmen. “The town is heading into some important and expensive expenditures and I've been watching from the finance committee and assembly of delegates and feel like I can give a better advantage to the town...

SOUTH YARMOUTH ─ A slew of three-pointers played a key role in the Nauset Warriors girls varsity basketball team’s 57-28 victory against Dennis-Yarmouth last Friday night, but the Dolphins certainly didn’t let their opponents win easily. “D-Y played very hard today and made us work for everything,” said Nauset head coach Heath “Noopy” Teixeira. “We did well, but it was a very tough game.” The Warriors sun...

The Monomoy-Mashpee Monarchs' offense was on top of its game Saturday night against East Bridgewater, but defensive issues led the visitors to a 5-2 victory in boys varsity ice hockey action. The Vikings found the net early in the outing and take a 2-0 edge, but Monomoy captain Noah Tambolleo managed to cut their lead in half with a shot past the East Bridgewater goalie at 9:33 in the first period to make it 2...

It’s a “translaptation,” according to its playwright, an idea based upon an idea that is based, yet again, upon an idea. That’s what David Ives wrote about “The Liar,” his translation of a French play, “Le Menteur,” written in 1643 by Pierre Corneille and based upon a yet-older Spanish source. If you’re not confused enough yet, the play that you would see at the Academy of the Performing Arts in Orleans throug...

<Headline>Negative Impact Of Skydiving   Editor: How unfortunate that Cape Cod elected officials are promoting aviation and skydiving interests (to benefit the few) at the expense of their constituents’ quality of life. We have watched similar scenarios unfold in communities across the country. If the Citizens for a Safe Chatham Airport lose their judicial case against the town, you can rest assure...

A long stretch of light gray cloudy glass ran up the narrow inlet, thick and heavy. In the mild – as much as one should ever expect in early January, especially following a two week stretch of solidly-below 20 degree temperatures – air, the cool breeze from the southeast carried moisture. Rain had been forecast for later, and on top of the still-frozen ground, created the danger of flooding. My gravel driveway...