HARWICH — Brooks Free Library is expected to continue to operate in a diminished capacity at least into next week. The library was closed to public access more than a week ago because of a failed transistor disrupting the flow of electricity to the lights and emergency lighting system. Officials say the library is anticipated to be closed Monday while repairs are made and will reopen with full service on Tuesd...

HARWICH — The Cape Cod Commission subcommittee sitting on the development of regional impact application for the Harwich Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan unanimously voted on Thursday to recommend adoption of the plan to the full commission. The full commission is scheduled to act on the recommendation in a hearing on Aug.18 in Barnstable. Thursday's hearing was the second time in three months the subc...

HARWICH — The conservation commission has issued an order directing Jeffrey King, owner of a house at 30/34 Lothrop Ave., to remove a 10-by-12-foot addition and a 8.5-by-32-foot covered porch constructed nine feet from the edge of a wetland without a building permit. The commission voted in its July 20 meeting to issue an enforcement order directing the removal of the addition and the porch, citing them as unl...

HARWICH — The Route 124 bridge over Route 6 has been officially designated as the United States Navy Lieutenant Junior Grade Ralph Wallace Burns Bridge. The Legislature and Gov. Charles Baker approved the law making the designation in June. Burns was a pilot who lost his life while serving in World War II. The legislation was put forward by Rob Mador and Steven Xiarhos, deputy chief of police in Yarmouth, w...

HARWICH — State officials will be here today to celebrate the artificial fish reef that was constructed 2.8 miles off Saquatucket Harbor in Nantucket Sound this spring. The new reef was a joint venture between the town and state and was funded by the Division of Marine Fisheries. The reef was constructed using miscast catch basins and remains from the foundation of the former Harwich High School building which...

HARWICH — Voters in the May town meeting turned aside an article seeking to establish a charter enforcement commission. But Sandra Hall, sponsor of the article, continues to see the need for oversight of the town's constitution. Hall was the chair of the original charter commission that shaped the Harwich Home Rule Charter adopted in 1987. She also served for four terms on the board of selectmen. While there h...

HARWICH — Municipal services were on the blink on Tuesday as town hall and the Albro House were evacuated when a maintenance accident severed a gas line. Brooks Free Library was also closed when a lighting inverter failed leaving the facility in the dark. For the second time in less than a year Brooks Library was closed to the public because of a faulty insulated-gate bipolar transistor which controls lighting...

HARWICH ─ There are plenty of sharks in the waters off Cape Cod, and then there's the one on Jay Hannon's front lawn. No, it's not real, but it has had many passers-by slowing down for a second look, which suits Hannon just fine. “He loves the attention,” said his wife, Michele. The shark's name is Bruce, based both on the character in “Finding Nemo” and the legendary mechanical beast in “Jaws,” and he's ...

HARWICH — Decoys and bird carving were center stage at the Elmer Crowell barn last week as carvers and collectors came to examine the workshop in which Crowell, considered the father of modern bird carving, conducted his work. “This is so beneficial for the town of Harwich. There is so much history here,” said bird carver Paul Phillips, a West Harwich resident. Phillips has assisted with setting up the new loc...

HARWICH PORT — After three and a half years under the leadership of an interim minister, Pilgrim Congregational Church has hired a full-time pastor, The Rev. Dr. Susan Cartmell. Church leaders carried out a national search, but in the end, didn't have to look very far. An author and scholar, Cartmell is also the wife of the interim minister, the Rev. Peggy O'Connor. “The people in this church have been ju...

HARWICH — The Bell's Neck ring was completed on Friday with a chainsaw-cutting ceremony which removed a wooden barrier along the Cape Cod Rail Trail, creating a passage way to the former Hall property and connecting the loop of public trails around the West Reservoir. The Bell's Neck Conservation Area is one of the town's premiere nature preserves and encompasses a large stretch of the Herring River, which lea...

HARWICH PORT — Two boaters are lucky to be alive after a fishing trip off Allen Harbor went badly awry last 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 Harbormas...