HARWICH – Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) is proposing a change in design for the sidewalk to be built along Route 28 from Saquatucket Harbor to Harwich Port. A segment of sidewalk will be added along the north side of the road from Outer Cape Health Services to Gorham Road. MassDOT agreed to the additional section to accommodate pedestrians in response to concerns from residents of the a...

HARWICH – There is little doubt The Family Pantry of Cape Cod, which operates facilities along Queen Anne Road, is a busy place. In 2022 The Family Pantry set records in attempting to address the growing food insecurity on Cape Cod, with a 44 percent increase in visits over the previous year. To date, the visits to the facilities in 2023 have increased by 40 percent over the previous year. The pantry provided...

HARWICH – It has been a long time in coming, but the selectmen on Monday night approved a consulting firm to work with the planning board and the local planning committee to update the town's local comprehensive plan.   In the annual town meeting in 2019, voters approved $200,000 for the consulting services. In a memo to the selectmen and Town Administrator Joseph Powers, Assistant Town Administrator Meggan E...

Three Votes Separate Howell, Piekarski HARWICH – Hometown candidate Jeffrey Handler scored big Tuesday night, garnering 1,376 votes to win a seat on the select board. But the margin between select board incumbent Donald Howell and challenger Peter Piekarski was much closer, with Howell pulling out a victory by three votes. In the race for the two three-year terms on the board, Handler received the highes...

HARWICH – Deputy Police Chief Kevin Considine has been selected as one of 100 police officers from around the world who will carry the "Flame of Hope" throughout Germany and into the 2023 Special Olympics World Games opening ceremony in Berlin in June. Considine has long been associated with the Special Olympics through the Law Enforcement Torch Run, which brings police officers from across the Cape together...

HARWICH – The creative energy surrounding Art Week received a boost last Friday when members of the Massachusetts Cultural Council came to town to designate two new cultural districts, which should help generate economic growth in the community.  Massachusetts Cultural Council Deputy Director David Slatery told the group of about 35 people at the grandstand in Brooks Park that the cultural district concept was...

  HARWICH – Pine Oaks Villages have been providing affordable housing to seniors for nearly 50 years, and the nonprofit organization has just announced plans for a major expansion, with potentially as many as 264 units of mixed income rental units in North Harwich. Pine Oaks Village Homes (POVH) has entered into agreements to purchase seven parcels of land totaling more than 29 acres near the intersection o...

BARNSTABLE – A Barnstable County grand jury handed up a two-count indictment Friday for a 36-year-old woman accused of fatally stabbing a companion at the Stonehorse Dormitories in Harwich Port last November. Aneka Brown will face charges of murder in the second degree and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon after she allegedly stabbed 30-year-old Akeem Drysdale in what officials at the time described ...

HARWICH – Voters supported two petitioned articles banning plastic food containers and utensils and the sale, distribution and use of lighter-than-air gas balloons during the final night of town meeting Tuesday. Two additional petitioned articles, one seeking to prohibit the application of fertilizers and the other seeking the dispersal of school choice funds to include alternative education, such as homesc...

HARWICH – The opening night of the annual town meeting on Monday was mostly taken up by debate over the town’s five-year capital plan and funding contained within it for maintenance and improvements to the 204 Sisson cultural arts municipal building. The 400 voters in attendance were extremely quiet at the onset of the session, approving $80,356,135 in five budgets without a word of debate. The town’s opera...

HARWICH – With town elections less than three weeks away, the League of Women Voters of Cape Cod held a candidates’ forum April 20 highlighting the selectmen’s race. Three candidates are vying for the two seats on the board: incumbent Selectman Donald Howell, Jeffrey Handler and former selectman Peter Piekarski. Piekarski did not attend the session; he was reportedly on a family vacation. Howell and Handler sp...

HARWICH – Voters will face a 62-article annual town meeting warrant on Monday, May 1, with many issues likely to generate debate. The capital plan, 204 Sisson improvements, new staffing, wastewater infrastructure, fertilizer and banning plastic take-out containers are a few topics likely to generate discussion. This year’s capital plan is expected to draw debate, especially between the board of selectmen and f...