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...

HARWICH – The health board’s latest draft regulations for the sale of tobacco in the community caps the number of tobacco product sales permits at 14, but also includes provisions for eventually reducing the number of permits to zero. The draft regulations will be adopted when the board signs them, expected to happen at its May 16 meeting. The lengthy regulations contain a number of amendments to the curren...

HARWICH – Voters will be asked at the May 1 annual town meeting to add nine-and-a-half new staff positions to various town departments. Funding, however, will be sought in department budget line items rather than separate articles. Department budgets ask for money to add new firefighters, a new wastewater assistant superintendent, a planning/zoning coordinator, community center program specialist, zoning boar...

  HARWICH – The legal battles between The Port Restaurant and Bar and Ember Pizza and the board of selectmen, the town’s liquor licensing authority, in the past couple of years are not yet over. Cases brought against the town by the restaurants in both U.S. District Court and Barnstable and Suffolk Superior Courts were dismissed, but both have been appealed.  “The two state-court cases are currently on appe...

by WILLIAM F. GALVIN HARWICH – Art Week 2023 is a weeklong celebration of Harwich's creative community. The events planned for the April 29 through May 7 celebration are so abundant participants may need running shoes. "Art Week is a time when we celebrate art, the creatives and the community," said Cultural Affairs Director Kara Mewhinney. "Our department has been working hard to have events and programs of ...

HARWICH – The chamber of commerce has moved the Toast of Harwich to the fall, and Executive Director Cyndi Williams has developed a new event with a little country tang to take its place. The chamber is sponsoring a “Beer and Bones BBQ Competition” among restaurants in town on Saturday, June 10. A lot of interest has been expressed in Beer and Bones, Williams said. She recently announced the event on Facebo...

HARWICH – Harwich Elementary School fourth grader Nolan Wittenstein is learning about the cruel reality of the housing crisis on Cape Cod. The 10-year-old has made a commitment to help his best friend and his family avoid becoming homeless. Nolan said he was playing outside his home in East Harwich with his friend, who he met in school more than a year ago. They play soccer together, are Pokemon brothers, and...

HARWICH – Community preservation can be expensive, as the town is learning through the ongoing restoration of Brooks Academy, the more than 175-year-old former schoolhouse that is considered the jewel of Harwich Center. The building is the home to the Harwich Historical Society and the Brooks Academy Museum it operates. The Brooks Academy Museum Commission (BAMC) has developed plans for restoration of the bui...

HARWICH – It's spring and the herring are flowing upstream to spawning grounds. The counter installed at Johnson's Flume in 2019 along the Herring River had registered the passage of nearly 7,000 fish passing as of April 5. More than 1,500 herring passed through the flume that day. "The water levels are high," Natural Resources Director Heinz Proft said last Friday. "It's good that the run has started, bu...

HARWICH – On a split vote, the Community Preservation Committee reconsidered its funding recommendation for the affordable housing trust and agreed to increase the amount from $250,000 to $500,000. The vote came after the board of selectmen voted recently to ask the CPC to reconsider its initial recommendation. Board members present at last Thursday’s CPC meeting pledged to improve communications and informati...

Monomoy Regional High School seniors Colin Moore and Max Weinberg are organizing a 5K race in Chatham to raise funds so children with serious or life-threatening illnesses and their families can enjoy some respite at the 31-acre Camp Nan-Ke-Rafe, located next to Nickerson State Park in Brewster.   The camp belongs to Dream Day on Cape Cod, a nonprofit organization which has helped hundreds of families disconne...