ORLEANS – In 1965, Andrew DeLory registered with the Selective Service Board, through which he applied for and was approved status as a conscientious objector. "It's a great nation that allows men and women on philosophical or religious grounds with conscience to serve without weapons, to do no harm, to object to warfare," DeLory, an Orleans resident who served in the Vietnam War as a specialist in the U.S. Ar...

ORLEANS – Sometimes a little neighborly competition is healthy. When Justin Alex saw Chatham's Art In the Park initiative a few years ago, it got him thinking about what the Orleans Chamber of Commerce could do to help support its local businesses. "I grew up in Chatham, but I used to surf a lot in Orleans," said Alex, who is president of the chamber's board of directors and director of sales for The Chroni...

ORLEANS – Imagine on Putnam Farm a cleaner, healthier habitat for plants, birds, frogs, turtles and other native wetland wildlife, and a place more accessible for public viewing. That's the vision for two wetland areas in the center of the farm brought before the town's conservation commission last month. Ian Ives of Mass Audubon and Tom Biebighauser, a wetlands biologist based out of Kentucky, are proposin...

ORLEANS – On Monday of last week, the Girls on the Run team at Orleans Elementary School made their way around the school grounds. The route was the same one the 14 runners have been following twice a week since March, but this day was different. Teachers, staffers and family members gathered outside to cheer the team in one of their final practices before heading to Boston for this Saturday's Girls on the Run...

ORLEANS – With funding secured through town meeting earlier this month, a task force will work to further plans for a new Snow Library. The Snow Library Feasibility Study Task Force is charged with looking at options for building a new library at the site of the existing building near the corner of Main Street and Route 28, as well as alternative sites for a new facility. The select board unanimously approved ...

ORLEANS – Carl Trevison had heard about the growing anti-war sentiment back home in America during his year-long tour of duty in Vietnam. But it took returning home to realize how many people had begun to turn against veterans such as himself. "I was not aware that it was that bad," said Trevison, an Orleans resident who served in the U.S. Army from 1966 to 1968. "I know guys had told me that when you processe...

ORLEANS – Town officials had high hopes for Patricia MacDonald when she began work as the town's new recreation director May 1. But after just three weeks on the job, MacDonald resigned last week, just months ahead of the start of summer programming. Interim Town Administrator Charles Sumner broke the news to the recreation advisory committee May 18, saying that MacDonald submitted her letter of resignation ea...

ORLEANS – Brian Junkins can still recall in detail the circumstances surrounding his parents' purchase of Friends' Marketplace. "My mom was a middle school teacher at the school right behind here," said Brian, who owns the Main Street market with his wife, Monila. "She was driving to school one day and noticed that the store might be available for sale. That's how my dad found out about it. He rushed down from...

ORLEANS – Nauset Regional Middle School has its next principal, and he's due to start work next week. Nauset School Superintendent Brooke Clenchy announced in a statement May 16 that Dr. Peter Cohen had accepted the principal position. He'll begin working alongside Beth Deneen, the school's interim principal, June 1. "The final few weeks of the school year will include ample transition time as both Dr. Cohe...

ORLEANS – Funding from the state Department of Housing and Community Development has been awarded to the affordable housing project at 107 Main St., putting the development on track to potentially break ground this fall. Gov. Maura Healey's administration on May 19 announced that $246 million in subsidies and tax credits were awarded in total for more than a dozen projects statewide. Of that figure, $1.7 milli...

ORLEANS – Nicole Boyce literally found herself going down an internet rabbit hole. The Nauset Regional High School junior was looking up "free rabbits" on Craigslist, and she was surprised to find a number of listings. "I thought that was really interesting," she said. Many of the ads were from well meaning people who were trying to find a good home for their pet, but she found that wasn't always the cas...

ORLEANS – This year’s annual election ballot was the largest in Orleans’ history, but there were no surprises to speak of at the polls, according to preliminary numbers released Tuesday night. Voters passed a total of 27 ballot questions, including overrides to cover the town’s share of the new Nauset Regional High School and Cape Cod Regional Technical High School budgets and a debt exclusion for prelimina...