ORLEANS – After 38 years in Orleans, Ragg Time Ltd. on Main Street ended 2022 with its best year ever. For owner Jeanie Bessette, that's as good a note as any to go out on. On Saturday, Bessette will close up the women's apparel shop that she's run since 1984, opting to scale back and focus on her seasonal store in Wellfleet. "I've met some wonderful people," said Bessette, a Wellfleet resident. "They're re...

ORLEANS – Those property owners who still need to replace their above-ground fuel storage tanks now have until March 1 to do so, otherwise they will face daily fines. The daily fines of $250 were due to kick in this month. But the board of health on Dec. 15 voted to push back the date in which the health department will begin issuing fines until March 1 in an effort to give both staff in the fire and health de...

ORLEANS – As another year draws to a close in Orleans, there's once again plenty to look back upon. In 2022, regional issues such as affordable housing and wastewater remained front of mind for town officials and residents. There was also some administrative shuffling in the Nauset Public Schools and Orleans Town Hall, some post-nor'easter blowback for Eversource, controversy over Rock Harbor parking and ongoi...

ORLEANS – How do you measure a 26-year career? For Lynn Bruneau, chair emeritus of the finance committee, there are plenty of ways to gauge John Kelly's tenure as town administrator. Hired to the post in Nov. 1996, Kelly participated in his final select board meeting on Dec. 21. His last day in town hall before his retirement is Dec. 30. Speaking to the select board last week, Bruneau noted that when Kelly ...

ORLEANS – A recent study by the state Division of Marine Fisheries makes clear Rock Harbor's value as a commercial fishery. Local fishermen want to keep it that way, but they told the select board earlier this month that they need the town's help. Last summer, the state agency released "Port by Port: Profiles and Analysis of the Massachusetts Commercial Fishery" in cooperation with the Urban Harbors Institute ...

ORLEANS – Winter recreation programming is expected to resume next week, beginning with youth basketball. Brendan Guttmann, the town's former recreation director who led the department for almost 30 years before his retirement in 2018, will run the department in the absence of Alan Harrison, who was put on paid administrative leave earlier this month. "Brendan right now, at this point, is our guy," Tom Dale...

ORLEANS – Mark Mathison remembers the conversations that surrounded the development of the existing Nauset Regional High School campus in Eastham back in the 1960s. Orleans, the select board member recalled, initially voted against relocating the high school from the site of the regional middle school to Eastham. The move was eventually approved by the district towns the following year, he said. But the cost o...

ORLEANS – Cape Cod is in the grips of a critical housing shortage. But according to Alisa Magnotta, chief executive officer of the Housing Assistance Corporation, it’s an issue that’s particularly hurting residents further down Cape. “ It’s even more acute out here in the Outer and Lower Cape because of the price of real estate,” said Magnotta, who lives in Orleans. “There is a legitimate housing shortage...

Town Working To Staff, Resume Winter Programming ORLEANS – The town’s recreation director has been put on paid administrative leave, and winter recreation programming has been temporarily suspended as a result. Tracy Murphy, who chairs the recreation advisory committee, said she was informed by Town Administrator John Kelly by email last week that Alan Harrison was put on leave effective Dec. 6. ...

ORLEANS – It’s been quite a year for Kelly Darling and staff in the Orleans Town Clerk’s office, and their work isn’t quite done yet. On the heels of December’s special town election, the town’s fourth of the 2022 calendar year, Darling is preparing for yet another. This time, Orleans and the other Nauset Regional School District towns of Brewster, Eastham and Wellfleet are preparing for a Jan. 10 electi...

Cost, Location Of Concern To Orleans Select Board ORLEANS – An application is before the community preservation committee seeking funding to restore the town bandstand at Nauset Beach, but the select board wants more information before it votes on whether or not to support it. The board on Dec. 7 opted to hold off on voting on the application until more information is provided about the project’s co...

ORLEANS — Around 150 people joined special guest Santa Claus in the ceremonial opening of Lower Cape TV’s new studios last Thursday. The ribbon cutting marked the completion of the first phase of the nonprofit television station’s new community studios at 5 Namskaket Rd., in the rear of the building formerly occupied by the Cape Codder newspaper. The 7,500-square-foot space includes a new production studio, a ...