ORLEANS — When is a closing an opening? When it’s a purchase that will ensure public access to Sipson Island, which has been privately held since 1711. On Monday, the Sipson Island Trust and its partner, the Nadler family, closed on the purchase of the Pleasant Bay gem from the Dietrich family trusts. The Trust now owns six lots and will acquire two more from the Nadlers when an additional $585,000 is raised, ...

Has anybody here seen my old friend Bobby? Can you tell me where he’s gone? I thought I saw him walkin’ up over the hill With Abraham, Martin, and John.                          - Dick Holler ORLEANS — As Summer Bates started walking up over the hill to the middle school parking lot Saturday, tears came to her eyes. A torrent of people was pouring down to the village green to join a protest march in so...

ORLEANS — Things looked grim to Sid Snow, CEO of Snow’s Home and Garden, when he wrote to Health Agent Bob Canning May 22. “I have already missed nine weeks of revenue (sales down 74 percent), two of my four best months, and Memorial weekend, which is bigger than Christmas for most all Cape businesses,” he wrote. “I totally expect the governor to extend phase 2 opening way past June 8… Like all busine...

ORLEANS — You could feel Carol Counihan’s excitement as she and her husband Tim decorated their van in the Nauset Regional Middle School parking lot May 27. They were going to see her mother, Lillian Blakely, at The Terraces Continuing Care Community for the first time in months. And they had lots of company. More than 50 cars, vans, and police and fire vehicles gathered last week for a “Love Caravan” to the T...

ORLEANS – The Fourth of July Committee, its associated Friends group, and the board of selectmen all agreed last week: There will be no Fourth of July parade or fireworks this year. But there are reports of another kind of fireworks in town, as verbal disputes increase over pandemic restrictions. “Opposition to the new restrictions and local regulations is growing daily,” Police Chief Scott MacDonald told the ...

Andrea Shaw Reed and incumbents David Currier and Mefford Runyon are running for two seats on what will, after the June 23 balloting, likely be known as the Orleans Select Board. The following profiles are drawn from recent interviews and archived stories. At press time, it was not known whether the Orleans Citizens Forum would hold its traditional candidates evening this year. David Currier: Housing, Busine...

ORLEANS — Town counsel Michael Ford, who’s been Harwich’s moderator since the 1970s, has never seen or heard of an outdoor town meeting. Nevertheless, he’s scheduled to take his customary seat with the board of selectmen on June 20 when Moderator David Lyttle will call the meeting to order on the lawn inside the running track at Nauset Regional Middle School. At last week’s selectmen’s meeting, Lyttle and th...

ORLEANS – As Nauset Regional High School makes plans for graduation ceremonies in July (see related story), planning is under way for the fall semester. “We’ve already started conversations about next year,” Principal Chris Ellsasser told the regional school committee May 14. “My feeling is we will need a remote version (of instruction), a blended version, face-to-face, and one that does all three. We’re estab...

ORLEANS – Questions about building size, traffic to be generated, and whether the operation is retail or wholesale were raised by the selectmen last week as they discussed the F. W. Webb building proposed for the Underground Mall site off Route 6A near the Brewster line. The board wants to hear more from all parties before making a decision about a discretionary referral of the project to the Cape Cod Commissi...

ORLEANS - There's no word yet on whether picnic lunches will be encouraged, but the selectmen have decided that the 2020 annual town meeting will be held alfresco. The town's annual legislative session will be held outdoors Saturday, June 20, at 10 a.m. in the center of Nauset Regional Middle School's running track.  The open-air session will be postponed if it rains. Town meeting usually takes place in the...

ORLEANS — You might call it the nuclear option. Should the board of selectmen decide to refer the F. W. Webb project to the Cape Cod Commission for review, and should the commission accept, all local permitting would be suspended. In a memo responding to the board’s request for an update on the proposed 38,329-square-foot development bordering Route 6A near the Brewster town line, Director of Planning and C...

ORLEANS — The global pandemic wants a reservation for every other parking space at Nauset and Skaket beaches. Town officials have recommended to the park commissioners that, effective immediately, the beach lots “will be closed once at 50 percent capacity or less based on beachfront availability and discretion of the Natural Resources Manager,” according to an April 30 memo from Town Administrator John Kelly, ...