ORLEANS — B\Well Holdings filed a complaint in Barnstable Superior Court Monday accusing the select board of committing legal errors or acting arbitrarily and capriciously in not inviting the company to negotiate a host community agreement to open a retail marijuana establishment. Although B\Well achieved the second-highest ranking from the select board on a matrix of criteria regarding the two available lic...

ORLEANS — Perhaps by the end of the decade, Crystal Lake’s name will no longer be ironic. “Crystal used to be so unbelievably clear,” marine and freshwater quality committee chair Judy Scanlon told the select board last week. “As young teenagers, we’d throw a rock into the deepest waters and retrieve it. You did not need masks to find it.” But 21 years of scientific measurement “show a significant trend i...

ORLEANS — Reaching out comes naturally to MaryEllen Reed: to Orleans Elementary students who need their school nurse’s medical care, to colleagues trying to respond to a worldwide pandemic, to staff and parents seeking reassurance – even, via an unexpected handshake, to welcome a reporter interviewing the Nauset District’s nurse leader. “I kind of stumbled into school nursing,” Reed said last week. “I had a ...

NORTH EASTHAM – Unlike the seniors who came before them, Nauset Regional High School’s class of 2021 did not have the luxury of forging its own legacy. They did not choose to be the seniors who attended Nauset during a pandemic. They did, however, choose to make the most of their situation. They will always be remembered as Nauset’s COVID Kids — as the senior class that withstood a global pandemic and made ...

ORLEANS — The select board has many roles, but procurement officer is not one of them. That was made clear, or at least clearer, June 2 as the board designated Seaside Joint Venture and Ember Gardens as the applicants for the town’s two retail marijuana licenses and invited both to negotiate host community agreements. Dune Wellness LLC was selected as the alternate should Seaside or Ember falter. “I can’t s...

ORLEANS — It will be a “lite” version, but the Fourth of July parade will step off at 10 a.m. on Independence Day, with fireworks to follow on July 10 (rain date July 13). The select board voted unanimously June 2 to allow the traditional festivities after hearing from Jennifer Allard, chair of the Fourth of July celebration committee. “We really feel it’s your decision to make the decision whether it’s s...

ORLEANS — The CEO of Strain, LLC, whose company finished out of the running in the competition to secure one of the town’s two retail marijuana licenses, called the process “completely unfair” in a telephone interview this week. “It was rigged,” Priscilla Brown said. Strain and four other companies responded to the town’s request for information. A composite of their scoring gave Ember Gardens 100.8 point...

ORLEANS — Leslie Fields must have a great tennis game. On June 1, the Woods Hole Group project manager for the proposed Nauset Estuary dredging project returned service and volleyed calmly with members of the Nauset Estuary Stakeholder Group. The shots coming her way during a two-hour workout ranged from easy lobs from some Orleans representatives to overhead smashes from some Eastham appointees. The subj...

ORLEANS — You might say Lisa Simundson caught a wave and never let go. From living in Florida to moving to the Cape a decade ago, the new executive director of the Orleans Chamber of Commerce has spent her career writing about and promoting the special merits of coastal communities. “I grew up the Florida way,” she said last week. “You’re outside 365 days a year. If you don’t go to the beach today, you go...

ORLEANS — Ember Gardens and b\well finished first and second in the select board’s composite ranking of applications for the town’s two available retail marijuana licenses. Seaside Joint Venture was ranked third, Dune Wellness fourth, and Strain LLC fifth. Last night (June 2), the board was scheduled to vote on extending two invitations to negotiate host community agreements, a crucial step in moving forward...

ORLEANS — Orleans is the new owner of the Governor Prence Inn properties. On May 22, town meeting voted 246-34 – more than the required three-fourths – to buy the 5.5-acre downtown property and keep it off the market while ascertaining its best use for the community. In presenting the motion, select board member Mefford Runyon stressed that Saturday’s vote was about the acquisition, not the potential uses. ...

ORLEANS — The select board voted May 19 to cancel this year’s Fourth of July parade and fireworks, citing the need to err on the side of caution in opening up the town to what would likely be a huge crowd. But the Fourth of July Committee is already at work on a lower-key celebration for Independence Day that will stir up patriotic pride. News that events like the parade could be held at 50 percent capacity ...