ORLEANS — After half a century of trying to organize the pieces of a town sewer system, the jigsaw puzzle’s outline is set and important parts are being moved into place. Town leaders heard a progress report Feb. 12 along with a reminder of what must be done in the next few months to keep things on track. Vice President Ian Catlow of Tighe & Bond, the town’s owner’s project manager, said AECOM’s design for...

ORLEANS — Now in its second season, the 44-member Lower Cape Curling Club hosted an event known as a “Friendly” with the Cape Cod Curling Club from Falmouth at the Charles Moore Arena last week. The non-competitive match was held to help new members feel comfortable playing with cutlers from other clubs, organizers say. For more information, visit www.LowerCapeCurlingClub.com. ...

ORLEANS — The development team for the proposed F. W. Webb facility on Route 6A was ready for a show and tell, complete with posterboard-mounted plans and drawings for a new 32,00-square-foot warehouse and sales building at the site of the currently vacant Underground Mall. Then the chairman of the Old King’s Highway Regional Historic District Committee made it clear that the Feb. 6 preliminary review would be al...

ORLEANS — As a choreographer, educator, hair stylist, and planning board member, Andrea Shaw Reed has looked to bring out the beauty in people and places. Now she wants to bring what she’s learned to another board, where she hopes to learn more. “The board of selectmen is five people,” she said in a recent interview. “You have to wrestle with ideas, to listen to the people you’re talking to so you can move for...

ORLEANS — The countdown clock has been reset for the acquisition of Sipson Island as a natural preserve, a destination for public access, and an educational resource. With just under a million dollars left to raise, the Friends of Pleasant Bay and other organizations involved in the effort announced an extension of the closing date from Jan. 30 to the end of March. “We had a strong finish in 2019, with ge...

ORLEANS — There’s disagreement about the medicine to make Uncle Harvey better. The marine and fresh water quality committee met last week with consultants to review a proposed timeline for treatment of the pond, which is subject to blooms of cyanobacteria, as soon as June. The committee has endorsed an application of alum to bind with the culprit substance, phosphorus, and drop it out of the water column; mone...

ORLEANS — An interim report on conditions at the fire station include plenty of reasons for alarm. Consultants have documented problems with airflow. No ventilation air is being introduced into the apparatus and rescue vehicle area, and two exhaust fans “do not appear to be functional,” MacRitchie Engineering, Inc., of Braintree, wrote. The presence of union-purchased exercise equipment in the same location “i...

ORLEANS — This Webb site might draw a lot of attention. And this site would be real, not virtual. F.W. Webb Company, purveyor of plumbing, lighting supplies and more, wants to demolish two buildings at Bayberry Square, also known as the Underground Mall, on Route 6A near the Brewster line and build a 32,000-square foot building. For comparison’s sake, the former Hearth & Kettle at nearby Skaket Corners is ...

ORLEANS — With solemn faces, members of the fire and rescue department sat in the rear of the Nauset Room Jan. 22 as the board of selectmen discussed the process of finding a successor to Chief Tony Pike, whose last day before retirement will be Feb. 22. If a new leader isn’t found by then, Deputy Chief Geof Deering, who sat with his colleagues during last week’s meeting, would become acting chief. The board d...

ORLEANS — The town’s projected budget for fiscal year 2021, which begins July 1, includes a 2.9 percent decrease in the tax rate and no property tax increase. On the other hand, the first look at operating expenses for the non-school budget shows a 4.7 increase, a bit over the board of selectmen’s 4 percent cap. But there could be good news there, too, if the Cape Cod Municipal Health Group sets coverage rates lo...

ORLEANS – That the problem of mass incarceration is alarming is seen not only in the statistics but in the strong and passionate commitments of those aware of and concerned about over-incarceration in America today. Many know there is a problem, but how it came to exist and how to address it are often less clear. The Honorable Donald L. Cabell, the guest speaker at this year’s Martin Luther King Day Breakfast at ...

ORLEANS — “New occasions teach new duties,” James Russell Lowell wrote. That thought may be helpful as Nauset Regional School District taxpayers weigh a high school reconstruction project that will benefit not only the district’s children but also some from other Cape towns as well as adult learners from the system’s four communities. The Eastham high school’s student body is a mix of pupils from Brewster, Eas...