ORLEANS — The energetic ball of fluff called Mia is a companion dog. As she scampered around inside the Old Firehouse last week greeting other dogs and their people, her trainer looked on with admiration. “She owns everywhere she goes,” said Gina Hayes, president of Just Dogs Training. Mia is the latest in a long of animals trained by Hayes, including the beloved companion dog at Nauset Regional Middle Sc...

ORLEANS — About 50 people came to the senior center March 1 to find out more about the revenue committee's proposals to pay for town operations such as the beaches and the transfer station out of their own dedicated income streams. At the Orleans Citizens Forum event, committee member Paul Kelleher presented research that showed, compared to equal Cape communities, the town has the highest percentage of prop...

ORLEANS — Opportunity is knocking for the Nauset Public Schools, even if some wish the region could take more time to get ready for its big date with town meeting voters. On Feb. 27, the Nauset Regional School Committee got an update on discussions between school and town administrators on scheduling a vote to approve a feasibility study and schematic design preparation for a high school renovation/expansion...

ORLEANS — People who love old buildings and serve on historical commissions face a conflict. Their instinct is to preserve, but often they are required to facilitate demolition of historic structures. “It's really discouraging,” said Ann Sinclair, chair of the historical commission. “After all, what is it that people love about Orleans? Houses, the old homes and the ocean.” On Friday, March 3, at 4 p.m., ...

ORLEANS — The town's community preservation committee does just that. It recommends funds to preserve open space, housing options, history and, this week, one woman's dream for youth recreation opportunities. On Feb. 16, the CPC voted to recommend giving Nauset Together We Can $19,000 toward the next phase of the Jean Finch Skateboard Park at Nauset Regional Middle School, just weeks after the death of Finch...

ORLEANS — The Massachusetts School Building Authority smiled on the Nauset Public Schools last week, accepting for further consideration a plan to help pay for renovating 45-year-old Nauset High in Eastham. “We were chosen as one of 17 districts out of 87 to move forward,” Superintendent Tom Conrad said in an interview Feb. 17. “We are very excited and very happy.” Nauset applied last year as well but was...

ORLEANS — The Massachusetts School Building Authority smiled on the Nauset Public Schools this week, accepting for further consideration a plan to help pay for renovating 45-year-old Nauset High in Eastham. “We were chosen as one of 17 districts out of 87 to move forward,” Superintendent Tom Conrad said in an interview Feb. 17. “We are very excited and very happy.” Nauset applied last year as well but was...

ORLEANS — If 50 million Frenchmen can't be wrong, can a million oysters be just right? Town consultant Science Wares planned to file Feb. 14 with the conservation commission for review of a potential second stage of the oyster filtration pilot project conducted last year in Lonnies Pond. Sia Karplus of Science Wares and Dr. Brian Howes of the School of Marine Science and Technology at UMass Darmouth spoke wi...

ORLEANS – Higher than expected costs for some elements of the makeover of the key intersection of Route 6A and Main Street have the town seeing red – to the amount of $144,652. In his quarterly activities report to selectmen Feb. 1, DPW/Natural Resources Director Tom Daley presented the problem – and a solution. In 2014, town meeting authorized spending $428,000 on items that the state would not cover in its p...

ORLEANS — You might call it a fair exchange. The J-1 international visa program welcomes university and post-graduate students from overseas to enjoy a taste of the American experience while these visitors supplement the seasonal labor force. Those who've hired and those who've hosted the students gathered at the senior center Jan. 31 at the invitation of the chamber of commerce to encourage other residents ...

ORLEANS — It was a cold day for a walking tour of the town's freshwater ponds, but members of the marine and fresh water quality task force made the effort Jan. 9 without mittens and parkas. Led by chair Carolyn Kennedy, they walked around tables covered with sheets of water quality statistics at town hall. With some of the numbers collected by volunteers as far back as 2000, the data provided a picture ove...

ORLEANS — Planning board members may have found their way forward with an even more complicated downtown zoning amendment after a third public hearing Jan. 24. Speakers were supportive of doing something to make downtown more lively, but they differed on the ways and means. After 18 months of work, the board has hammered out a plan detailed at the meeting by George Meservey, director of planning and communit...