ORLEANS — Snow Library has been fighting back against the pandemic with on-line programs and curbside pick-up, the latter just expanded to six days a week. But the global crisis has prompted the state's library commissioners to forgo a new round of planning grants, one of which Snow trustees intended to seek in their effort to expand or build a new library. “We have been told by the Massachusetts Board o...

ORLEANS – For the first time since it was sold by a Monomoyick leader to English colonists in 1711, Sipson Island in Pleasant Bay will officially open for public access on Saturday, July 25. The Sipson Island Trust (SIT) purchased most of the island for conservation in June, culminating a major fundraising campaign led by the Friends of Pleasant Bay and the Compact of Cape Cod Conservation Trusts. Mark Robi...

ORLEANS – With every day the COVID-19 pandemic continues, finding good news can be a challenge, but for small business owners in Orleans, there is hope courtesy of the Small Business Hardship Fund. According to Noëlle Pina, executive director of the Orleans Chamber of Commerce, funds are coming from the Orleans Police Relief Association in order to help small businesses stay afloat during difficult times. ...

ORLEANS – As Maria DeOliveira stared into the hold behind the bow of the US Coast Guard vessel 36500 from its berth at Rock Harbor, she couldn’t hold back her quiet tears. It was aboard this very boat that her father, Aguinol B. DeOliveira, was rescued along with 31 fellow survivors of the famous Pendleton wreck in 1952. Until 2016, DeOliveira, who lives in Dorchester, had no idea the boat was still in existen...

ORLEANS — The Nauset school system has talked the talk, and many members even walked the walk at the well-attended June 5 march in support of Black Lives Matter. Last week, the regional school committee took another step by endorsing an anti-racism resolution being circulated by the Massachusetts Association of School Committees that seeks to ensure “that racist practices are eradicated, and diversity, equity a...

ORLEANS — “Fantastic” was how select board member Andrea Reed described the community’s first outdoor town meeting, which drew 439 voters to the running track at Nauset Regional Middle School on June 20. Member Cecil Newcomb congratulated Moderator David Lyttle for “running a very efficient, streamlined meeting” during the board’s post-mortem on July 1. “It went very well, given the logistics. Thank God t...

ORLEANS — The Nauset Estuary Stakeholder Group will meet via Zoom tonight (July 9) at 5 to hear some good news regarding the long-sought and oft-delayed effort to dredge the estuary and restore its utility for commercial and recreational boaters. The likely presence of red tide cysts in some of the material to be dredged presented concerns about their possible spread when the materials were relocated. A pilo...

Fiscal stability involves not only planning to pay for needed services years into the future but also being prepared for unexpected circumstances. That’s why the work sessions will also look at ways to protect the town’s AAA bond rating, to reduce reliance on free cash to offset the operating budget, and to preserve financial reserves including stabilization funds. According to the DOR, towns can recover 100 p...

Not too long ago the Orleans harbormaster, a bit worried, asked a longtime fisherman to keep watch on a young guy who had started bullraking in Cape Cod Bay with no more experience than watching a few videos on YouTube. “In two days I made about $28,” said Chris Viprino, the young guy in question, on a recent overcast day at Rock Harbor. “I spent a winter doing it. Too stubborn to do anything else.” Viprino...

Not that there was much doubt, but white sharks have returned to local waters. And with the holiday weekend upon us, beach managers are urging the public to take responsibility for their own safety. On June 17, state shark biologist Greg Skomal and a crew from the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy tagged three white sharks that were feeding on a whale carcass just south of Monomoy Point. The next week, boaters ...

ORLEANS – A town-wide flyover salute and a virtual “parade in place” will highlight this year's July 4 activities in town. Last year's July 4th parade was produced by a newly formed committee, taking over for the previous committee that stepped down after many years of dedicated service. The new committee was gearing up for an even more successful second year at the helm when COVID-19 struck, forcing shut-down...

ORLEANS — A new revolving fund will receive fees from courses run by the recreation department, but that bookkeeping change is just a bunny hop compared to the strides envisioned by the recreation advisory committee. They want to grow the town’s programs, and also find out what sort of community center Orleans would like to have. “We have an opportunity to influence the board of selectmen as they approach th...