ORLEANS — As one marijuana retailer continues to make its way through local permitting, a second expects to begin the process this summer. Ember Gardens plans to open a retail facility at 41 Route 6A, hopefully in 2023, according to the company's CEO, Shane Hyde. The property, located across from the former Lobster Claw restaurant, sits along a stretch of Route 6A that town officials are eying for future ec...

ORLEANS – Three months out from October's special town meeting, the select board still has plenty of work ahead of it in crafting a short-term rental bylaw for voters' consideration. The board has been working with Town Counsel Michael Ford in recent months to craft a bylaw to better regulate the operation of short-term rentals in residential neighborhoods. Of particular concern is the increased commercializat...

ORLEANS – About a week after the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in which 19 students and two teachers were killed, Gussy McKusick came before the select board with a call to action. "I'm here tonight because I'm tired of crying myself to sleep," she said. "I am grieving about what happened in Uvalde, but now I'm frustrated and I'm angry." Encouraging the town to "think globally and act lo...

ORLEANS – Sitting on a tree-lined stretch of South Orleans Road near downtown, the French Cable Station Museum blends in with its quaint, small town surroundings...almost too well. The museum's unassuming look disguises its unique historical significance. The station, built in 1891, served as the end point for a telegraph cable that allowed communication between the United States and France. The existing build...

NORTH EASTHAM — Chris Ellsasser likes to take his meetings on the go. He prefers walking and talking with students and staff, an approach he says helps him and his assistant principals, Sean Fleming and Patrick Clark, stay on top of the busy world of education that bustles around them. "One of the philosophies I have is if you are present, things don't escalate," he said. "We probably each talk to a hundred pe...

ORLEANS — During the planning board's meeting last week, George Meservey, the town's director of planning and community development, called attention to an ad on the online rental website VRBO soliciting renters for a property at Sea Mist Drive and Barley Neck Road. The property features two homes, one fronting Sea Mist Drive and the other fronting Barley Neck Road, as well as an in-ground pool, volleyball cou...

Former Health Agent To Serve As Grand Marshal In Annual Parade ORLEANS – At 6:30 a.m. Monday, you can find members of the Fourth of July Committee getting ready for the biggest event of the summer. Later that morning, floats will stage at Nauset Regional Middle School. At Lower Cape Dental, there will be antique cars. Police, fire, military and other parade participants, meanwhile, will gather at Orle...

ORLEANS — A community center could include any number of different features and programming. But members of the town's community center feasibility task force are adamant about the need for a future building to house one thing in particular. The Lower Cape sorely needs a gym, members said at their June 23 meeting, and any plan for a community center in town should include one. Apart from Nauset Regional Mid...

ORLEANS – A new fire station. A new library. A community center. A senior center that is nearing the need for renovation or replacement. More parking. The town’s needs are many, but the select board on June 15 addressed an important question that will prove central to its future planning: where and how will the town find the land to accommodate all those needs? Michael Herman, the board’s vice chair, s...

ORLEANS – On a warm early June morning earlier this month, James Rosato walked through his garden plot in the back of Putnam Farm alongside 5-year-old James Oringer. A few plots over, young James' mother, Catherine Larkey, watched with a smile. "James loves to hang out with him," Larkey said of Rosato, an Orleans resident who is in his fifth summer at the farm. "That's the best part, that they get to have time...

ORLEANS – The local use of fertilizers and their impact on the town's water resources has been a subject of discussion among Orleans officials for years. Select board members last week said the time has come to take more forceful action. Following the lead of officials on Nantucket, the board voted 4-0 June 15 to draft an article for the special town meeting in October requesting that the town petition the sta...

ORLEANS – One of two businesses authorized to operate a recreational marijuana establishment in town won approval from the zoning board of appeals last week. After some discussion about whether or not it could begin its review, the zoning board voted unanimously June 15 to award a special permit to Seaside Joint Ventures, Inc., which plans to operate under the name Seaside Cannabis Co. on Lots Hollow Road. ...