ORLEANS — While fire department personnel “have consistently provided the highest possible level of emergency services to the Orleans community,” according to a new study, the current staffing model “is neither sustainable nor efficient.” A staffing and organizational review by Emergency Services Consulting International recommends a reorganization to increase minimum staffing to four firefighters per shift, r...

BREWSTER – There are two schools of thought about the $131,825,665 Nauset Regional High School renovation/addition project. One reflects years of work to produce a plan for a 905-student school that will receive significant financial support from the Massachusetts School Building Authority and include school choice students from other districts to maintain sufficient enrollment to provide a wide variety of cou...

ORLEANS — After four decades of fighting fires for the town, the only thing left for retiring Chief Anthony Pike to battle was his own emotions as he said goodbye to staff and colleagues from around the Cape Feb. 21. “I’ve said enough over the last 40 years,” he told a crowd gathered at the station in brief remarks. “This has been a dream, to serve the community. Thank you very much.” Standing beside Pike a...

ORLEANS — F. W. Webb is making the rounds of town boards seeking approval to tear down buildings at the former Underground Mall on Route 6A near the Brewster line and build a 38,000-square-foot, 30-foot-high combination retail and warehouse facility. On March 4 at 7 p.m., the zoning board of appeals will review requests for relief from building size and parking requirements. The next day, at 6:30 p.m., the Old...

NORTH EASTHAM – The statistics are sobering: One in four girls and one in six boys will be sexually abused before their 18 th birthdays, but only one in 10 will tell someone about it. Children's Cove has been working to change that through their Teen TASK (Taking A Stand for Kids) Force, which this year has come to Nauset Regional High School. The program originally got its start in 2016 with a partnership wi...

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...