ORLEANS – The pathway along Weeset Point has been used by the public for years. But with the installation of new fencing last week, some property owners hope to put a stop to it. Stephen Brodeur, who owns property at the end of Weeset Proprietors Way, installed two fences, one at the far end of the point and another closer to Tonset Landing, prohibiting those who don’t live on the private way from accessing...

ORLEANS – You never forget the first time someone asks you to go to France. Beverly Fuller still remembers when her husband, Jon, asked when they first met in 1980. “ I said ‘Wow, this guy’s romantic. I need to get my passport,’” she recalled. “He said ‘It’s with the boys varsity basketball team.’ Not the romantic weekend I was thinking of.” But 42 years later, the Orleans couple is still using basketb...

ORLEANS – Residents voted four years ago to partially fund the installation of a traffic signal system outside the fire department headquarters. Now a petition article has been drafted to get the town to change it. The article included as part of the special town meeting warrant for May 9 asks the town to “alter” the system on Eldredge Park Way so that it is not functional at all times. “ This article w...

ORLEANS – There's no argument about the need to sewer Mill Pond. The question for the select board April 6 was when and how. The board discussed a petition last week directing the town to begin the process of planning for the Mill Pond area to be sewered. The article is set to go before voters at the annual town meeting on May 9. The town is nearing the point of construction on the second phase of sewering ...

ORLEANS – When Hannah Greene was in the third grade, she wrote a poem about one day becoming a police officer. A Yarmouth native, she wanted to follow in the footsteps of her cousin, a New York state trooper. "I think just the job itself, being looked up to by so many people, being the one to help people, the person that people look up to for answers to any of their problems," Greene, 26, said of what initiall...

EASTHAM – Court Watson took an art history class as a sophomore at Nauset Regional High School. But nothing he learned in the classroom could have prepared him for the things he saw in Rome up close. One of 17 Nauset High students who went on a trip to the ancient city over the school's February break, Watson, now a senior, recalled a visit to a museum in a house built upon layers of the city's past history. ...

ORLEANS – Annual town meeting is May 9, and there will be no shortage of articles for voters to work their way through. The select board on March 30 voted to place on the warrant and recommend a total of 85 articles, including 75 for the annual town meeting and an additional 10 for the warrant for special town meeting. The spring sessions are scheduled for 6 p.m. inside the Nauset Regional Middle School gymnas...

ORLEANS – If the Barley Neck Inn hopes to continue offering outdoor music this summer season, it may need more than just an outdoor entertainment license. Building Commissioner Thomas Evers has determined that the Beach Road establishment, which is located in a rural business district, first needs to apply for and receive a special permit from the zoning board of appeals to host outdoor music in order to apply...

ORLEANS – The deadline to return nomination papers to run in the May 17 annual town election came and went Tuesday, but there will be no contested races. Candidates could take out papers for election or re-election to the select board, board of health, Orleans School Committee, Nauset Regional School Committee, Snow Library Board of Trustees and the positions of town constable and town moderator. Incumbent ...

ORLEANS – When Joanna Meager takes the stage at this year's Rock To Stop Homelessness event, she'll be doing more than entertaining a crowd. The Harwich native and mother of two will embody the event's cause. About six years ago, Meager, her husband and children were forced to find a new place to live on short notice. "Our landlord at the time sold the house out from underneath us, and we had 30 days to get ou...

ORLEANS – Local officials hope a new outdoor entertainment license application will help the town steer clear of the complaints and confusion that frustrated some businesses and residents last year. The board's decision last spring to allow live outdoor music at the Barley Neck Inn led to a dispute between the Beach Road restaurant and some abutters who complained about noise and parking problems at the establ...

ORLEANS – A new town position and committee are being recommended to help steer economic development efforts downtown and in the area of Town Cove. Creating an economic development and tourism director position and corresponding committee was among several recommendations in a draft economic development plan presented to the planning board last week. The planning board has been working with Streetsense Cons...

ORLEANS – After almost 70 years, Orleans may soon have a new library. Steven Gass, who chairs the Snow Library's board of trustees, made his pitch to the select board March 23 to allocate north of $20 million in capital improvement spending over the next three fiscal years to build a new library. The trustees proposed spending $150,000 for a feasibility study in fiscal 2025, $1 million for a design contract in...

ORLEANS – Sewer rate projections were presented to the select board last week, but members questioned how those numbers will hold up once the town's new treatment plant and wastewater collection system is up and running. The 1,105 anticipated sewer users downtown are expected to begin tying into the system in September when the new plant on Overland Way goes online. Tom Daley, the town's public works director,...

ORLEANS – An override request is heading to this spring's town election to offset the town's higher-than-anticipated contribution to the Nauset Regional School District budget for the coming fiscal year. Orleans has 27 additional students attending Nauset schools for the coming 2022-2023 school year. As a result, the town's share of the regional school budget is $627,032, or 2.3 percent, higher than what the t...

ORLEANS – A request for funding to restore the Orleans Community Center on Main Street will not go before town meeting voters this spring as hoped. But advocates behind the project aren't about to throw in the towel on plans for the historic building. "We are committed to making this happen," Alan McClennen, who chairs the town's community center renovation task force, told the select board March 16. McClen...