ORLEANS – In 1965, Andrew DeLory registered with the Selective Service Board, through which he applied for and was approved status as a conscientious objector. "It's a great nation that allows men and women on philosophical or religious grounds with conscience to serve without weapons, to do no harm, to object to warfare," DeLory, an Orleans resident who served in the Vietnam War as a specialist in the U.S. Ar...

ORLEANS – Sometimes a little neighborly competition is healthy. When Justin Alex saw Chatham's Art In the Park initiative a few years ago, it got him thinking about what the Orleans Chamber of Commerce could do to help support its local businesses. "I grew up in Chatham, but I used to surf a lot in Orleans," said Alex, who is president of the chamber's board of directors and director of sales for The Chroni...

ORLEANS – Imagine on Putnam Farm a cleaner, healthier habitat for plants, birds, frogs, turtles and other native wetland wildlife, and a place more accessible for public viewing. That's the vision for two wetland areas in the center of the farm brought before the town's conservation commission last month. Ian Ives of Mass Audubon and Tom Biebighauser, a wetlands biologist based out of Kentucky, are proposin...

ORLEANS – On Monday of last week, the Girls on the Run team at Orleans Elementary School made their way around the school grounds. The route was the same one the 14 runners have been following twice a week since March, but this day was different. Teachers, staffers and family members gathered outside to cheer the team in one of their final practices before heading to Boston for this Saturday's Girls on the Run...

ORLEANS – With funding secured through town meeting earlier this month, a task force will work to further plans for a new Snow Library. The Snow Library Feasibility Study Task Force is charged with looking at options for building a new library at the site of the existing building near the corner of Main Street and Route 28, as well as alternative sites for a new facility. The select board unanimously approved ...

ORLEANS – Carl Trevison had heard about the growing anti-war sentiment back home in America during his year-long tour of duty in Vietnam. But it took returning home to realize how many people had begun to turn against veterans such as himself. "I was not aware that it was that bad," said Trevison, an Orleans resident who served in the U.S. Army from 1966 to 1968. "I know guys had told me that when you processe...

ORLEANS – Town officials had high hopes for Patricia MacDonald when she began work as the town's new recreation director May 1. But after just three weeks on the job, MacDonald resigned last week, just months ahead of the start of summer programming. Interim Town Administrator Charles Sumner broke the news to the recreation advisory committee May 18, saying that MacDonald submitted her letter of resignation ea...

ORLEANS – Brian Junkins can still recall in detail the circumstances surrounding his parents' purchase of Friends' Marketplace. "My mom was a middle school teacher at the school right behind here," said Brian, who owns the Main Street market with his wife, Monila. "She was driving to school one day and noticed that the store might be available for sale. That's how my dad found out about it. He rushed down from...

ORLEANS – Funding from the state Department of Housing and Community Development has been awarded to the affordable housing project at 107 Main St., putting the development on track to potentially break ground this fall. Gov. Maura Healey's administration on May 19 announced that $246 million in subsidies and tax credits were awarded in total for more than a dozen projects statewide. Of that figure, $1.7 milli...

ORLEANS – Nicole Boyce literally found herself going down an internet rabbit hole. The Nauset Regional High School junior was looking up "free rabbits" on Craigslist, and she was surprised to find a number of listings. "I thought that was really interesting," she said. Many of the ads were from well meaning people who were trying to find a good home for their pet, but she found that wasn't always the cas...

ORLEANS – There was a period Monday night where things did not look good for advocates of Veterans Memorial Park. An article seeking a $110,000 debt exclusion for irrigation improvements, electrical upgrades and loam and seeding at the downtown park was supported by a majority of voters, 337 to 119, but it failed to garner the three-quarters majority needed for the article to pass. Orleans resident Bruce Ta...

ORLEANS – There are 66 articles in the warrant for Monday's annual town meeting, followed by an additional nine to be considered in a special town meeting. With such a heavy slate, select board members will head into the Nauset Regional Middle School gymnasium with one overarching question. Are voters ready, and are town officials ready to defend the articles? With approximately $11 million in debt exclusio...

ORLEANS – Out behind Orleans Elementary School, past the athletic field, a newly cleared path winds its way through the woods out to Boland Pond. Just before the path meets the water, a series of newly constructed benches sit waiting to be used. Students and staff at the elementary school last month began using the new outdoor classroom, the pathway and benches which were paid for by the Orleans Conservation T...

ORLEANS – Lower Cape residents may have noticed plumes of smoke coming from Sipson Island last Friday. A controlled burn was held to clear a portion of the island of overgrowth and invasive vegetation. The effort is part of the Sipson Island Trust's long-term goal of "rewilding" the island and returning it to its natural state. The trust's president, Mon Cochran, said volunteers spent two months ahead of Fr...

ORLEANS – Taylor Perkins has a vision for how businesses together can help bring housing to the local workers who most need it. He calls it "coop-etition." "If we can help the other businesses here on the Cape, it bodes well for our own business," he said when reached by phone Monday. Perkins has brought that mindset to the Seashore Park Inn on Canal Road, which he purchased for $5.1 million in July. Throug...

ORLEANS – A complaint filed in the state's Land Court alleges that the Orleans Conservation Trust has created a "nuisance" for neighbors with easements in the vicinity of a trail system the trust advertises for public use. The complaint centers upon one of six properties on Hensons Way and Whites Lane in East Orleans that were deeded to the trust in 2004, as well as three additional properties the trust secure...