The Record Newspapers - Hometown News For Orange County, Texas

And then there were three.

The three finalists for the county engineer position for the Road and Bridge Department were made public Monday afternoon at the Orange County Commissioners' Court meeting.

They are: Clark R. Slacum, Jaems A. Layne and Kenneth J. Wiemers. All three candidates have Orange addresses. The application period closed April 5.

Early voting locations are now set in Orange County after Texas received a late start setting a national primary date. The Orange County Commissioners' Court approved the following locations on the following dates at their meeting Monday afternoon:

• Orange Public Library (Main early voting location)

220 N. Fifth St.

• First Baptist Church Mauriceville

11540 Highway 12

• Bridge City Public Works Building

220 Nitsche

• The Raymond Gould Community Center

385 Clairborne in Vidor

Early voting will be conducted on the following dates and times:

• Monday, May 14 through Saturday, May 19

• Monday, May 21 through Friday, May 25

• During the hours of 8 a.m. till 5 p.m.

Commissioners also approved Orange County employee holidays for 2013:

New Year's Day - Tuesday, January 1

MLK Day Monday - Monday, January 21

Texas Independence - Friday, March 1

Good Friday - Friday, March 29

Memorial Day - Monday, May 27

Independence Day - Thursday, July 4

Labor Day - Monday, September 2

Veterans' Day - Monday, November 11

Thanksgiving - Thursday, November 28 and Friday, November 29

Christmas - 5 Monday, December 23; Tuesday, December 24 and Wednesday, December 25

Lynda Gunstream, tax assessor-collector, reported March collection figures for the tax office. Overall, a total of $3.321 million was collected with a little more than $571,000 going to the county and a collection rate of 93.3 percent.

Jeff Kelley, emergency management coordinator, reported he and staff recently attended the National Hurricane Conference and the State Emergency Conference and the things learned there. He also announced his department expects Round 2.2 of Hurricane Ike funding to come in at any moment.

Cindy Fertitta, primary prevention specialist/education coordinator for the Rape and Suicide Crisis Center of Southeast Texas, and Kim Hanks of Garth House, addressed the court. The month of April was proclaimed as Sexual Assualt and Awareness Prevention Month and April 22-28 as National Crime Victims' Right Week.

Fertitta said adults need to model the appropriate behavior to children and in the process, they may save a life.

Hanks said 9,168 children have gone through the doors of the Garth House since opening in 1992.

May was also declared as Motorcycle Safety and Awareness Month.