Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
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Orange County District Attorney John Kimbrough said Tuesday that Bridge City's Police Department "did a fantastic job" investigating twin fatalities that occurred minutes and miles apart on June 13, 2020. Jarrod Lee Watkins, 24, of Orange, was charged with intoxication manslaughter in a head-on collision that killed 20-year-old Jillian Blanchard of Port Neches on FM 1442 in Bridge City. But Watkins has never been charged in connection with the other fatality. Social media has...
Orange is getting a new 80-unit senior apartment community near the intersection of Highway 62 and Interstate 10. A celebration was held Wednesday, June 16, to christen the SilverLeaf at Orange, a project built with $8.8 million in funding from the Texas General Land Office. “It’s nice,” said Precinct 2 County Commissioner Theresa Beauchamp, whose broad area includes the new housing. “We needed that in that area,” she said. It will be an affordable rental housing complex,...
City council members at both Pinehurst and West Orange have liked what they’ve seen from proposals to place streetlights on MacArthur Drive. “It was a real brief presentation, and we will talk more, but based on what I saw, it’s going to be a big addition to our city, because it’s aimed at keeping our citizens safe,” Johnny Asevedo, Pinehurst councilman, said. “We’ve needed lights out there for quite a few years,” Shirley Bonnin of the West Orange council said. “It is da...
West Orange officials reappointed to their jobs by new Mayor Randy Branch repeated their Oaths of Office at Tuesday night's meeting. From left, they are Assistant Fire Chief Simmie Gibson, Fire Chief David Roberts, Municipal Court Judge Carl Thibodeaux and City Attorney Chris Leavins....
Joe Biden’s American Recovery Plan Act, passed by Congress without a single Republican vote, just showered ruby red Orange County with the first of two $8.1 million payments. The all-Republican County Commissioners are eager to see what they’re allowed to use it for. After Tuesday’s twice-monthly Commissioners Court meeting, County Judge John Gothia asked Tim Funchess, county purchasing agent, to put an item on the June 22 agenda to start the process to hire a grant manag...
Good times are set to resume in Orange. The Lion’s Club 80th Charity Carnival will take place over three weekends at Lions Den Park this year, beginning Wednesday, June 16. “When we first started planning for this, they still had the COVID thing,” Pam Crew-Honeycutt, carnival co-chairman explained the extra week. “We were trying to encourage more social distancing. We thought it would give people the opportunity to spread out.” This year’s event begins at 6:30 p.m. Wednes...
One of Orange County’s top news sources is going off the air. Sherry Combs is retiring from the Little Cypress-Mauriceville school district Friday, ending a 42-year career that saw her issue tens of thousands of notifications –what used to be called “press releases” – on behalf of LCMCISD and West Orange-Cove school districts and the LifeShare Blood Center. “I’m 70 and it’s time,” she said Tuesday. “I can do anything I want to, any time I want to.” For the past 20 years, Co...
You’re a grand old flag, You’re a high-flying flag, Monday, June 14, marks the 104th observance of Flag Day in the United States, a holiday officially established in 1916 by President Woodrow Wilson. But every day is Flag Day for retired U.S. Navy sailor John Hall. The West Orange-Stark graduate served 20 years as an aviation ordnanceman on U.S. aircraft carriers circling the globe supporting combat and peacekeeping missions alike. “When we first got married, my wife asked...
A proposal to bring streetlights to a dark and deadly stretch of road is on the agendas for neighboring Orange County cities. The Texas Department of Transportation will make a presentation for a "MacArthur Drive Illumination Project" at Tuesday's 6 p.m. meeting of the Pinehurst City Council. While no one at Pinehurst was available to talk about the item, Randy Branch, the new mayor in West Orange, said the same item will be on his council's agenda for Monday, June 14. He...
The new gateway to Lamar State College Orange is going to be known as the “Gatemouth” … as in Gatemouth Plaza. The two-year school in downtown Orange announced that it plans to memorialize the Grammy Award-winning musician, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, by naming the plaza currently under construction on the west side of campus. Brown, who died in 2005, was known for his expertise on the guitar and had a recording career that spanned more than five decades. The school began con...
Expect city tax rates to decrease this year but don't look for tax bills to decline. Based on May's skyrocketing proposed tax values, county and city governments and school districts should be forced to slash their rates to avoid taking too big a bite out of taxpayer's wallets. But a bite it will still be. County-wide, the proposed tax assessments for 2021 were 16 percent higher than in 2020. The final increase should be lower, after appeals are heard and values are finalized...
Wayne Peveto grew up on the family farm in Orange County's McLewis community. He and his four brothers helped their sharecropper dad, Horace, and mother Lola raise a rice crop and run a dairy. Eventually, the family farm grew to 160 acres. Today, Wayne Peveto owns about 3,500 acres of north Orange County land – more than five square miles – and two of the larger herds of cattle in the area. "It's in your blood, just something you do," said the 82-year-old rancher. "I do hav...
The City of West Orange landed $3.8 million to improve drainage and Mayor Randy Branch was happy to get it. “We applied for this grant and they finally finalized it,” said Branch, a former city alderman who was elected at the start of May to replace longtime mayor Roy McDonald. “This has probably been in the works at least a couple of years.” Monday, Branch joined Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush, Texas Sen. Robert Nichols, Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan and Vidor Mayor...
Two of the five worst rainfall events in U.S. history, back-to-back hurricanes, a record ice storm and a year-long COVID shutdown should have sent the Orange County economy reeling. They were devastating to many property owners and non-essential workers, for sure. But that’s not what sales tax figures say. Despite hurricanes Laura and Delta aiming 100 miles per hour winds at trees and rooftops while homeowners still struggled with the aftermath of Tropical Storms Harvey and I...
Charlie Dubois of Little Cypress said it was the 2012 funeral for his father-in-law, Earl Bilbo, that moved him to put his U.S. Army uniform back on and assist at funerals. John Hall of north Orange joined after he saw the Southeast Texas Veterans Group Honor Guard at a close friend's funeral. And Monday they will both be in Beaumont for a 10 a.m. Memorial Day Service at Forest Lawn Cemetery, 4955 Pine Street. As the country and the state opens up after a year of COVID-19 lock...
County Judge John Gothia issued a Declaration of Disaster for Orange County at 5 p.m. Friday, citing the 'imminent threat' created by an impending tropical storm system expected to make landfall along the upper Texas coast "within the next 12 hours." Storms this week have saturated Southeast Texas and both the Neches and Sabine Rivers are already above flood levels. At dinner time Friday, the National Weather Service was tracking "a well-defined low pressure system over the...
Orange County business small owners are counting the days until June 26. That’s when the $300-a-week Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation is set to run out in Texas after Gov. Greg Abbott announced Monday the state is dropping out of the federal program to help address a labor shortage. “As a small business guy, that’s big news for us,” said Keith Wallace, owner of Orange County’s Reliable Cleaners. “It’s next to impossible to get staffed up. You check all the avenues....
Dr. Thomas Johnson, President at Lamar State College Orange, never misses a chance to express how important the role of a two-year college can be. And at the school's Spring 2021 Commencement, he saw over and over the proof. A spring semester record 175 students graduated and received their associate's degrees, or certificates of completion in two ceremonies held Saturday in the Carl Parker Center in Port Arthur. Among the graduates were the first LSCO Early College High Schoo...
Orange County officials joined Newton County Judge Ken Weeks in calling Tuesday afternoon for voluntary evacuations because of heavy rains expected to add to already flooded areas. Though sunshine was abundant Tuesday evening, another stormfront was expected Wednesday. "Based on what we've been told, [Wednesday] is supposed to be the worst," said Joel Ardoin, Orange County Emergency Management Coordinator. "The it will start letting up." West Orange-Cove CISD canceled school...
Bridge City alum Kassidy Wilbur was named Southland Conference Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year after leading Stephen F. Austin’s softball team to the conference title. She went into this week’s play with the most wins – 29 – of any pitcher in NCAA Division I. A junior who led BC to four straight district championships and was a three-time District 24-4A Most Valuable Player, Wilbur etched her name in the SFA record books in 2021. She posted a 29-4 record across...
So you've always wanted to live in a $200,000 home. Or a half-million dollar home. This could be your lucky year. You'd love to sell it for top dollar when it's time. But, meanwhile, that value is way over what you want to pay taxes on. Tax values are up across the state of Texas this year and Orange County is no exception. Scott Overton, Chief Appraiser for the Orange County Appraisal District, said preliminary tax values were up an average of 16 percent over last year. But...
Orange is set to host a couple hundred college bass fishing teams July 8-10 in the Texas B.A.S.S. Nation Sabine River fishing tournament. County Commissioners approved a $15,000 payment from the Hotel Occupancy Tax fund to pay the host fee. The tournament, based at Orange Boat Ramp, is a last-chance qualifier for the Carhartt BASSmaster National Championship in August. Jessica Hill, Executive Director of the Orange County Economic Development Corporation, said the event could...
Students in Bridge City High School’s floral design classes stay busy year-round. “We do all the flowers for school,” instructor Debbie Gregg said. “Any time there’s a big dance, we do the presentational flowers. “It starts in the fall with homecoming flowers and we finish up with graduation.” But for the last couple of weeks, Gregg’s students have been tending to a new project – one for some, that’s sadly all too meaningful. The 60 students in BC’s four floral design classes...
Two-term Orange City Council member Patrick Pullen will get a recount of results of the May 1 election. It will be conducted beginning at 9 a.m. Friday, with results expected by noon, Orange County's Election Administration announced. Pullen, an Orange policeman for 32 years before retiring with the rank of Captain, finished seven votes shy of challenger David C. Bailey in the final ballot count, 145-138, for Orange District 1 representative. In his first election to city coun...
Orange County Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a resolution supporting a bill in the Texas Legislature that is expected to make the long-discussed “Ike Dike” a reality. “I’d say this is probably the most important event I’ve been around in 20 years dealing with Orange County and its cities,” said Commissioner Kirk Roccaforte, who was mayor of Bridge City in 2006-16, helping the city recover from Hurricanes Rita and Ike. “For all the 20 years I’ve been her...
