Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
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World champion bull rider Cody Teel from Kountze is one of several National Finals Rodeo qualifying cowboys chasing the prize money at the 3rd annual Sabine River Ford Pro Rodeo Friday and Saturday, Feb. 5-6, at T-2 Arena in Orange. “Man, I don’t know where all these cowboys are coming from,” Chad Havens, event host, said. “We’ve probably got 30% more contestants entered than we ever have.” The rodeo, held at T-2 Arena, 3810 Old Peveto Road, runs from 7 p.m. until 10 p.m. bot...
Orangefield Independent School District may or may not be the first in the county to do it but it sure won't be the last. School board members voted 6-0 Monday night to approve a resolution requesting the state designate all public school district personnel as "essential frontline workers" and be given appropriate priority for receiving the COVID-19 vaccine as it becomes available. "We mailed it today to Austin," Shaun McAlpin, Orangefield's schools superintendent, said...
Jury trials are on the docket again in Orange County. They restarted at the first of the year locally after a nine-month halt because of the coronavirus pandemic. Still, judges are taking plenty of precautions. The county's jury selection, which began its every other Monday schedule with more than 100 citizens this week, is taking place in the ballroom of the Orange County Convention & Expo Center, to allow plenty of social-distancing room. "We've been having everything but ju...
Randy Branch, pastor of the Wesley United Methodist Church of Orange, wants to become West Orange's first new mayor since 1995. Johnny Asevedo, pastor of non-denominational Destiny Church, is running for Pinehurst City Council with plans to sell the town as a go-to location. Branch, a member of the West Orange city council the past three years, will face Jim Whittington, a former Louisiana Justice of the Peace, in the Saturday, May 1 election. There could be others in the...
Orange County has joined a five-county Southeast Texas group in an effort to get more COVID-19 vaccines into the arms of its citizens. John Gothia, Orange County judge, said the goal is to establish one or more permanent vaccination hub sites and possibly a mobile vaccine unit for use in Orange, Hardin, Jasper, Newton, and Jefferson Counties. By combining their public health resources and populations, the resulting "consortium" covering a population of nearly a half-million re...
Expect a familiar name on the May 1 ballot for the City of Bridge City. Aaron Roccaforte, 38-year-old son of former BC mayor and longtime city council fixture Kirk Roccaforte, has filed to run for Place 1 on the city council. "I've been around it [city council] all my life, and I really feel like I can be an asset for the city," says the younger Roccaforte. "I really think I could possibly make a difference and help some people out." Aaron Roccaforte, a 2000 graduate of...
Waldo's got nothing on Covid-19 vaccinations when it comes to being hard to find in Orange County. If you looked fast, the county was supposed to get 100 vaccines at each of four pharmacies this week – Kroger's and Walgreens on 16th Street in Orange, the Main Street Brookshire Brothers in Vidor, and the Bridge City Walmart. The state has set up about 75 vaccine hubs, including one in Chambers County, two in Galveston County, one at the Jasper-Newton Health Department and a...
The Orange County Drainage District has some good news for Orange homeowners along the Cow Bayou, Adams Bayou and Little Cypress Bayou. Don Carona, general manager of the Drainage District, announced Tuesday that the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) had authorized a grant of up to $1.5 million on a $2 million project that will remove trees blown down by Hurricane Laura from the banks of those key Orange County waterways. On Monday, Tommy Clary, whose north Orange...
Talk about a landslide. Dade Phelan, Orange County's man in the Statehouse, won support from every corner of the state and sailed into the 87th Texas Legislature Tuesday as the Speaker of the House. The Beaumont native, who represents District 21, which takes in much of western Jefferson County, much of Port Arthur and all of Orange County, was elected by a 143-2 vote with four members not voting. The area was well represented on Phelan's big day. Bishop Curtis Guillory, the...
The Houston Chronicle’s Editorial Board has called for Orange’s representative in Congress, Rep. Brian Babin of Woodville, to resign for his part in last Wednesday’s deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol. Babin, a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump the past four years, released a statement blaming the Supreme Court for the riot of Trump supporters that left five people dead. “If SCOTUS [Supreme Court of the United States] had properly acted and heard the Texas lawsuit...
After more than 25 years as mayor of West Orange, Roy McDonald said he is "99 and 9/10% sure" that he will not run for reelection in May. And a former Louisiana Justice of the Peace is ready to take his place. Jim Whittington, 51, a relative newcomer to West Orange in that he has only lived in town for 17 years, about half the time McDonald has served as an alderman or mayor there, says, "I love West Orange. I want to clean up West Orange and head in a new direction. "I think...
Brian Babin, Orange County's voice in the U.S. House of Representatives, said those who don't join him Wednesday in objecting to the Electoral College vote count will live to regret it. Babin was an early adopter of a "Hail Mary" plan to make a formal objection to the Electoral College results when they are presented to a joint session of Congress Wednesday. "This is a pivotal moment," Babin posted on his Twitter account Saturday, Jan. 2. "It's time to stand up and be...
Orange County has published a priority list for its citizens receiving the Covid-19 vaccine. The info sheet posted on the Orange County website (co.orange.tx.us) under a red "Public Health Notice" bar on the bottom left side includes the note "The rollout and allocation of this vaccination program is 100% handled by the State of Texas." It says Phase 1A, vaccinating Healthcare Workers, has not been completed. Phase 1B has six categories and the info sheet indicates they will...
The state announced Monday that it would be getting another 325,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine, saying it already had received more than 793,000 doses. Orange County had received just 200 doses as of Tuesday morning. Those were shipped to one location, the Brookshire Brothers Pharmacy in Vidor, which is giving a maximum of 20 vaccinations per day to predetermined sections of the public. The vaccinations are not yet available to the general public. County Judge John Gothia said...
After winning what is believed to be the most expensive election race in Orange County in 20 years, Rex Peveto had to wait nine months before claiming his office. He wasn’t complaining last Saturday, Jan. 1, after taking the oath of office as 163rd District Court Judge. He did it at the family estate in north Orange County, with his new court coordinator Liz Langston reading the oath and Peveto repeating after her. Because of Covid-19, only the closest of family members a...
Ray Fontenot has voted in 20 Presidential elections. "Every president from Roosevelt to Biden," he said Tuesday as the dishes were cleared from his 100th birthday party, a small family affair. "I voted for [Franklin] Roosevelt twice." Born on Jan. 5, 1921 and raised in Grand Prairie, Louisiana, near Opelousas, the World War II vet and DuPont retiree was actually alive during the final days of the Woodrow Wilson administration, just after the ends of World War I (1918) and the...
While Congress and the White House go back and forth on whether to increase individual stimulus payments from $600 to $2,000, Texas Sen. John Cornyn is taking a well-timed victory lap. The $1.4 trillion bill to fund government agencies that President Trump signed Sunday night along with the $900 billion pandemic relief package included the Water Resources Development Act of 2020. That will fund a feasibility study for the Port Arthur and Orange County flood risk management...
Mid-year retirements increased for teachers in the Little Cypress-Mauriceville school district and its superintendent says Covid-19 is to blame. "I think I have seven or eight that are leaving Dec. 31 and I've never had that," Stacey Brister, third-year superintendent and 20-year administrator in the district, said. "I think Covid has played a major, major role in that. Not only Covid itself, but how it affects people as far as a teaching standpoint. Our teachers are teaching...
West Orange Mayor Roy McDonald says that while a big box store already exists to sell lumber or housewares, Harbor Freight Tools will be the place to buy the tools once it opens in early 2021. "We're looking forward to that," he said. The California-based, family-owned company already has stores in Port Arthur, Beaumont and Lake Charles but its new location at 3109 Edgar Brown Drive (Texas 87), between Wendy's and Walmart, will be its first in Orange County. It is expected to...
Orange County small businesses could be eligible for a second round of federal Paycheck Protection Program loans if legislation passed by Congress Monday is OK’d by the White House. Under the legislation, loans are eligible for forgiveness and the money from PPP loans is not taxable. This changes the old law, making the tax deduction retroactive. President Trump threatened Tuesday not to sign a stimulus bill based on $600 checks to American taxpayers, calling it “ridiculously...
To say Sheriff Lane Mooney's first six months on the job have been full of surprises might be putting it mildly. There was: -- a day-long August SWAT standoff that included a two-hour gun battle; -- a train derailment and chemical spill that forced evacuation of a neighborhood of 600 people; -- a hurricane that destroyed the jail roof and forced the movement of 100 prisoners nearly 200 miles. And all this came during the worst health disaster in U.S. history, the ongoing...
The County Judge is asking for a way out, but said Tuesday afternoon that he has passed along the state’s order rolling back relaxed Covid-19 restrictions: Until further notice, Orange County bars without food service must shut down and restaurants and businesses can operate with only 50% capacity. Elective surgeries must be postponed. Orange County is part of a nine-county Trauma Service Area that stretches from Newton County to Galveston County but does not include H...
Nothing makes an Orange County Commissioner's day like a call from a constituent complaining about potholes. Clark Slacum wants to help – and says he can, thanks to FEMA. The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced last week that federal assistance will be made available for those affected by Hurricane Laura, which raked this area with winds as high as 100 mph on Aug. 27. President Trump signed the authorization needed last week so a five-county area including J...
Vaccinations for COVID-19 should be available to the general public in Orange County by the end of the year, officials say. That's little more than two weeks away, so the three-staged rollout will have to hurry. No vaccines had been given out in the county as of Tuesday afternoon, a day after Beaumont and Houston hospitals took delivery of their first vax kits. But both County Judge John Gothia or Joel Ardoin, the county's Emergency Management Coordinator, said they were in...
“Over the moon,” was the way Bridge City’s high school band director described the mood on the bus ride home from San Antonio Tuesday morning. “It was a great time. A little bit of stress wrapped up with excitement,” Tami Goss said after the band finished seventh out of 20 teams at the University Interscholastic League’s Class 4A Marching Band State Championships. The competition was held in the Alamodome in San Antonio. It was the first time Bridge City had qualified f...
