Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
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Karen Fisher jokes that she even hates herself when she writes her self a check to pay for her property taxes. "I hate that Karen Fisher," she jokes. Fisher has been the elected Orange County Tax Assessor-Collector for nearly eight years and Wednesday is her last day after working in the office for 32 years. It's been a tradition for decades for checks to pay property taxes and the vehicle registrations collected in the office to be written to the personal name of the tax...
The OCARC Fishing Tournament provides more than a chance for local amateur anglers to win money for their catches. The supports clients at the sheltered workshop and brings people together to celebrate the special adults. The tournament is always held on the first Friday and Saturday of August and this Saturday will be the 36th. Thanks to local businesses, prize money this year is going up with $500 for the top prize in the four major categories, bass, speckled trout,...
Orange will be getting a new $20 million plant to produce fertilizer using waste products from the seafood industry. Construction of the plant is to begin "immediately," according to news releases. The plant will be the second for Tidal Grow AgriScience, which currently has a production facility in Pacific County, Washington. The Orange plant will be built with a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The products include brand names Oceanic and SeaPhos. They are...
When Constable Jeremiah Gunter isn't out busting illegal game rooms or smoke shops violating laws, he's been brainstorming a way to encourage more local kids to get a career in law enforcement. His ideas have led to a way to raise scholarship money, showcase area musicians, and create a community gathering all at once. This coming Saturday, August 3, the inaugural Orange County Music Festival will be held at the Mauriceville Community Center pavilion. Entry is $10 and people...
Cheryl Warren has become experienced in speaking before Orange County Commissioners Court, but Tuesday she was shaking and near tears. Her son and his family live on Foreman Road, the heart of an air-borne chemical accident Thursday, July 18. At least 150 people went to hospitals in Southeast Texas because of the exposure, according to Beaumont lawyer Brent Coon, who has already filed a lawsuit. "That was an epic failure in information to the residents," Warren told the...
Octavia Guzman will officially become the new Orange County tax assessor-collector on July 31 as Karen Fisher retires. Commissioners Court Tuesday accepted Fisher's resignation after she worked in the office for 32 years, with eight of those as the top official. The court took only a few minutes in a closed door session to name longtime employee Guzman as the interim tax assessor-collector. Guzman ran unopposed for the position in the March Republican primary and has no...
John Cash Smith, a local lawyer and head of the Orange County Democratic Party, said he thinks putting Kamala Harris in as the candidate for president "turned the tables" on Trump, who had been campaigning against the age of President Joe Biden. "He's the one man too old in the campaign now," Smith said. The longtime Democrat is a close follower of local, state, and national politics. He had been on vacation in Colorado Sunday when his oldest son texted him about Biden's...
The past is always present, and no one knows that better than Shervonne S. Gallow. After spending a career in law enforcement, including service as a U.S. marshal, she is now spending her days tracking down old relics instead of criminals. Gallow has become an avid metal detector hunter and loves looking at old properties where people have lived, worked, and played. Public areas around the Sabine River in old downtown Orange, or places in the Old Orange Historic District...
The world-famous Gator Country will be appearing at the Orange Riverside Pavilion off Simmons Drive on Wednesday, July 17, from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. The program about American alligators is part of the Orange Public Library's Summer Reading Program for elementary-age children. However, because of the popularity of the subject and the displays with live alligators, the library is opening the event to all ages and the public. The presentation will focus on educating students...
The city of Orange is continuing to see a big drop in sales tax income as most of the other entities in the county are seeing healthy sales at their businesses. The Texas Comptroller's Office has sent payments to the cities, Orange County, and one special district in the county for their shares of sales tax receipts in May. Orange County, which has a 0.5 percent sales tax, or half-cent per dollar, had a 29.8 percent increase in sales tax returns for the month and is up 10.91...
Expect the post-storm mosquitoes to come out in another week and a half, Orange County Mosquito Control Director Patrick Beebe told commissioners court Tuesday. But Beebe's department is prepared. During the Tuesday meeting, Orange County Commissioners Court approved him moving $50,000 from county contingency, or emergency, funds to pay for overtime salaries through the end of September. Beebe has had to make budget adjustments for the current fiscal year because of influxes...
Orange will be getting a new pizza restaurant on Allie Payne Road and a new DuGood Federal Credit Union building on Interstate 10, according to building permits issued by the city in June. Brown & Brown Pizza is owned by Randy and Kathy Brown of Orange and operates Domino's Pizza franchises. The company got a permit to build a new $850,000 building at 1715 Allie Payne Road near the intersection with Texas Highway 87 North. The contractor is Better Built Metal Buildings. DuGood...
The old adage "We dodged a bullet" was heard across Orange County Tuesday morning after Hurricane Beryl, but not everyone was so lucky. The county was on the far western side of the storm, which came ashore near Matagorda, south of Galveston. "We're very lucky that storm went where it did," County Judge John Gothia said. Though the sustained winds here did not reach tropical storm force, they were strong enough to knock down numerous trees and limbs. An older couple raising...
As Hurricane Beryl with sustained winds at 155 mph heads toward the Gulf of Mexico by Friday, people in Orange County are once again watching weather forecasts with anxiety. The constant barrage of storms during the past 19 years has left some insurance companies dropping coverage on all policies for this area. It's a national trend. Linda Nies of Dallas Insurance Agency in Orange, said coverage is still available through various companies, but the costs of coverage are going...
Hints for the Fourth of July in Orange County: Do any county business on Wednesday or wait until Monday; and put your garbage out in West Orange on Saturday, not Friday. The national holiday the Fourth of July is Thursday and Orange County offices will be closed on Thursday and Friday, giving non-essential county employees a four-day weekend. City halls across the county will be closed on Thursday and open on Friday. However, only residents in West Orange will see a change in...
Another year has gone by, making 22 years since the kidnapper and killer of four-year-old Dannarriah Finley still hasn't been arrested. The sleeping child was kidnapped sometime in the early morning of July 4, 2002, from the small house in the 1000 block Fourth Street where she lived with her mother and siblings. The house could be seen from Park Avenue, a thoroughfare leading to Simmons Drive and the nearby Sabine River. The Orange Police Department was the lead on the...
The Orange Chapter of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) in June gave their annual scholarships to two local graduating high school female students. Alicia Parker of Little Cypress-Mauriceville and Jordynn Patton of West Orange-Stark High Schools were given the scholarships to continue their educations. Parker plans to go to Lamar University in Beaumont and Patton will be attending Centenary College in Shreveport, Louisiana. The club, which is part of the...
On July 7 ,fifty-four years ago, Orange County's newest city was born as residents in the community of Bridge City voted to formally incorporate. It was a long journey from a community that started out with pioneer settlers in the 1800s moving to the county and making a settlement they first called Prairie View because it was in the coastal prairie of the Gulf of Mexico. Residents in the community of Bridge City went to the polls on July 7. A total of 1,123 votes were cast wit...
Last year in Orange County, the Texas Department of Family Protective Services investigated 377 cases of abuse of the elderly or disabled, and filed against 260 cases. Orange County Commissioners learned those statistics Tuesday as they signed a proclamation making June Elder Abuse Awareness Month. Abuse of the elderly and disabled can fall under a variety of categories, according to the state. Violations are a third degree felony punishable by two to ten years in state...
On a chilly, windy March Saturday in 1968, scientists, engineers, business executives and dignitaries gathered on the island of the Sabine River curve around downtown Orange for a ship launching. The Stark High Band played as the Glomar Challenger slid into the river in a formal christening ceremony. Levingston Shipbuilding designed and constructed the vessel that went on to make scientific history. In the 1960s, the "space race" to get to the moon and explore space made lots...
Sales tax returns for April show people are buying goods across the county at a healthy rate every where except the city of Orange, according to statistics from the Texas Comptroller's Office. The office sent sales tax shares to the entities in June to cover the sales from April. Orange was drastically down compared to sales at the same time last year. The city had above average increases for two years, but the sales appear to be slacking off. Bridge City showed the biggest...
Saturday night the sky in Bridge City will be filled with a light show never seen before in Southeast Texas as 200 drones in a colorful choreographed flight will help celebrate Independence Day. The drone show is one of the highlights of the Red, White and You festival sponsored by the city of Bridge City and local businesses. The event will also spotlight local musicians and end with a concert by the popular New Orleans band Bag of Donuts. The festival will begin Friday eveni...
Starting time is supposed to be eight in the morning. But by five minutes later, the parking lot is full and cars are stopping along ditches. Lines have already formed at booths. The Bridge City Farmers Market is open on an early summer's Saturday morning and drawing a crowd to the easy-going, family event where a wide variety of homemade and homegrown goods are found. But of course, it's the tomatoes, cucumbers, yellow squash and corn in the shucks that draw the biggest...
A new, major 750-mile natural gas pipeline, described by the Pipeline Journal as "massive," is being planned to cross Orange County as it goes from the Permian Basin in West Texas to Calcasieu Parish across the Sabine. At the end of April, the company mailed letters to property owners informing them of the project and asking for right-of-entry permission to go on the property for surveys. The 42-inch pipeline will carry "liquids-rich natural gas." It is known as the DeLa...
Orange County Tax Assessor-Collector Karen Fisher has publicly announced she will be retiring on July 31, months before her term in office ends. Orange County Commissioners Court, by state law, will be required to appoint her replacement to the elected office. Fisher's current four-year term does not end until December 31. Octavia Guzman, a longtime employee in the tax assessor-collector's office, ran unopposed for the position in the March Republican primary race. No...
