Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 39
Orange County Commissioners Court approved a lower property tax rate compared to last year, but because of an overall increase in property values, taxpayers may be paying an average of 17 percent more in their county property taxes. The court Tuesday approved the tax rate, along with a budget of $59 million. The budget is for the 2023-24 fiscal year, which starts on October 1. The tax rate will go with the new budget, though the due date for property taxes to be paid is the en...
A Sunday afternoon wildfire that started in a wooded area off Gist Road quickly spread through the dry and dying leaves leading to homes being evacuated. No lives or buildings were lost. By late Tuesday afternoon, the Texas Forest Service and Orange County Emergency Management reported the fire had burned 417 acres and was 75 percent contained. Jets and helicopters were used to dump water or fire retardants. Still, earlier on Tuesday, a resident living across the street from...
Kirk Roccaforte was Bridge City mayor on September 13, 2008. He and his emergency team from the city were quartered with other county first responders and officials at Mauriceville Elementary School in the north part of the county waiting for Hurricane Ike to come ashore. Though the worse part of the storm hit Galveston as a Category 2 hurricane, no one here could have predicted what happened in Orange County. Ike was the "perfect storm" that sent a storm surge straight from...
THE DAY IKE CAME CALLING This week on Sept. 13, we mark the 15th anniversary since Ike, the hurricane, blew into Orange County and left the worse devastation on our community, since the storm of 1865, the year the Civil War ended, wiped out the city of Orange. The storm left only four homes standing. Today’s recovery, especially to the community of Bridge City, seemed a far away dream of 15 years ago. Much has changed in Bridge City since that horrible storm. In so many c...
Kristi Rai Eastin Williams, 56, of Orange, Texas, passed away on September 5, 2023, at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Beaumont, Texas. Memorial Gathering will be held from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m., Saturday, September 9, 2023, at Claybar Funeral Home in Orange. Kristi was born February 13, 1967, in Port Arthur, Texas at St. Mary Hospital as the second child of the late James Taylor Eastin and Diane Fletcher Eastin. She was a 1985 honor graduate of West Orange Stark High School. After...
Students from Bridge City High School paid tribute to their local first responders Monday on the 22nd anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks by taking snacks and drinks to the Bridge City Fire and Rescue Department and the Bridge City Police Department....
Lamar State College Orange announced today that a record number of 763 degrees and certificates were awarded during the 2022-2023 academic year. This represents a 20% increase in the number of degrees and certificates awarded from the 2021-2022 academic year. The previous record was set in the 2019-2020 academic year when a total of 665 degrees and certificates were conferred. “I’m so proud of our students and their accomplishments here at LSCO,” President Tom Johnson said....
City of Orange Mayor Larry Spears Jr. recognized a group of outstanding students as “Hometown Heroes” at the Little Cypress-Mauriceville High School Pep Rally recently. After the Orange Bowl football game played between the WOS Mustangs and LCM Battlin’ Bears, a handful of LCM students stayed behind to pick up any trash on the visiting side, exemplifying what it means to “Be a Bear”. To acknowledge the level of class and character of these students, Mayor Spears recognize...
The Dollar General Literacy Foundation awarded Orangefield Elementary $3000.00 to purchase literacy curriculum. We are very grateful for Dollar General's support and contribution to our students' education....
If you didn't watch the recent debate of candidates seeking the Republican nomination for president, you should have. It is important to know their beliefs and some idea about how they might lead. An essential way to find the truth about those seeking office is to check what they promise and what they have done. We heard the debaters' views on education, foreign policy, tax and spending, immigration and more. Some have a record while others only talk. The quality of the...
June Elaine Chambers, 64, of Bridge City, Texas, passed away on August 29, 2023 at 4:35 p.m., at Baptist Hospital in Beaumont. Born in Port Arthur, Texas, on September 9, 1958, she was the daughter of Noble Hughes and Charlie Mae (Mooneyham) Hughes. June worked at Home Depot as a Salesclerk and loved her job. In her free time, she enjoyed gardening and crocheting. June could be found working on a new puzzle or playing games on her phone. She loved spending every minute with...
Bridge City suffered its first loss of the season in an exciting game. The Cardinals finish their non-district schedule this week at home. Bridge City could have definitely earned the nickname of the Cardiac Cards after their game with the Little Cypress Mauriceville Bears last Friday. The Cardinals scored two fourth quarter touchdowns to come from behind and take the lead twice in the contest only to surrender a late score which gave the Bears a 30-23 win in one of the most...
The Little Cypress Mauriceville Bears started a five-game home stand last week with a thrilling victory. This week the Bears play a strong private school from the city of Houston. The rivalry between LCM and Bridge City is an intense one, and last Friday was one of the best games in that series. The Bears and the Cardinals exchanged the lead four times in the fourth quarter with the home town Bears holding on for a 30-23 win. Little Cypress Mauriceville earned their nickname...
West Orange-Stark lost a tough overtime decision last week to a larger school. This Friday night the Mustangs renew their rivalry with another top team in this area from a lower classification. The Mustangs went to Port Neches-Groves and actually led the Indians until a late touchdown tied the game forcing overtime. The bigger PNG had more players rested through the game than West Orange-Stark who used several two-way players thus were more tired going into the overtime won...
Orangefield made a turnaround from its earlier football fortunes gaining its first win of the season. This week the Bobcats must avoid turnovers to win their second straight game. The Bobcats traveled to Shepherd last week where they took an early lead. The game began like it was going to be a Bobcat blowout as they took a quick two score lead with an opening touchdown drive followed by a scoop and score by the Orangefield defense. Shepherd rallied to tie the game 21-21 before...
Sean Patrick Horton, 38, of Orange TX passed away on Friday, September 8th, 2023. Visitation will be from 1-3 pm on Saturday, September 16th, 2023, with services immediately following at 3 pm at Claybar Funeral Home in Orange, TX. Officiant will be Reverend Stephen Hudnall. Sean was born in Orange, TX on May 5, 1985. He was the son of Patrick Horton and Ann Buxton. He was a life-long resident of Orange, TX. He was a member of the Little Cypress Mauriceville graduating class of...
LeVonia Weldon Hughes, age 79, of Orange, Texas, was a 3 time cancer survivor with 12 cancer-free years since her last battle. She always had a positive attitude during these challenges, and everyone from her doctors to fellow patients marveled at her unfailing smile and optimism. Sadly, she was unable to defeat cancer a 4th time and passed away at home on Friday, September 8, 2023 in Orange, Texas. A memorial service honoring LeVonia will be held at 3:00 PM, on Friday,...
Ruth Chef DeHotel Pietuszka, 88, of Orange, Texas, passed away on September 2, 2023, in Port Arthur, Texas. Funeral services will be 9:30 a.m., Wednesday, September 13, 2023, at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Orange, Texas. Officiating will be Father Sinclair Oubre. Burial will follow at St Mary Mausoleum in Orange, Texas. Visitation will be from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, September 12, 2023, at Claybar Funeral Home in Orange, Texas. Born in Lawrence Harbor,...
Catherine Jane Towle, 62, of Buna, Texas, passed away on August 25, 2023, in Beaumont, Texas. Funeral services will be held at 1:00 p.m., Friday, September 15, 2023, at Claybar Funeral Home in Bridge City. A graveside committal service will follow at 2:30 p.m. at Greenlawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Groves, Texas. Visitation will begin prior to the service at 12:00 p.m., Friday, September 15, 2023, at Claybar Funeral Home in Bridge City. Born in Port Arthur, Texas, on February...
Michael Allen Jacob, 72, of Orange, Texas, passed away on September 6, 2023, in Beaumont, Texas. Born in Nederland, Texas, on October 30, 1950, he was the son of Herman and Leona Jacob. Everyone who knew Michael, knew he was a very private man. He was deeply loved and will be missed dearly by those who knew him. He is survived by his loving wife, Barbara Jacob; daughters, Michelle Denman and Mandy Jacob; his brothers, Timothy Jacob and Craig Letulle; and his sister, Cathy...
District volleyball action began the first week of September for three of the four local high schools in Orange County. Bridge City, Little Cypress Mauriceville, and West Orange-Stark will compete in District 19-4A while Orangefield will play in District 22-3A. The Bridge City Lady Cardinals opened the district on Tuesday, September 5, with a sweep at Silsbee. The Lady Cardinals won the first set over Silsbee 25-19 and matched that same score in the second set. Bridge City...
It took a big play by the special team for the Little Cypress Mauriceville Bears to pull out a thrilling win over their cross-county rival the Bridge City Cardinals. The Bears scored with less than two minutes to play to beat the Cardinals 30-23 at Battlin' Bear Stadium on Friday night. The victory improves LCM's record to 2-1 on the season. Bridge City suffered its first loss to drop to 2-1 on the year. The contest was exciting throughout with Little Cypress Mauriceville...
On Wednesday, September 6, 2023, at about 8:20 P.M., the City of Orange Police Department Criminal Investigations Division was notified of a threat made via social media (Instagram) toward members of the West Orange ISD faculty. The Criminal Investigation Division deemed the threat serious and credible. The division immediately utilized investigators to begin the investigation into the threat. During the investigation, Detectives were able to identify and locate a juvenile...
Youth coaches should always be concerned about the well-being of the players on their team. No matter what the sport the men and women that coach kids are responsible for looking out for their players. Sometimes the situation is more than just how well the young boy or girl throws or hits the ball. It can even be life changing for the youth involved in that relationship. Such a situation occurred on August 20 of this year in the Orange Youth Baseball League. Coach Michael Sear...
The life of the party and a friend to all, Chance Gordon Pace, 35, of Bridge City, passed away Friday, September 1, 2023 at his home. Chance was the first face customers saw at Flipper’s Skin Flix Tattoo Shop for the last 13 years. His bearded, scowling face gave off a much grumpier disposition than was his true personality. Chance was a faithful, generous friend who always had a funny story to share. Outside of Flipper’s, Chance’s face could be seen worldwide on the hundr...
