Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
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Sixty-four years ago this month, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, which established NASA and emphasized our commitment to space exploration and manned space flight. NASA later elected to build a new flight-control center outside of Houston, making Texas an essential piece of the space race. Here are five things happening around your state: 1. ALERRT and House Committee release reports on shooting in Uvalde This month, both the...
COUNTY JUDGE TO FACE THE HEAT AT ROAST On August 4, the Bridge City Chamber of Commerce is having a "celebrity roast" of the head of county government. John Gothia is a longtime Bridge City resident who has been active in the Orange and Bridge City chambers of commerce before successfully running for Precinct 3 County Commissioner. When the county judge resigned suddenly, Gothia was appointed to the position and then won election. Gothia was instrumental in getting Bassmaster...
If you are with a group of teens, more often than not you will catch them engrossed in looking at their cell phones. I have been blessed with bright children and grandchildren (Grandaddy has the right to brag a little.). But they don’t read enough. Reading can open new worlds of thinking and bring not only pleasure but an immeasurable amount of knowledge. Lack of reading can be one reason too many Americans do not appreciate the free and democratic life we enjoy. I s...
So, you've noticed your spring flowers have endured as much of our Texas summer heat as they can stand and decided it's time to replace them with summer blooming annuals and perennials. After reading numerous plant labels, you've selected several perennial plants for your flower beds, or beautiful hanging baskets to enhance the front porch or found the perfect tree, to become the focal point of your landscape. Do you need fertilizer? What do the fertilizer label numbers mean?...
THE EAGLE HAS LANDED JULY 20, 1969 It was 1961, John F. Kennedy was the president of the United States. He wanted to land humans on the moon in that decade. The United States had just started trying to put people in space. Was NASA ready to go to the moon? Apollo II blasted off on July 16, 1969. Neil Armstrong, Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin and Michael Collins were the astronauts on board. Four days later, Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the moon. They landed on the moon in the Lun...
Democracy works best when all of the people of the nation participate. Unfortunately, today, less than half of the eligible voters in our country take time to exercise their privilege to vote. The most common excuse I hear is that voting will simply make no difference. Today one of the most dangerous threats to American democracy is the practice of gerrymandering. The name originated with Eldridge Gerry, governor of Massachusetts in 1812. Gerry devised a special district to...
Gardeners, it's another beautiful summer morning here in Southeast Texas. Rather than moving from gardening task to task, as is typical most days, I took the time to slowly walk around my yard this morning (coffee cup in hand), stopping at each flower bed to view flowers in bloom, stopping long enough to smell a few of the blooms. Leaving the flower bed areas, I walked over the raised vegetable gardens, making mental notes of herbs and vegetables to harvest later in the day (e...
LEAVING HENRIETTA RECALLING SPECIAL TIMES GREAT FRIENDS AND A GOOD RUN On September 12, 2008, Hurricane Ike came ashore, completely overrunning Bridge City with water as high as six feet in some homes and businesses. The Record Newspaper office where we did all of our production was destroyed. On second thought, Mark Dunn had the good judgment to unplug all of the computers and equipment and load them in his van. After Ike cleared out we discovered we had lost all of our vehic...
P. J. Barnum once said, “There is a sucker born every minute.” He made millions using that philosophy with his circus. If democracy is to survive, we need to not be suckers when we vote. Our record so far has not been so good. Millions are now being spent to convince us that climate change is a hoax. The money is coming from those fearing loss of profits. Lessons should be learned from past history. Remember when we were told that cigarettes did not cause cancer, or that asb...
Roy Dunn, publisher of this paper, and I can be cited as a good example of how politics in America should work. Our relationship began over 50 years ago. A close friend of Roy’s was my opponent when I first ran for re-election to the House of Representatives. The race was competitive, but there was no name calling or dirty politics. Later we were on different sides of an election for the Senate. Even so, we remained friendly and grew to be really good friends. We could, and s...
How quickly time passes us by! Another week has come and gone. Summer is going to be with us for several months, providing us ample opportunity to continue with our seasonal gardening tasks such as lawn maintenance, weeding flower beds, harvesting vegetables, replanting vegetable gardens and replacing faded spring flowers with summer plantings. Many gardeners also choose to undertake larger garden projects during the spring and summer months, often adding water features or...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRIDGE CITY Fifty-two years ago, July 7, the small community of Bridge City incorporated and the town of Bridge City, Texas was born. A young attorney named H.D. Pate had recently arrived in the area. The community leaders had hoped to attract a lawyer. H.D. Pate had recently moved in and converted a house, owned by Bubba Hubbard, on the corner of Roundbunch and Bland, into an office. Hubbard rented it to Pate rent free. Hubbard was one of the leaders in the...
I don’t know about you, but I’m glad to see our drought gone! It was becoming a drain on everyone’s patience and pocketbook. The ground around my slab was starting to shrink away from the concrete and needed watering. Plants and trees were becoming almost daily water consumers. That and the heat associated with the dry spell came earlier and seemed to stay longer than it had in previous years. The last high-pressure system that I can remember moving over us and staying like...
Happy Independence Day everyone! I'm hoping each of you were able to spend time with family, friends and loved ones to celebrate the holiday. I spoke with my sister recently, who lives in North Alabama, and she asked several questions about watering plants during the summer months. During our conversation, she asked if I could write an article about the best watering technique for keeping lawns and flowering plants hydrated, growing, and looking their best without wasting our...
TRUMP DIDN’T WANT TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT VIOLENCE AT CAPITOL The House Committee investigating the Capitol attack Jan. 6, 2021, held an abruptly scheduled hearing Tuesday with testimony from former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson and ‘recently obtained evidence.’ Hutchinson witnessed White House strategy sessions to challenge the 2020 election results as a top aide to former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. Meadows told White House lawyer Pat Cipollone on Jan. 6, 2021, that...
The Texas House of Representatives is made up of 150 members elected from individual districts throughout the state. Traditionally they are re-done to accommodate changes in population every ten years. The only exception is recently when the Republicans chose to re-apportion the state while there had been no recent census carving the state into districts that assured a Republican majority in the House. The House according to the state’s constitution is required to meet at n...
Pastor Harland Strother will usher in a new era at Cowboy Church of Orange County when he takes up the reins July 1. Strother's "Faith Walk" style of ministry encourages believers to kick up a little dust while keeping in mind that working for God's glory is never about "I"; it's about HIM. Strother refuses to be cowed by what many may consider the decline of the church in America. A scripture particularly close to his heart is Luke 14:23, "and the lord said unto the servant,...
Spring's now past, a pleasant but hazy memory with summer officially arriving June 21st. So, for the next several months, summer will be keeping us company. This means we can count on a long, hot season for the next several months. Intense sun light and high temperatures have now faded most of our spring flowers, and now is a great time to add color into our gardens for the remainder of the summer here in Southeast Texas. There are numerous flowers which can handle our hot...
Hello fellow gardening enthusiasts! Last week I discussed organic mulch basics, including why using mulch in our gardens is important, as well as the numerous types of mulch. Some gardeners make their own mulch at home utilizing a compost bin or two, then building compost by adding yard debris, grass clippings, leaves, limbs, used potting soil, dead plant materials, livestock manure, topsoil, hay, and straw. They continue adding debris to the compost bin, building in layers...
The constitution grants very little power to the lieutenant governor of Texas. The misconception concerning the power of the position comes from the fact that for traditionally the Senate has armed the lieutenant governor with the authority not only to preside but to name committees and committee chairs. A notable Southeast Texan became governor when Governor Beauford Jester died. That lieutenant governor was Allan Shivers who had previously been state senator from Port...
FATHER'S DAY-JUNETEENTH APPROACHES THE DROUGHT CONTINUES Some mornings, about 6:30 a.m., Phillip Welch and I will visit on the phone while he travels to his school job at Kountze. Phillip remarked how green the foliage is despite no rain for some time. I'm sure that will change. If we don't get rain soon Judge Gothia will have us under a fire ban. I spoke with Sue and Tommy Simar who reported the fig trees are loaded with small figs and it could be a good year. However, if it...
During our monthly Master Gardener meeting, I invited a fellow Master Gardener, to drop by my home Friday morning to pick nectarines from my two trees. She arrived at our agreed upon time of 9 am, as I was watering plants in and around flower beds and vegetable gardens while listening to mellow music playing in the background. This is the way I prefer to water my plants, hundreds of them. While watering two thoughts continued running through my mind; how hot it was this time...
In answer to last week’s questions I posed, here are some of the answers: • The governor of Texas serves for four-year terms. This was changed in 1972 when John Connally was the last governor to serve a two-year term. • The state Legislature meets every two years and is made up of 31 senators and 150 house members. The pay for legislators is $600 per month. • The basic document of Texas government is the Texas Constitution which was written in the late 1800s. • The chief exe...
Almost none of us, if any, would begin any game hoping to win without knowing the rules. Unfortunately, for all of us, too many of us begin our game of citizenship in life without really understanding or having full knowledge of the rules (government) that we must live by. In the next few weeks in a series of articles I will attempt to present some facts that should have been learned in high school government, but unfortunately is lacking in too many Texas’ citizens. The g...
ACTOR McCONAUGHEY ASKING FOR ACTION For Matthew McConaughey, the May 24 shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 children and two teachers dead, is more than just another casualty in American history. The actor is asking for action. On Monday, the Texas native wrote an op-ed for ‘The Austin American-Statesman, part of the USA TODAY Network, titled “It’s Time to Act on Gun Responsibility.” “I am a father, the son of a kindergarten teacher, and an Americ...
