Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
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UVALDE’S FAVORITE SONS THE TOWN IS GRIEVING Some people may not be aware that Uvalde has had two favorite sons. John Nance Garner, known as ‘Cactus Jack’ was a U.S. House Speaker and President Franklin Roosevelt’s vice president before falling out with F.D.R. Although he was a force in Washington, he is best known for his observation of the vice presidency. He is supposed to have said, “It wasn’t worth a pitcher of warm spit.” In retirement he often sold pecans from his fron...
Let me start by saying everyone leads a hurried and hectic lifestyle, that's our world and it's not going to change any time soon! As a gardener, occasionally, you need to take a step back and think about what you are adding to your garden and then ask yourself why. Sometimes the stuff you add to our garden is beneficial, sometimes the stuff you add is insignificant and not impactful, but sometimes what you add is detrimental, harming your soil and plants. Coffee Grounds For...
I have a lifetime honorary membership in a gun range. I have owned a gun since I was eleven years old. I have enjoyed hunting, skeet shooting, target practice and own more guns than most. No one can accuse me of being anti-gun. It is now, however, time to do away with silly arguments such as advocating that more guns with less restrictions make us all safer. Or, that any legislation passed such as prohibiting silencers or twenty round clips will lead to the government taking...
Here’s a few things happening around City Hall. As you well know, the Atlantic hurricane season is upon us. It’s time to start thinking about your preparations and plans for the upcoming summer and fall around this. From what I can gather so far, it’s supposed to be an “above average year for cyclone activity”, so a little diligence now may save some heartaches later. There are numerous sources out there to help with planning for emergencies, just do a quick internet...
This week we mourn the loss of 21 Texans in a horrific shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Words can not adequately express our grief and we offer prayers of comfort to the families affected, the community, and our state. Here are five things happening around your state: 1. Finance and Business and Commerce hearings Two Senate committees I am a member of held hearings in Austin regarding their interim charges. The Senate Business and Commerce committee met to...
Numerous fig varieties grow well in Southeast, Texas climate. Different stages of ripeness, figs' herald summers' arrival. Gardeners, it certainly seems Summers arrived early this year as we've reached the lower 90's too often for us to consider this a mild spring! Several weeks remain before summer officially arrives, and while it is certainly getting hotter, this might be indicative that my all-time favorite "fruit" will be ripening sooner than usual-figs. How many of you...
GUN BUYING BOOM IN U.S. Shooting Leaves Many Dead in Uvalde Texas Three days after a mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, that left 10 dead, a report was release by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which painted a vivid statistical portrait of a nation arming itself to the teeth. Buyers capitalized on the loosening of gun restrictions by the Supreme Court, Congress and Republican-controlled state legislatures. Starting in 2009, Glock-type semi-automatic...
This is for those youngsters who will be graduating this month, leaving the protection of home and striking out on their own. You have absolutely no idea what the future has in store. You will have great things happen, and you will also get a lot of hard bumps. The bumps will seem harder to you than they really are. Your parents, up to now, have been taking many bumps for you, sheltering you against them. Later, you will do the same for your children. Time will help you become...
I had an old gentleman once tell me the biggest problem in the country is ignorance and apathy, but he said, "I don't know what to do about it and furthermore, I don't really care." As a practioner of politics all my life, I am constantly amazed at how some citizens who claim to care about what's happening with the country waste so much effort when there are better ways to support good citizenship. As an example, the women's march and mass gathering along with demonstrations...
There is no doubt I care a great deal about education. It is not only something which increases the quality of life, it underpins the American way of life. Thomas Jefferson once wisely said that ignorant people cannot sustain a democratic society. We only need to look around our homes to catalogue the thousands of ways that education has benefited us: cell phones, air conditioning, television sets and medicines without which many of us would not be alive today. However, I...
BIDEN: ‘Evil will not win. Hate will not prevail’ Joe Biden is attacking the “hateful and perverse ideology” behind the Buffalo massacre: In America, evil will not win. I promise you. Hate will not prevail. White supremacy will not have the last word. What happened here is simple and straightforward terrorism, domestic terrorism, violence inflicted in the service of hate, and a vicious thirst for power. The media, and politics, the internet, have radicalized power. The med...
First, let me begin by asking you not to use the term 'blight' lightly. Many plants, not just tomatoes, are prone to disease problems. If Blight strikes your garden, you don't just get a few discolored leaves; it's considerably more detrimental-dark brown lesions appear on the leaves and fruits. Blight is considered a "Typhoid Mary" type of disease, in that, spores of the deadly pathogen are broadcast through the air killing tomato, eggplant, pepper, and potato plants in...
GREMLINS GOT US LAST WEEK Last week universal broadsheet newsprint went into effect, meaning all broadsheet newspapers will be the same size. We were the last in this market to change over. It's not much of a noticeable change, but it was enough to cause problems with our classified ads and this column. No names were highlighted in the column so copy all ran together and was hard to read. I hate that because it was one of my better columns in a long time. Dan Perrine is doing...
Technically, we are in the middle of spring, but it seems as though summer has arrived as our daytime temperature is above 90℉ many days, yet according to the Farmer's almanac, we have roughly six weeks of spring remaining before summer begins on June 21st! This might be indicative of things to come or become much more problematic for us all once spring evolves into a hot, prolonged Texas summer. Now is a good time for all of us to focus on water conservation, before we are d...
Last month, I was proud to co-host the Lone Star Legislative Summit in Nacogdoches with Rep. Travis Clardy in conjunction with the Nacogdoches Chamber of Commerce. We hosted a number of attendees from across the state including Speaker Dade Phelan and panels on immigration and border security, education, infrastructure, energy, health care, and social media and freedom of speech. It was a pleasure to have so many familiar faces in East Texas. Here are five things happening...
Things have certainly changed since I was a freshman at the University of Texas in 1952. I stayed at a boarding house which charged me $55.00 a month for room and board, tuition was $25.00 a semester and a student could purchase what was called a “blanket tax” which gave free admission to all athletic events, concerts, lectures and every other curricular activity at the University. Currently, there is much to do about how college graduates are suffering because of having to...
WE COULD SEE IT COMING HIGH COURT MAY OVERTURN ROE The U.S. Supreme Court has taken a preliminary vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that has for 49 years guaranteed women the right to abortion, according to a draft opinion. The opinion, published late Monday, was authored by Justice Samuel Alito. Politico reported that a person familiar with the deliberations has said four other conservative appointees, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney...
Here's a few things happening around City Hall this past month. We're working with our engineers / project managers to finalize the details on the new water well for our Sunnyside facility. The bids have been received and reviewed, and the council has awarded the job to the lowest bidder. Final documents are being prepared, and the successful contractor is being contacted. Work should start soon on this project, and we're all excited to get this going. We've been working hard...
MUSK ACQUIRES TWITTER Elon Musk reached an agreement to buy Twitter for roughly $44 billion on Monday. Musk said in a joint statement with Twitter that he wants to make the service "better than ever" with new features while getting rid of automated "spam" accounts and making its algorithms open to the public to increase trust. After the deal was announced, the NAACP released a statement urging Musk not to allow Trump, the former president, back onto the platform. "Do not...
As many of you may already know our soil in Southeast Texas, or more specifically in Jefferson and Orange County is not optimum for most plants and can be difficult to cultivate. Clay soil is a challenge for both you and your plants. Heavy clay soil drains slowly, and it retains moisture longer and when it finally does dry out, it is hard and brittle with a cracked surface. Our soil type is known as Coast Prairie Soil. So, you might ask what is needed to improve clay soil,...
Among some of the nice things about serving in the Legislature for 32 years is the opportunity I enjoyed meeting people, some famous, some not-so-famous, but most very interesting folks. One of the most interesting acquaintances I made during my tenure in the Legislature is Molly Ivins. Molly became nationally well-known by writing a couple of books. She had a great sense of humor and possessed great insight into politics. She came as a reporter to the Legislature the same...
EASTER PRAYERS FOR UKRAINE The celebration of Holy Week in the Christian Faith, has only brought death and destruction to the people of Ukraine by Russia. Putin is outright murdering civilians for no reason, a debt that someday he should have to pay for. It's cruel and inhumane, executions of men and raping of women and little girls, in full view of their families. Our prayers during this Easter season is for victory for the Ukrainian people. The mayor of the Ukrainian port...
We have all heard the phrase: “swallowing camels while straining gnats.” Generally, the phrase is applied to persons we designate as hypocrites. It seems to me; however, the phrase can be appropriately applied to our current lieutenant governor, Dan (Danny Scott Goeb) Patrick. Texas is faced with several giant problems which it seems our state leaders and legislators have been unable to adequately address. Some of these include voting, health care, adequate provision for dep...
My grandmother Availia had many children; among them were three sets of twins and a set of triplets. Many of the young died as infants. Only one twin, my uncle Meldan “Tee-Dan” survived. His twin Melda didn’t make it past 3 years old. Grandma had been the carrier of 20 children or more. Few made it to birth, some lived a few months or a few days, and only seven of those children lived a long life. My aunt Eve died in 2008 at age 105. The rest all lived to be 90, with the excep...
WHAT A COMEBACK KANSAS OVER NORTH CAROLINA We were having a Jayhawks watch party, pulling for Kansas to defeat North Carolina for the National College Basketball Championship. By half-time, we had eaten our fill of gumbo and the trimmings. Total silence had overtaken the group as Kansas fell 16 points behind at the halfway mark. I gave up, saying no team had ever come back from such a deficit at half-time in a championship game and North Carolina was not the kind of team that...
