Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
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ANOTHER WEEK ROLLS AROUND I'm going to start this column on a different footing this week. Let me tell you about our youngest saint, Saint Agnes, who is celebrated every January 21. Born in Rome to a noble family, St. Agnes was one of the first martyrs for the Christian faith. Though she was a beautiful young woman with many admirers, she wanted only to be a bride of Christ and consecrated herself to Him at a young age. Because she refused to marry, she was turned in to the...
WHAT'S UP WITH SENATOR MANCHIN FOLLOW THE MONEY That question has been going around for several months. First the Democrat from West Virginia said he would not vote for Biden's Build Back Better bill. He opposed the clean air package in the bill. He's from one of the poorest states in the Union and his citizens would have really benefited from the Build Back Better bill. So why is he against it? Well, to start with, West Virginia is a coal producing state. The clean air bill...
I wonder whether or not there is anyone besides me old enough to remember when there was no bridge to Bridge City. When one was driving west out of Orange, as you neared the Neches River, you would veer sharply to the left and end up at the loading place for a small ferry. There was only one ferry boat and sometimes there was quite a wait if the ferry had recently departed and was loading on the other side. I remember, remember it quite well, because in the summertime, if we w...
THE LEGACY OF K.O.G.T. RADIO It was somewhat sad to see the radio station shut down. It is a legend in these-here parts. I go back to 1949 with K.O.G.T., when the studio was in the Molley building on Green Ave., across from the depot. I believe it is a vacant lot now. Then Ed Lovelace talked some Jewish folks into buying it so he could manage it. The station then was moved to a two story building on Fifth St. and Main Ave. Ed had worked with Baxter and Richard Corder in Port...
As a boy I was fascinated by books telling tales of gallant knights saving the people. It was exciting to read about Ivanhoe, King Arthur and other errant knights going forth to slay dragons and defend against evil doers. I loved reading about heroic exploits done by noble knights chosen by fair maidens for their defense. Like fair maidens of yore, we can choose our heroes to confront our enemies in the coming new year. In order to do so, however, we must be prepared by...
I don't know about you, but I'm ready for 2022 to get here and 2021 to finally leave. To paraphrase Yogi Berra, '21 was like déjà vu all over again from 2020. Covid-19 didn't seem to let go of us like we thought it would. However, it looks like we're starting to see a little light at the end of the tunnel, if only these variants would just go away. With that in mind, I think I'd rather look at what's ahead of us this year rather than looking back at where we've been. In the C...
Has winter finally arrived in SETX? Well maybe, at least for a couple of cold days and frigid nights it has, making this the perfect time to review the litany of seed and gardening catalogues which have been piling up over the past several weeks. Seed catalogues are filled with detailed, useful information for gardeners and reviewing them provides an opportunity to learn new plant seed varieties available and to determine if they are a good match for our gardens. Perhaps you...
Hello fellow gardeners! 2021 is rapidly coming to an end and the new year is almost here. There are many gardening tasks which we can complete outside while we have good weather or shift tasks indoors on damp and dreary days, in preparation for springtime planting. Spring is rapidly approaching, now is a great time to get your soil analyzed for nutrients and pH levels through a soil testing laboratory. Results are usually returned within a couple of weeks. The soil analysis...
After chairing the Texas Senate Education Committee for several years, I am absolutely convinced that although education is expensive, it is not near so expensive as ignorance. I am also convinced that ignorance is the greatest danger to a free society. Jefferson and others of our founders often advocated knowledgeable citizens were essential to a free society. There is a growing concern today as to whether or our educational system is producing the level of knowledge...
MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM CREAUX AND I Here's hoping you have a blessed Christmas and Holiday Season. When I was a boy we would have been disappointed with the Christmastime weather. Our favorite Christmas meal was fried, wild rabbit. No one could season and fry rabbit like my Grandma., NOBODY. We didn't have rabbit until after the first heavy frost killed the parasites rabbits carry. For a big gathering, Grandma made rabbit stew in a large cast iron pot served on a bed of rice....
If you are over 60 years old there is an additional plague attacking you rather than the current virus. I am absolutely convinced that computers were invented to drive us old folks crazy. Remember when phones were answered by humans? And the only folks with numbers were convicts? How many passwords do you have? Better yet, how many passwords do you have that you remember? Once upon a time ordering from Sear & Roebuck catalog and making phone calls was a simple matter. Now...
Young Cris had been going fishing since he was old enough to walk. Gramps, as he had called him, was raising Chris as best he could, living on a fixed income. Cris’ parents were taken from him in a car crash wen he was only six months old, and his Gramps was just like a dad to him. Gramps had lost his wife to cancer a year before Cris was born, so the two of them needed each other very much. Living within a mile of one of Texas’ largest bays, Cris enjoyed the time he and his g...
Hello fellow gardeners and Merry Christmas! Today I’m standing at the kitchen sink and beside me sits a steaming cup of coffee, as I peer outside the window mesmerized, once again witness to another dreary, damp overcast day. You see I’m pondering this week’s gardening article. Through the kitchen window I’m watching an abundance of leaves free-fall, suddenly whisked away at breakneck speed by an invisible force, driven without cause to the yard’s perimeter. Mounds of crisp...
Luke 2:8 "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night." Who are your favorite characters in the account of the birth of Jesus? The shepherds or the three Wise Men, referred to often as Kings? I'm going to say hands down most of us chose the shepherds. Why is that? For me, it is because they represented a part of the more common of society, even the poorer part of society. Jesus said that it is very difficult for a...
QUAD STATE TORNADO My first recollection about hurricanes was before they had names. The year was 1939 and the storm was the most water producing hurricane until Ike washed out Bridge City. I can't recall all the storms in my lifetime but it has been way too many. I have been around a few tornados and I've seen their damage but in all this long life I've never before seen the likes of the multitude of tornados that ripped through Kentucky, Tennessee and several other states, a...
Hello gardening friends, our local weathermen and women are predicting a warmer weather pattern for the next several days. If you are like me, making the time to perform maintenance on garden tools doesn’t rank high on my “to do list” but it is a necessary task. As most other gardening chores are now completed: lawn maintenance and fertilizer application, house plants slowly transitioned indoors, flower beds weeded and mulched, and vegetable beds growing green cover crops or heavily mulched. Of course, if you are like me-yo...
Another year is rapidly coming to an end and Christmas is close at hand and with it the joy of spending time with friends and family. Many of us will be shopping for gifts, food, and sweet treats. Why not include a bright, festive holiday plant or two for yourself or as a wonderful holiday gift! Poinsettias make dramatic focal points as holiday decorations and when placed strategically throughout your home, command attention from anyone who views them. But caring for them...
Recently, Governor Abbott has made a been to-do about the fact that Beto is not is not Beto O’Rourke’s real name. O’Rourke’s real name is Robert Francis O’Rourke. The governor, however, is being a little hypocritical in his criticism of his opponent for the governorship. Beto is a pet name for children in the Mexican culture. It is an endearing name for Robert or Roberto. Beto was born in El Paso, raised in the border area of Texas, is fluent in Spanish and has been called Bet...
LOCAL CANDIDATE YET TO FILE FOR CONGRESS I have a bad head cold that I picked up from one of the snotty nosed great-grandbabies on their Thanksgiving visit. They headed home leaving their germs, passing them to our daughter, who passed them on to my wife and it finally to me. I have used a box of Kleenex and am about to sneeze my head off. I'm not much in the mood for writing and can't think straight. Anyway, next week, on Dec. 13, all filing for elective office ends. I'm disa...
Matthew 1:18a "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise:" From the time of the tragedy in the Garden of Eden, God began to announce the saving of what was lost. The whole world present and future was suddenly lost in that one act of disobedience, sin. At that moment mankind was cast into a helpless situation. Fully conscious and making decisions, he still could not remedy what he had done to His very soul and the soul of every human born through Him after that. It not...
THANKSGIVING WAS A TIME TO REFLECT Here's hoping you had a good Thanksgiving. It's hard to believe winter begins Dec. 21 and Christmas is less than 25 days away. A new year will arrive in just four weeks. The year 2021 has flown by. My years are slipping away much too quickly. I was just reading our 50 Years Ago in this column and so much of it is still fresh in my mind. Where did the 50 years go? This Thanksgiving my mind was in a different place. It drifted off to...
Come out this Friday evening, December 3rd beginning at 5:00 pm for our first annual "Christmas in the Park" and Christmas tree lighting. The fun will begin at 5:00 pm. We'll have school choir children singing Christmas carols at the pavilion. There will be vendor booths in the Community Center and Library parking lots with all kinds of arts and crafts, food and drinks, and other entertainment. Santa Claus will be there for pictures and visiting with the children. Santa would...
Rick Perry (Richard Perry) was the 47th governor of Texas, serving from 2000-2015. Perry served as the longest presiding governor of Texas after being elevated from lieutenant governor to governor upon George Bush's election as president. He is a graduate of Texas A&M. Interestingly enough, while at A&M he ran for student body president and lost to John Sharp. Perry later defeated John Sharp in the race for lieutenant governor. He went on to unsuccessfully run for president...
While Ann Richards about whom I have already written succeeded Bill Clements, one short article in the Penny Record does not give adequate credit or respect to Ann Richards by becoming the first female governor of Texas in many years. Unlike Ma Ferguson who was elected governor because of the illegal and unethical conduct of her husband, Ann Richards got elected on her own merits in large measure because she had the fortitude to favor a state lottery, be a ground breaker showi...
I Thessalonians 5:19 "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." This is not meant to be a great piece of scholarship, but to rejoice in a great time of the year…Thanksgiving. It should not be a time to first give credence to the turkey and all the trimmings. It is supposed to be a time for a special look at life in and through Christ Jesus. The song "Count Your Blessings" has to come to mind. When we are sitting around the t...
