Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
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Ann Richards succeeded Bill Clements. Her familiarity with state politics began while secretary to Sara Weddington. Weddington is well known for having argued the case of Roe v. Wade. Ann went on to run for and be elected to county commissioner in Travis County. Later she was elected treasurer of the State of Texas. Among Ann's promises as treasurer was to advocate eliminating the office of treasurer and folding it into the duties of the state comptroller. Ann's chance of winn...
REMEMBERING JFK AND HIS DEATH Next Monday, November 22, will mark one of the darkest days in United States history, along with Pearl Harbor, 9-11 and the domestic insurrection on the Capital, January 6, 2021. This November 22, marks 58 years since President John K. Kennedy was shot and killed in Dallas. Texas Gov. John Connally was seriously wounded and VP Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as U.S. president. As a witness to history, Roy Dunn, in his Down Life’s Hwy. column, r...
SALUTE TO OUR HEROES-OUR VETERANS Over the years, young men and women have chosen, for many reasons, to serve, starting with the Revolutionary War. On November 11, we stop to observe and honor our vets, the real American heroes. For years, besides volunteers, the United States had a draft. Many served at a time when it put a stress on their families. Today, we have an all-volunteer military. Every generation has produced a new generation of heroes. WWII veterans are referred to as “The Greatest Generation.” The real bac...
PEARL HARBOR SURVIVOR TURNS 100 For the last 28 years, on November 7, we have been acknowledging Cedric Stout’s birthday and his surviving Pearl Harbor. He was 72 then, more than life expectancy at the time. The years have flown by and with the help of wife Cherry, Cedric has kept himself in reasonably fair health. He is the area’s only Pearl Harbor survivor, and only one of two sailors that still survive the attack on the Utah. He is being honored this week by both the cit...
Bill Clements was only the second governor to have served as governor, suffered a defeat and made a return. The other governor sharing this unique election experience was Ma Ferguson. Mark White was not able to survive his failure to keep several promises, including the one to grant school teachers a large pay raise. He lost his bid for re-election to Bill Clements. Clements’ second term was fairly non-eventful as he continued his policy of retribution against those of us D...
As you drive around your neighborhoods and city streets and highways, you no doubt notice some work going on throughout Bridge City and wonder what is taking place. Well, let me fill you in on some of what’s been happening over the last few months and some things you can expect to see in the next few months. Then I’ll share some exciting news on something that is coming real soon! Our City crews have been busy lately, working on a number of projects. The Water & Sewer departme...
Orange became a settlement about 1852 and the oldest Baptist Church organized in 1857. It is Old First Orange Baptist Church today. Lutcher Memorial Church Building, now the First Presbyterian Church of Orange, Tx, is a historic church at 902 W. Green Avenue in Orange, Texas. It was built in 1912 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The very first New Testament church was established without a building, of course, in Jesus calling out of the 12...
Mark White was the governor who succeeded Bill Clements' first term in office. White was a member of a prominent Houston law firm. On his first political venture he defeated Price Daniel, Jr. for attorney general. This was a surprise to everyone. It was believed Price Daniel, Jr. was shoo-in to be elected following in the footsteps of his father, Governor Price Daniel. White went on to defeat Bill Clements in a close race for governor, running primarily on promises to enhance...
IS THIS THE YEAR OF THE ASTROS I’m just going to prop my feet up, sit back and enjoy the games. Every year I look forward to the World Series but it’s even sweeter when the Houston Astros are in it. Tuesday evening the Astros and Atlanta Braves held the first game of the series. I’ve enjoyed watching the playoffs and glad that Atlanta won for the National League. I believe Houston has a better chance than they would have against the LA Dodgers. I believe they are probably the...
The Legislature adjourned Sine Die for hopefully the last time this year after completing our third special session. While we accomplished many great things for the state over the past ten months, I’m glad to be back in East Texas. Here are five things happening around your state: 1. Redistricting maps finalized, sent to the Governor The Legislature has finished the third called special session of the year and completed the challenging redistricting process. The state grew substantially over the past decade which forced t...
Over the last forty years, the rich have gotten richer, the poor have gotten poorer, and the acclaimed American middle class has shrunk in size. Incomes for the lower ninety percent of the population have either remained flat or have fallen while the wealth of the top one percent, has grown to almost fifty percent of the nation's total income. And of that figure, four hundred families own almost half of the top one percent. That is just wrong. The rest of the people of upper income brackets have managed to stay relatively...
William (Bill) Clements was elected after Dolph Briscoe. Clements defeated a former attorney general for Texas, John Hill, who was a prominent trial lawyer prior to being elected attorney general. Clements' defeat of Hill gave Texas its first Republican governor since the post-Civil War era. I strongly supported Hill and urged him to run a very aggressive campaign. Hill ran as though he were already elected governor with the belief that Democrats had controlled Texas for so...
COLIN POWELL-A TRAIL BLAZING SERVANT “Our nation lost an exemplary leader and steadfast advocate in Colin Powell.” Senator John Cornyn Powell, a four-star general who became the first Black secretary of state and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, died Monday, October 18, from complications of COVID-19. Powell, 84, had been treated over the past few years for multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that impairs the body’s ability to fight infections and to respond well to vacci...
On October 13, 1845, voters in Texas overwhelmingly approved an ordinance to accept annexation into the United States by a vote of 4,245 to 257. They also adopted the state’s first constitution. Here are five things happening around your state: 1. Hookset Brothers Combat Recovery wins Governor’s volunteerism award The Governor’s office announced the Governor’s Volunteer Award recipients this week and a local East Texas nonprofit was among the awardees. Hookset Brothers Combat...
The forty-first governor of Texas was Dolph Briscoe, who served from 1973-1979. Briscoe was a conservative Democrat and was elected at a time when Texas was still a one-party state. No Republican had been elected governor since the episode following the Civil War called Carpetbag government. Briscoe defeated Preston Smith who probably lost because of the largest scandal known to Texas: The Sharp’s Town Scandal. He was a congenial fellow; a multi-millionaire, a rancher who o...
WEIRD HOW SOME PREDICTIONS HAVE COME ABOUT Here’s one for the books. A couple of weeks ago I predicted a major upset on Oct. 9, between two big college football teams. Well, on Saturday, Oct. 9, I saw my prediction come true. The major prediction was Texas A&M upset victory over Alabama, at Kyle Field. In my prediction back in September, I didn’t name the teams; I didn’t want to jinks the Aggies. Here is something else, on my calendar I wrote that the score would be A&M-3...
"Thy God whom thou serves continually, He will deliver thee." (Deut. 6:16) Mary Tyler Moore said something that was profound…simple but profound. She said, "No one gets out of here without dying." Obviously, she was right. Even in the rapture that we Christians just hope we are available for will have to go through a death experience…instantaneously, but none the less these bodies are going to have to be dropped behind and we put on a new body fit for heaven. In death for the...
John Connally was succeeded as governor by Preston Smith who served from 1969-1973. Smith had been lieutenant governor from 1963-1969. Smith was from Lubbock, Texas and while serving both as lieutenant governor and governor had a reputation for being very friendly to the business lobby in Austin. Smith was more of a caretaker governor than any other. Generally, he did not try to influence or meddle with what was going on legislatively. And, was well liked by the great...
TIME FOR ABBOTT TO 'MAN UP' TO TRUMP The Texas audit saga of four counties continues. A measly review of four counties, in a state that has 254 counties, is not enough for Trump. He kept pushing Abbott to add audit legislation to the special session agenda. To Abbott's credit he didn't budge on calling for legislation and has not agreed to let an outside firm conduct audits. That made Trump go into a full blown tantrum, suggesting that Abbott is weak and not a patriot, but...
This week, the Texas Legislature is meeting to discuss everything from redistricting to electricity and the grid. We’ve only got a few more weeks left in this special session, hopefully we will get everything done! Here are five things happening around your state: 1. Governor’s Broadband Council report released This month the Governor’s Broadband Development Council released their annual report to the Legislature as required by a bill passed in the 86th Legislative Session. Th...
GOP STARTS GERRYMANDERING PROCESS What the Texas Republicans proposed congressional maps shows is Republican leaders are scared as hell of suburban voters and they well should be. White voters in the suburbs, especially women, are breaking away from the "R" brand and White guys are still smoldering over the electric grid and lack of leadership during the ice storm. No doubt the suburbs are turning bluer and the surging population in Texas has added two congressional seats to...
Connally stayed in office through two, two-year terms and was the first governor to serve a four-year term. Connally's second run for governor was again opposed by Yarborough. I had supported Yarborough in his initial race but the more I listened to some of his ideas, it became apparent to me that Yarborough was long on oratory, but short on knowledge of government. Yarborough was at a disadvantage financially. Connally had millions with which to support his gubernatorial...
Matthew 19:13-15 "Then were there brought unto him (Jesus) little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them.14 But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.15 And he laid his hands on them..." Part of the reason my wife and I married was to have children and bring them to Jesus. We had already been born again in Christ and desired to be given of the Lord...
The first official day of fall came this week on September 22. With it came a welcome cold front across the state and a beautiful Harvest Moon. Fall brings cooler weather, leaves changing colors, and this year another special session. Here are five things happening around your state: 1. Third special session begins The Legislature convened for our third special session this week. There were five items originally on the call including redistricting, appropriating federal funds...
SEPTEMBER 22 FIRST DAY OF FALL Today begins the fall season here in Southeast Texas. There is not much distinction between the four seasons; however, this week we are seeing fall like weather, cool, with low humidity. Hopefully, we don’t have anymore storms to dodge. My guess is if a storm doesn’t come into the Gulf in the next 12 to 15 days, it’s a good chance we have dodged the bullet. Gulf waters will cool and high pressure is expected most of October. Usually by this...
