Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
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PLANNED PARENTHOOD GETS A WIN The Supreme Court refused Monday to consider efforts by Republican-led states to defund Planned Parenthood. Despite its new, more conservative tilt, the court let stand federal appeals court rulings that allowed the reproductive health organization’s patients to contest laws in Louisiana and Kansas that stripped its Medicaid funds. The court’s refusal to hear the case represents a setback for conservative interest groups in many states that have sought aggressive action against Planned Par...
BUSH HAD EARLY ORANGE CONTACTS A couple of weeks ago, attorney Nolan LeBlanc and I were visiting about politics in years gone by and he brought up the fact that George H. Bush, while running for U.S. senator against Lloyd Benson had held a rally and fundraiser in Orange. The event was hosted by Ben Briggs, president of County Bank, the Round Bank, owned by Edgar Brown, Jr., a Republican and a supporter of Bush. When the event ended, Nolan said his dad, Dr. Nolan LeBlanc, others all went for bacon and eggs breakfast at the...
NOT ONLY TALKING BARBEQUE WITH J.B. A couple of Saturdays ago, I had a nice hour visit with J.B. Arrington at the barbeque place. I had out of state guest coming who said the first think they wanted was real Texas smoked barbeque. That was an easy choice. No one knows more about preparing and smoking meat than J.B. does. He worked for the Barbeque King in Houston and Corsicana when he was just a boy but the sauce comes from his granddad and is all natural. By the way, the brisket and slab of ribs I got were a great hit. Just...
AMERICANS IN THE REAL WORLD The Mid-term Election brought some silver linings. The election bought an end to “Rubber Stamp” government that is akin to dictatorship. The election of a new congress will bring checks and balances. Some of the military battle troops, sent to the border in a political ploy of an immigrant caravan coming to invade the country, will get to go home. President Trump had tweeted that “Criminals and unknown Middle Easterners are mixed in the caravan.” The claim was to justify using the military for pol...
AN HONOR TO BE IN THE PRESENCE OF WWll VETS Last Wednesday, Pearl Harbor survivor Cedric Stout, celebrated his 97th birthday with other WWII Veterans and an overflow crowd at the Wednesday Lunch Bunch gathering at Robert’s. County Judge Dean Crooks, read and presented a proclamation declaring Nov. 7, Cedric Stout Day in Orange County. All the old veterans and their champions or care givers dined compliments of Port Director Keith Wallace, owner of Reliable cleaners. Wallace said he was honored to do so, “If it were not for...
HAPPIEST DAY FOR NEWLYWEDS TURNS TRAGIC Will Byler, 24and Bailee Ackerman-Byler, 24, an Orangefield grad, both seniors at Sam Houston, had been married just hours in a wedding held at the Byler family ranch near Uvalde. They were headed to their honeymoon destination when at 1:30 a.m. the family helicopter crashed into a hill in Uvalde County. The Bell 206B helicopter had been piloted for the last 20 years by Gerald Lawrence, 76. The helicopter had been airborne for 10 to 15 minutes before crashing in the brush covered, 400...
ELECTION LAP ON FINAL TURN We are now in the final week of a long campaign, local and national candidates are making their final pitch. Early voting ends Friday. Election Day is the next Tuesday, Nov. 6. Orange County has 53,000 registered. I don’t recall any time in the last 20 years that the county voted 50 percent. This election could have a record turnout. Early voting is seeing many young, first time voters. I believe the female vote will also be up. My guess is that the Democrats will flip the congress, electing 232, t...
DODGERS –RED SOXS 102 YEAR GAP--LONGEST IN HISTORY The most important thing for all of us to do is vote. Early voting is now in progress, which is the easy way to vote. In and out in five minutes or less. You can vote at any of the four locations. Promise yourself you will vote and keep your promise.*****Tuesday night at Fenway Park in Boston, the Dodgers and Red Sox opened game one of the 114thWorld Series. The teams have only met once in the World Series despite all of their success through the years, back to 1916, when t...
MOE WAS LEGEND IN THESE PARTS It’s hard to believe “Moe” is gone. He passed away Sunday, Oct. 14. A rosary will be said at 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 18. Visitation will be held from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Claybar Funeral Home in Bridge City. Funeral service will be held Saturday, Oct. 20, 10 a.m. at St. Henry Catholic Church in Bridge City. I had known Herman “Moe” Litton since 1965 when he went to work for his old SFA teammate Chief Wilson, who was Bridge City’s football coach and AD. The following year Bridge City won the Sta...
MONSTER STORM HITS FLORIDA An October monster, Hurricane Michael, is expected to hit the Florida panhandle late Wednesday. This could be one of the worst storms ever to strike that region. If Michael lands as a category three hurricane, it could produce three life-threatening hazards; storm surge, heavy rainfall and very high winds. A 12 foot storm surge is forecast for a large section of the Florida coast, after making landfall Michael will likely head to Georgia and into South Carolina, a state that is still recovering.****...
THOMAS IS TOO GOOD—HE’LL BE BACK What was a serious fear for ‘Home Boy’ Earl Thomas came to past on Sunday when the Seahawks safety broke his leg. Thomas had pushed for a contract extension. His contract was set to expire at the end of the season. He begged to be traded. After holding out in pre-season, he returned without financial security. As they carted him away, he raised a middle finger towards the sideline at the decision makers who had declined an extension or to trade him. Earl’s season is over and most likely pa...
MID-TERM ELECTIONS ONLY SIX WEEKS AWAY This week we are still operating without the service of Roy, who hasn’t been released by his eye doctor after cataract surgery. We still have Creaux keeping a watchful eye on our production, insisting we again put out two good hometown newspapers. I did have a chance to watch the Ted Cruz/Beto O’Rouke’s television debate. Sen. Cruz has a reputation of being a national debating champion, however Beto had him stumbling and searching his mind for a rebuttal. With two more debates I’m s...
ON A SAD NOTE Services for Constable David Cagle to be Held Most of the community who knew David Cagle, age 57, was shocked to learn of his death Sunday, September 16. He was too young to leave us. The Constable was a real buddy. He was a quite, somewhat shy guy, good natured. He was easy to pick at and I often did just to see him blush. He had an easy laughter and often laughed at himself. His quietness fooled a lot of people about his intelligence. I learned through...
LOOKING IKE IN THE EYE Should we go, should we stay, that’s what we debated about leaving as time was rushing away. It was Sept. 12, 2008, and Ike was predicted to make landfall probably around Sabine Pass by morning. The wind speed wasn’t going to be as high as other hurricanes I’d weathered so my family decided to hunker down and ride this storm out. The one thing we hadn’t considered was the storm surge, water, plenty of water. We were in a safe enough home to weather strong winds but about 2 a.m., while everyone else slep...
SEVENTH ANNIVERSARY OF 9-11 Most of us remember what we were doing on that terrible day when two planes destroyed the twin towers and another wrecked the Pentagon. A fourth plane controlled by the terrorists3 crashed and killed everyone aboard. Dwayne Morse and I were visiting at the Creaux’s Nest, our office in Bridge City, before Ike came. We had a black and white TV on that we were not paying much attention to when I said, “Damn, those planes ran into those buildings.” The rest is history. Bin Laden claimed respo...
HERO-STATESMAN-PATRIOT-LEADER Wednesday, Aug. 29, would have been Sen. John McCain’s 82nd birthday. He died Saturday, Aug. 25, after battling brain cancer for the last year. McCain spent 30 years in the United States Senate. Over the years he wrote multiple books and made hundreds of speeches. He was known and admired around the world. He twice ran for president, losing the GOP nomination in 2000 to Texas governor George W. Bush. He lost the general election in 2008 to Democratic U.S. senator Barack Obama. Ironically both B...
THE STATE OF OUR NATION The Bull Market that began under President Obama in March 2009 has lasted nine years, five months and 13 days, a record that few would have predicted coming out of the big recession. For all its longevity and gains, the final verdict on the Bull Market won’t be known until it ends What the White House, Trump and allies don’t want you to know is that the federal budget is already in very bad shape. The Federal Government’s red ink this year is already 21% above 2017. The Trump deficits will soon excee...
ACADIANS EXILED 253 YEARS AGO I don’t know why August 15, 1765, is the date marked as the day Acadians were exiled from Nova Scotia because it started way before that. The Acadians had lived on Nova Scotia territory since 1604, nearly 200 years before George Washington became president of the United States. They established a small, vibrant colony around the Bay of Fundy. They built dykes to tame the high tides and to irrigate the rich fields. Ignored by France, they grew independent minded. They felt secure, even when s...
PICK YOUR POISON To live on the Gulf Coast there is a yearly chance of a hurricane. If a storm comes it blows in and leaves its damage. We make repairs and live until the next time. I predicted we would not have a storm this year. If we do it will be late because of the high pressure due to hang over us. Summer storms don’t come every year, in a dozen years we have been hit by only three major ones. The damage is a far cry from the California fires that leave nothing standing. Fires take every possession but what a person t...
ORANGE “THROUGH THE EYES OF THE TIGERS” If I’m fortunate enough to live two more years, I would have lived in ten decades. My favorite decade was the 1950’s. It was a great time to be young, plus it brought me a wife and children. I mention the above because longtime friend Wanda Holt Reinert, who has lived an unusual life, has taken five years to write about the people and places in Orange between 1945, when WWII ended, the year of her birth, and 1964, when she graduated from Stark High. I would agree that those years a...
A WELCOME SURPRISE As I sat down Tuesday morning to start this column a nice northeast breeze was blowing. About 9 a.m. it brought in a welcomed shower. I went out and watched it for awhile. I was hoping that the shower would reach my place. It has been extremely hot with my temperature gage reading 99 degrees at 4 p.m. Sunday. When you have such a dry spell watering with city water doesn’t do much more than keep the plants alive. I noticed the raccoons are looking poor, no water to drink or berries to eat. Several of the m...
PUTTING THE CART AHEAD OF THE HORSE My guess is that Dist. Attorney John Kimbrough isn’t going anywhere and there is no reason for him to do so. Over the years John has and is doing a good job. He has run an efficient, tight ship. Different than most district attorney’s offices there is not the regular scuttlebutt, back stabbing etc. John is in good health, still can run the 20-yard dash and loves what he does. I’m sure, like all professionals, there are days that make one think, “I should get out of here,” but then the...
THE MIRACLE RESCUE FROM THAI CAVE A daring rescue mission in the treacherous confines of a flooded Thai cave saved all 12 boys and their soccer coach trapped deep within the labyrinth, ending a grueling, 18-day ordeal that claimed the life of an experienced volunteer diver and riveted people around the world. Eight boys were rescued by a team of Thai and international drivers on Sunday and Monday. The remaining four boys and their 25-year-old coach were all brought out safely Tuesday. We are not sure if this is a miracle, a...
REFLECTING ON ORANGE COUNTY’S PAST Another Independence Day has rolled around. A lot of Orange County folks have flown the coup. I couldn’t find any of my lawyer friends Tuesday morning. Bearden had gone to Houston, Jack Smith and Paul Henderson to far away places. I did however find H.D. Pate, only becausehe’s grounded. He recently spent three days in the hospital. He said he was sorry he missed Judge Hahn’s going away bash. That got us to reminiscing. The year Gov. Mark White appointed Buddie to the 260th District Court i...
IS THIS GOING TO BE THE NORM I can’t recall at anytime in my long life when our country has been under so much constant chaos. I had predicted that if Trump was the nominee, he would wreck the Republican Party as we know it. Then I predicted if elected it would be four years of chaos. I based that on his entire life being that way, five bankruptcies, three wives and nearly 4,000 lawsuits. I never expected it to be this bad. I didn’t believe the legislature would stand still for any president dragging the country through so...
