Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
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Several events, as of late, got me to thinking about my longtime friend Johnny Preston Courville, Jr. My mind is wandering back over 60 years to a period that is unique. The Gulf Coast Sound or Swamp Pop music was born at a time between big band, Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Frankie Lane, the arrival of Elvis and before the Beatles came ashore. A group of talented young musicians, most with some Cajun background, sprang up down the coast from Beaumont to Abbeville. Feb. 3 marked...
The Legislature has ended its first week of session. Due to the ongoing pandemic, the Senate has decided to recess until January 26th . However, we will still be working hard in the meantime on legislation for Senate District 3. Here are five things happening around your state: 1. The Texas Legislature begins the 87th Legislative Session This week, the 87th legislature gaveled in for session. Though opening day looked a bit different than usual, with fewer guests in the galler...
There was no way of knowing our late years would get down to isolation because of a life threatening pandemic. It's certainly not the way we wanted to spend our final years. However, after being in lock down for the past few months, after 66 years of marriage, Phyl and I have found a silver lining. It all started when Phyl started writing down the names of everyone we could remember who we had crossed paths with or were dear friends. Most who were our ages, 84 and 86, had...
MERRY CHRISTMAS, JOYEUX NOEL, FELIZ NAVIDAD Christmas this week will be like none we have ever seen before. A pandemic has ravaged the country. It’s not safe to travel or gather. The large family gatherings won’t be at Grandma’s house this year. Gatherings of cousins, who look forward to this once a year renewing of kinship and exchanging experiences, just won’t happen. Even though I believe it didn’t have to be this way, it is what it is. We still have a long way to go but...
Sometimes everything gets overwhelming. You may not go through as many things as others or as little as some but that doesn’t mean we all don’t have a breaking point. When this occurs, having a place to go to escape from it all is nice. However, sometimes the place where we escape from it all is in our imaginations. If I could escape from it all, I would go to Italy. I have always wanted to go to Europe, but specifically Italy. It is such a beautiful place with a beautiful cul...
Do you ever wonder why you don’t see honeybees in the winter? Well it’s because they don’t leave the hive when temperatures are lower than the mid 50’s. The bees in the hive will stay clustered in the hive to keep the brood area 92 to 95 degrees F. They will eat the honey that they stored all summer to keep the hive alive. The cluster of bees will get tighter and tighter as the temperature drops. Some of the bees will shiver to produce heat. I say shiver but what they do is they flex their shoulder muscles to produce body he...
PANDEMIC TAKES TOAL AT HOME It's amazing to me how many people won't accept the COVID surge that is right now spreading like wildfire throughout the country. The Thanksgiving spike is expected to arrive later this week. The Christmas Holiday will again grow the surge to new heights. A vaccine is coming but most Americans will not receive vaccinations until late March or April if they are still alive by then, over 500,000 people are expected to die by April. Millions of...
As we travel down life’s highway, we encounter events that mark that place, where we recall what we were doing and what was going on around us at the time of their happening. Many of us recall where we were and who we were with when we heard the news of President John F. Kennedy’s assignation in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963, Neil Armstrong’s landing on the moon in 1969, 9-11, Martin Luther King’s murder, Katrina, Rita or Ike. I recall an event that occurred 79 years ago. I was jus...
Acts 20:35 "…remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive." Who else but Jesus can say such a thing with the clearest of conscience that that is exactly what He did. He gave us creation and our individual lives. He gave Himself as the sacrifice of all from sin and condemnation who would believe. He literally has given and continues to give His all for those in His Kingdom, the true believers. Thanksgiving Day is the time to e...
THOUGHTS AT THANKSGIVING Let us go forth to... Count our blessings, instead of our crosses. Count our gains, instead of our loses. Count our joys, instead of our woes. Count our friends, instead of our foes. Count our smiles, instead of our tears. Count our courage, instead of our fears. Count our full years, instead of our lean. Count our kind deeds, instead of our mean. Count our health, instead of our wealth. Count on God, instead of ourselves. With that I embark on...
AN ELECTION FOR THE AGES It's Election Day 2020. Former V.P. Joe Biden challenging President Donald Trump trying to win a second term. For 50 years, I have made predictions. In 1996, I hit the exact number on the Electoral College vote. I predicted Bill Clinton, even after his sex scandal, would still win by a narrow margin. I said he would beat Bob Dole with 279 votes, nine more than needed. Four years later, I predicted his V.P., Al Gore, would win with 290 votes. I was on...
John 1:29 "The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." John the Baptist had been talking about Him and preparing a people to follow Him when He came walking on the earth's landscape. Lo and behold, John looks up one day while speaking to a crowd about Him, and there was Jesus. What an awesome sight for John and He was coming to him. Mark tells us that Jesus, after being crucified and rising again...
I came into this world as Franklin D. Roosevelt became the 32nd president, in the mist of the great Hoover depression. Hoover, a wealthy New York businessman with no experience in government, had somehow gotten the Republicans to elect him. He had taken over a healthy economy and then had people jumping out of high-rise buildings and off of bridges. The businessman totally destroyed the country and put everyone in the poor house. FDR started the process of rebuilding the...
ENOUGH ALREADY Like many of you I'm sure I'm storm weary. Storm fatigue is a common theme along the Gulf Coast after a season in which 10 storms made landfall on U.S. soil, breaking a century old record. One word to describe this season is historic. AccuWeather senior Meteorologist Mike Doll said, "You just don't see storms roll in like this." There is some good news however; a cold wave could sweep through late next week. Air in the Gulf should stabilize and depress any...
THE FINANCIAL STATE OF THE NATION Here I sit trying to embark on another column that goes back over 50 years. Sometimes they come easy and other times it's a struggle. Then there are times like this when there is too much I'd like to comment on. COVID-19 marks over 200,000 deaths, approaching seven million cases so it will be around as deaths climbs. I'll have time to write about that later. One thing I haven't seen anything written about, nor have I heard conservatives...
SOMETIMES IT SEEMS ENDLESS In all of my years I can’t recall when life in our country was so chaotic. I look forward to the day when life returns to normal or somewhat normal. The norm has been stretched so far that I doubt it can ever truly be the same again. Less than 50 days before the presidential election and I can hardly wait. I have to make hay and I’m burning daylight. I’d best get going. You would do me proud if you came along. I promise it won’t do you no harm. R...
THE AFTERMATH OF LAURA Many citizens find themselves surround by destruction around their homes and at best a lot of clean up. I find myself in both. Some people have done a great job putting their places back in shape. I’m still waiting on an adjuster, due to come by on Saturday. I have fought hurricanes all my life, going back to 1939, in an Ike type surge and many others after. Twelve years ago for Ike I was much younger and when you’re not old and in good health, sto...
THE TIMES ARE WHAT THEY ARE You wouldn’t believe the difficulty we have gone through getting this paper put together and published. We still have no electricity or internet service at our office and are working from a different location. Most of our staff still has no service and our delivery people are still out of town or dealing with major problems at their homes. I have nothing but praise for Mark, Dave, Janelle and staff who worked so hard putting this publication out und...
DOUBLE WAMMY I understand this column is running on our website, therecordlive.com. The last week of August has brought not one but two hurricanes in the Gulf. The first and smallest storm, Marco, is not expected to bring high winds but promises some rain. Our worry is the second larger storm, Laura, which is right in our gun sight. As I write this it is difficult to determine the damage. It is a hard decision to stay or go. If Laura comes in east of Orange County, we could fa...
DON'T FORGET LIVES LOST TO COVID America's tally of more than 173,000 COVID-19 deaths is expressed in various ways. Nearly 60 times more than the loved ones lost on 9-11, more than the combined United States combat deaths of World War I, Korean, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan wars, more than any other country in the world. Every 80 seconds another American dies of coronavirus, that's an average from last week. That's 1,000 lives lost every 24 hours. This is a staggering rate....
Hello Everyone, I hope this week has been better for you than last week. It is normal to experience worry, anxiety, and self-pity when we lack the resources essential to our well being; Such as food, shelter, health, finances etc. God reminds us that help can come through unexpected resources if we only turn to him. Before we look for solutions on our own, we need to be careful and turn to Him first. Turning to God can save a whole lot of time and frustration. 1 Kings 17:15 " So there was food every day for Elijah and the...
ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL Our tax assessor and friend Karen Fisher underwent heart surgery Tuesday morning to repair a valve in her heart. She feared the procedure done at Baptist Hospital in Beaumont would include having to crack her chest. The doctors were able to make the repair by going through her groin. She was out of surgery by 9:00 A.M. and in recovery. Her husband was able to visit with her later. By afternoon she was resting well. Karen is expected to be out from w...
Hello Everyone, I hope this week finds everyone well. Sometimes it is easy to get focused on what is happening around us. If you to listen to the outside world, you will live fearful and worried. But, if you choose to think the way God Thinks , you can live above the stress and pressure of the world. God has promised to give us perfect peace when we keep our minds focused on Him. Isaiah 55:9. " As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts." Have a good and...
PLAYING THE HAND DEALT ME I never thought I'd find myself and the country in this shape during my late years. I sit here in lockdown because my family and doctor feel I'm at too high a risk to be running around in the middle of the deadly coronavirus. As a youngster I was raised in the Great Depression by a single mom, in a one-room shack with no utilities. We were very poor and often had nothing to eat. We had no real furniture. I slept on a corn shuck pallet. I have been...
SYMPTONS ADDED ON TO CORONAVIRUS The Center of Disease Control and Prevention has added four Coronavirus symptoms, congestion, running nose, nausea and diarrhea to list. The CDC previously said symptoms include chills, fever, muscle pain, headache, sore throat, loss of taste or smell. The federal health agency warns that symptoms could appear two to 14 days after exposure, mostly four or five days. Individuals with Covid-19 may be most contagious one or two days before...
