Commissioners look into weapons, speedboat complaints

The Waterwood Estates Subdivision in Bridge City will get some quiet time thanks to a firearm restriction passed Monday by county commissioners.

The Waterwood homeowner’s association requested the prohibition, commissioners’ attorney Doug Manning said.

Waterwood is near the corner of Texas 62 and Texas 87.

Apparently some are getting target practice shooting tin cans and other items in a wooded area there, Manning said. “The homeowners are not able to prohibit [the actions] themselves through a Class C misdemeanor,” he said.

Commissioner Owen Burton asked Commissioner John Dubose, who had placed the item on the agenda, if most of the Waterwood residents were for the restriction.

“That’s my understanding of all the ones I’ve talked to,” Dubose said.

Also discussed was another Waterwood request regarding “no wake” signs for skiers / speedboats in the Waterwood section of Cow Bayou. That passed after a lively discussion from non-Waterwood residents who want similar signs near their property areas. Cal Broussard said he lived along the “ ... snakey winding part” of the bayou.

Manning said he will draft a proposal for more warning signs on the bayou, and told commissioners public hearings “ ... are never a bad idea.”

A “no wake” fine carries a price tag of $500, he said.

In other business, commissioners noted Monday as “Jared Parker Day,” honoring the Vidor High pole-vault champion.

Parker recently won first in Texas 4-A competition and third in the nation. Some of his accomplishments include a 14-foot, 10-inch district record.

“I don’t know Jared, and I think that’s a great personal loss to me,” remarked Commissioner Beamon Minton. “When I went to Vidor High School in 1959, the best record there was 11 feet, 11 inches.”

County Judge Carl Thibodeaux, a former track man, was also impressed with Parker.

“When you’re a pole-vaulter, you don’t have a teammate out there to pick you up if you’re down,” Thibodeaux told Parker. “No matter if you have a good or bad day, you’re still out there by yourself. I commend you.”