From the Creaux's Nest

TIME AND HISTORY MOVES ON

Thank you for the your great response to our 52nd anniversary issue.

We heard from many people, from many quarters.

Our advertisers report they also got good response and did good business on their advertising.

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***** BREAKING NEWS: Tuesday on the anniversary of the killing of bin Ladin, President Obama made a surprise visit to Afghanistan where he signed an agreement of support with President Karzai from 2014 to 2024 after major combat troops leave.

President Obama has pledged to continue not only financial support but also to leave the presence of a small number of troops.

The President also addressed the troops at Bagham Air Field, thanking them for their service.

Later he addressed the nation, the people of the United States, in prime time Tuesday evening.

This was another step in ending the U.S. part in the Afghan War.

President Barack Obama was very much the commander in chief on this day with another step towards the withdrawal of United States troops in Afghanistan and a huge step for his foreign policy.

Being from the Model “A” days, I’m always surprised how quickly presidents, in these modern times, get around without anyone knowing it.

President Bush did it also in Iraq.

*****The world keeps turning and my time is getting short so I’d best get going.

I have a lot to say.

Please come along, I promise it won’t do you no harm.

REMEMBERING ‘KING’ DUNN

Wilson ‘King’ Dunn, 93, died in the wee hours of Sunday, April 29, at Baptist Orange after a short illness.

He had been brought to the hospital Friday and was diagnosed as having pneumonia.

For 35 years he had served as Mauriceville’s Post Master.

He was a native of the area and he and his wife of 72 years, Eloide, had been pillars of that community where they raised their daughter and boys.

Roy recalls that he first met Mr. Dunn in 1967 while visiting the Post Office with Sheriff Chester Holts.

Over the last few years he had been a regular at the Wednesday Lunch Bunch gathering.

He attended two weeks ago and had Ms.

Verna Duhon as his guest.

He seemed to be doing fairly well.” Roy went on to say, “Over the last few years we had bonded and like so many others I had the highest respect for him.

Last year he lost his wife and his health had failed and his hearing was all but gone.

I believe he was probably ready to give it up and call it a day.

He had a great trip, a good life, and a good family.

I’ll miss him.”

‘King’ Dunn had recorded, for his family, the historical facts about the community. We plan to run some of those transcripts in the weeks to come. Our condolences to his family and friends. We have lost a good man who was highly respected for the life he lived and the example he set. Funeral services will be Wednesday, 10 a.m., at First United Methodist Church in Mauriceville. Visitation was at Claybar Funeral Home in Orange Tuesday evening 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Please see obituary for more about his life.

CONDOLENCES

We were sorry to hear about the death of Ronnie Mac Stephens who passed away April 27. Service was held Tuesday, May 1, at Memorial Funeral Home in Vidor. Ronnie was the brother of Harry Stephens and had helped to raise him. His death was unexpected. He and Harry were very close. We send condolences to Harry and Margie and the family.

THE GUTSIEST PRESIDENTIAL CALLS IN MY LIFETIME

In my lifetime there have been four calls by presidents that would change the course of history.

Number one for me was President Kennedy’s missile crisis call, backing down Russia only a few miles from the shore of Cuba.

He wasn’t bluffing and if Russia hadn’t turned around the results would have been the Third World War.

History was changed on that day.

Russia would have been in our backyard and could reach any city in the U.S. The worse calls by JFK were the Bay of Pigs invasion and his call on Vietnam.

***The second call by a president was President Obama betting his future and the lives of 50 young Navy Seals by ordering the killing of Osama bin Laden.

Advisors believed it was too risky.

If it failed Obama was done.

His administration finished.

President Obama would have been viewed as a fool.

Yet Obama had said if bin Laden was ever in his sights he would kill him.

That nagged at him.

They had him in sight and had to kill him.

Bin Laden had ordered the killing of over 3,000 Americans.

In the end, it was a soul-searching call on the President’s shoulders, satisfied the best-laid plans were in place, he alone gave the order.

Today the world is better off with the ‘Head of the Snake’ cut off.

President Obama and he alone deserves the credit.

History will treat his foreign and national security policies very well.

***Another call that took a lot of guts was President Lyndon Johnson’s signing of the Civil Rights Act.

He thought his Democratic Party, a Party he loved, would go to the dogs.

The South had never voted Republican.

In fact, there were few Republicans around.

Since that day, the South has never carried the Democratic vote again.

LBJ, at the time of the signing said, “I have just given away the South to the Republican Party but it’s the right thing to do.” The country went into a totally different direction.

It saddened him for his Party.

***Fourth was when President Jimmy Carter made the call to rescue some U.S. hostages in Iran.

The mission failed and it cost Carter his presidency.

The day President Ronald Reagan was inaugurated the hostages were released.

It had taken guts for Carter to make the call.

***The two worse calls by Presidents, in my opinion, were Vietnam and the invasion of Iraq.

A useless war of choice cost nearly 5000 soldiers their lives, 30,000 wounded and maimed and cost the American people $1 trillion.

ROMNEY A NEW SHOW IN TEXAS

Texas Republicans will not have Mitt Romney at their convention.

The Romney campaign was extended an invitation and never heard back from him.

Party chairman Steve Munisteri said, “Given his need to pivot back to the center, the Texas Republican Party is not an ideal venue for that.

It was also noted that Romney was likely to win Texas even though voters in Texas don’t like him that much.

Rick Santorum, who probably would have won in Texas if he hadn’t suspended his campaign, will be the speaker at the convention banquet in Fort Worth, June 8.

Santorum will likely push the candidacy of Romney despite once saying Romney would be the worst Republican candidate in America to go up against President Obama in November.

The Texas Republican Party is one of the most conservative in the country and the activists who will be attending are even more conservative, not a good place for Romney to be.

His goal is to move to the center and Texas is not the place to do his etch-a-sketch.

Observers are predicting a low general election turnout.

TURNING BACK THE HANDS OF TIME

10 Years Ago-2002

Orange County Commissioner’s Court honor law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty.

Four local officers who died include Louis O. Ford, killed Jan. 31, 1971, when he was attempting to arrest someone in Bridge City.

His brother, John Ford, was appointed to take his place.

Louis Ford was 44 years old.

***Capt Danny Gray, Orange Police Department, was killed June 28, 1974.

He was 31 years old.

A masked man burst into the police station dispatch office brandishing a gun and demanding the release of his brother, a gun battle began and Gray was struck by an officer’s bullet that killed him.

***Orange Police Chief Edward James O’Reilly, was killed May 29, 1935, by a gun toting Baptist preacher, the same preacher that had baptized him, the Rev. Edgar Eskridge was pastor of First Baptist Church.

He had become a controversial figure in the community and had started carrying his gun to the pulpit.

When Chief O’Reilly tried to disarm him, Eskridge subsequently shot the 41-year-old chief on a street in downtown Orange.

***John Godwin Jr., was appointed OPD acting chief after O’Reilly’s death.

He was shot in the abdomen by one of two Baxar County inmates who had escaped from officers.

Godwin and another officer spotted them in a taxi on Green Ave. and stopped it.

As the other officer held one of the men at gunpoint, Godwin struggled with the other who shot him and escaped, taking two captives.

He was later caught in Louisiana.

Godwin died the next day, Aug. 11, 1935.

*****Brown Claybar was elected mayor of the City of Orange.

***** Ricky Trevino was elected mayor of Pinehurst.

He won a close race over Bessie Huckaby.

He replaced Pete Runnels, who did not run for re-election.

*****Jerry Hughes, John Young and Kenny Weaver were elected to the Port Board.

*****Tim Latiolais returned to the Bridge City School Board.

Davis Ess elected to first term.

*****”War Emblem” wins the 128th Kentucky Derby.

Jockey was Victor Espinoza.

*****Winnie Lormand will be 95 on May 9.

*****Gertrude Dugas Flies died Sunday at age 79.

She and husband, Alfred, ran the family winery.

She is also survived by son Andy, daughters Lori, Mala and Tana and their families.

35 Years Ago-1977

The story going around is that during the Henry Lee trial, Assistant District Attorney Pat Clark ripped his 20 year old, worn britches.

He tore the bottom out of them and had to send out for another pair from home before the trial could resume.

District Attorney Sharon Bearden couldn’t stop laughing long enough to either confirm or deny the story to the press.

*****Spotted at the beach looking like a boiled crawfish were Lynn Hall, Roy and Crystal Wingate, Jack and Elaine White, David and Ann Craft and Cindy and Bruce Womack.

*****The Bridge City DE Club named attorneys H.D. Pate and Don Burgess “Boss of the Year.”*****Tammy Guyote had good news from her doctor.

Only three more weeks to wear the cast on her arm and leg.

Joe Brady involved in the same accident will be in St. Elizabeth for a long time.

*****Folks having birthdays are Albert Gore, Howard Wayne Matthews, Sharon Woolley, Connie Angelle and Carolyn Bourque.

*****Top Country songs are “Play Guitar Play” by Conway Twitty.

“Some Broken Hearts Never Mend,” by Don Williams.

“Luckenbach Texas” by Waylon Jennings.

George Jones and Tammy Wynette were split again when she came out with “Let’s Get Together” (one more time.) Merl Haggard had a Top 10 hit with “If We’re Not Back in Love by Monday.” Vern Gosden had one of my favorites, “Yesterdays Gone.”*****Bridge City students receiving scholarships are Tim Fennel, Rotary Club; Jean Lapeyrolerie, Texas State Teachers; Denise Lormand, B&PW; and Pam Spurlock and Sue Ellen Johansson, Pilot Club of Orange.

*****Melvin Hogan is director of the Sheriff’s Posse Rodeo to be held May 6 and May 7.

BIRTHDAYS THIS WEEK

Ethel Champagne, Jonette Brown, Mary Stewart, Megan Cornwell, Amy Wiebold, Glenda Dailey, Nicole Gibbs, Jenna Angelle, Judi Verdin, Stacie Hollier, Kay Boudreaux, Brandon Applebach, Jeff Harrison, MacAlan Trammell, Jenna Dismukes, Julia Hoke, Brad Broussard, Matt Williams, Butch Myers, Bridget Toohey, Ricky Zirlott, Lindsey Dardeau, Susan Spencer, Travis Coffey, Amanda Dumesnil, Ashley Eby, Clint Blackwell, Beverly Millsap, Murdock Havard, Deborah Gregg, Doris Raynor, Mayor Essie Bellfield, Brandon Bond, Carolyn Bourque, Josh Sanders, Charles Slusher, Clint Vidrine, Glory Burke, Jessica Hughes, Joseph Chenella, Michael Psencik, Norma Cummings, Sherri Thompson, Caitlin Allen, Connie Angelle, Debra Truncale, Patty Cook, Ginger Hogden, Julie Allensworth, Alan Bates and Arlon Fields.

A FEW HAPPENINGS

The quarter horse racing began Friday at Delta Downs.

The 46 day meet is off and running through July 14, with live racing every Wednesday thorough Saturday starting at 6:45 p.m.

Some really great action.

See you at the track.

*****We met a beautiful woman last week who was the guest of Donna Scales at the Wednesday Lunch Bunch lunch.

For many years I had admired the work of a local artist and it turns out that this lady, June Harmon, is one and the same artist.

She has moved from McLewis after many years and is now a resident of Pinehurst.

This week the Lunch Bunch will meet at Novrozsky’s.

*****Debora, daughter of Betty and Corky Harmon, flew in from Colorado to spend a few days with mom, dad and the homefolks.

She leaves on Friday.

*****Chrysler Group, which was forcing bankruptcy before a Federal loan saved them, reported Friday they had earned $473 million in the first quarter of 2012, up more than 300 percent from 2011.

*****Setting the record straight.

It all started with a false story by Arabic News Network, Al Jazeera, about Gulf seafood.

Unfortunately other news outlets picked up and ran the story.

The United States FDA say a person could eat 63 pounds of fish every day for five years and they would not exceed safety levels.

Gulf Coast seafood is passing test with flying colors.

Enjoy it at your favorite restaurant or serve it up at home.

In fact, it’s a great time for boiled shrimp, a few soft shell crabs, and a dozen oysters on the half shell.

That’s not even an appetizer for Judge David Peck.

Finish up the meal with grilled snapper, all fresh from our great Gulf water.

*****Special folks we know celebrating birthdays.

Our “Girl Friday,” the gal who is the glue and fiber holding this loose group together, Nicole Gibbs, celebrates on May 3.

She keeps the wheels of The Record Newspapers rolling and we extend best wishes for a great day.

*****Art teacher and a wonderful lady Deborah “Debbie” Gregg, celebrates on May 6.

*****Also marking another birthday is longtime friend and former mayor and now Orange city councilperson Essie Bellfield, celebrates 80 years on May 6.

***Josh Sanders is getting older on May 7.

***A great guy who gave many good years to the Bridge City School District and community, Joe Chenella, celebrates on May 7.

Joe and Nancy will be moving to College Station but will always consider Bridge City home.

We treasure our many years of friendship.

*****Remembering Judge Grover Halliburton who died eight years ago on May 7, 2004.

He was one of those interesting, special people I’ve known.

He made a lot of improvements while judge of Orange County.

His wife Sue, a retired teacher, still lives here on Old Timer’s Road and is a neighbor to the Frank Beachamps.

*****”Inside the Situation Room,” a must see television exclusive presentation by Brian Williams, Wednesday, 8 p.m.

on NBC showing the planning and decision making of the attempted killing of Osoma BinLadin, the arguments against it and the President giving the go ahead.

Several years ago, President George W. Bush had given the order; “Our first priority is bin Ladin, dead or alive.” After years of bombing the tops off of mountains and chasing a tall guy on a donkey, he was killed living in comfort in Pakistan a year ago this week, after 10 years of trying.

*****CREAUX’S TIP OF THE WEEK: For crayon marks on walls: The easiest way to remove them is with a damp rag dipped in baking soda.

The mark comes off with little effort. It spares the elbow grease and works great.

*****CAJUN DEFINITION: Debris (day bree).

A dish made basically of the organs such as liver, heart, kidneys, tripe, spleen, brain, lungs and pancreas.

Cooked with lots of onions it makes rich gravy and is served over rice.

It has a delicate flavor and is oh, so good.

*****A Federal judge ruled Monday that Texas couldn’t bar Planned Parenthood from serving women through a key health program until the group’s lawsuit against the state is decided.

The state had planned to bar Planned Parenthood this week.

Texas’ decision to exclude Planned Parenthood has prompted the Federal Government to begin phasing out Federal dollars, about $30 million.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott quickly filed an appeal.

Texas wants the money and wants to spend it the way they want to, not through Planned Parenthood.

The chief executive officer said, “No women should ever have to fear being cut off from her doctor’s care because of shortsighted political games.”*****This always astonished me.

Two men have been cleared of a 30 year old rape and shooting after DNA implicated others.

They were declared innocent after all the years in prison.

The Judge and DA apologized to them for the wrongful conviction.

They became the 31st and 32nd in Dallas County since 2001 to be cleared of crimes they didn’t commit.

*****Gas prices are coming down.

President Obama has been blamed for high gas prices.

I wonder when the prices come down to $3 or below in September, if they will give him credit for lowering prices.

In both cases they are wrong.

Government doesn’t have anything to do with prices at the pump.

Right now, we are producing more domestic oil than ever in history.

Also, more people are working in the oil industry in the United States than ever before.

The oil industry is healthy and growing.

*****Judge Claude Wimberly says you can’t find a better beef steak anywhere than a steak at Robert’s Steakhouse, on Park St., in Orange.

He’s tried them all.

I agree, plus the butcher on duty will custom cut your steak the way you like it.

If you love a good steak and are dining out, you can’t go wrong at Robert’s.

CAJUN STORY OF THE WEEK

A short note from Sostan

Dear Cuz,

We went to see Sugar Bee’s papa, Bosco, wat is in da hospital. A nurse’s aide was helping him into da bashfroom and Bosco him, was raising hell with her. He say, “You not coming in here wit me no, dis is only a one holer.”

Sugar Bee say dat since everyone has one of dem camcorders, no one talks about seeing UFO’s like da use to.

Boy, I don’t know me, wat dis country is getting to. In da 1960’s people took acid to make da world weird, now da world is weird and people dem, take Prozac to make it normal.

Well Cuzz, dere’s not much going on here. Come see me. Tell Kee-Kee and LeLeux to stop by wen dey go to da Cashotta dem. Tell Cox I said hello.

Your Cuzzin,

Sostan

C’EST TOUT

Voting is now in progress for the Drainage District.

You must vote at the District office on Old Highway 90, behind Roger’s Sawmill, on IH-10.

*****Cities are also holding early voting .

Pinehurst voters can vote early at Orange Library.

Bridge City voters can vote now at Bridge City High School.

The Port of Orange early voting locations are Little Cypress-Mauriceville Administration building, Bridge City High School, Orange Public Library and Vidor ISD. Your vote in these races is important.

*****I’m always surprised to learn how little interest some people take in government.

In the past week I had two people ask me who the republican nominee is for president.

No kidding.

They must have been under a rock.

*****I still wonder why Con.

Kevin Brady didn’t chose to re-run for his seat including Orange County.

No one will ask him.

Now in the 8thDistrict, he is facing Larry Youngblood, a Republican from the Woodlands, Timothy Kimbley, Independent, Roy Hall, Libertarian and Neil Burns, a Democrat.

Brady has voted in lock-step with the Tea Party Congress, who have voted no on several job bills.

Brady has been running his campaign against the administration.

I’m surprised he’s drawing so much opposition and wouldn’t have if he had stayed in this district.

*****I’ve been out of town and missed out on some of the happenings.

I missed Dot Eshbach’s 90th birthday party.

I bet it was a fun one.

*****My time is up.

Thanks for yours.

The opinions in this column, just like Kent Conwell or Sen.

Bailey’s are our own.

Please read us cover to cover and patronize our advertising family and check us out on the web, TheRecordLive.com Take care and God bless.