General Election set for November

The days and hours for the November 4, 2014 General Election, Constitutional Amendment Election and Local Option Liquor Election were set at the regular meeting of the Orange County Commissioners' Court on Monday afternoon.

The court approved the amended order for the General Election and giving notice by being published in a newspaper of general circulation at least once between Sunday, Oct. 5 and Monday, Oct. 27.

Likewise, the same procedure applied to the Constitutional Amendment Election and the Local Option Liquor Election, a wet/dry election for alcohol sales. The Local Option Liquor Election is for registered voters of Justice of the Peace Precinct No. 2.

Early voting locations and times are as follows:

West Orange-Cove CISD Old Administration Building, 505 N. 15th St., as the main early voting location from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, October 20 to Friday, October 24; from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday, October 25; from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, October 26 and from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Monday, October 27 to Friday, October 31.

First Baptist Church of Mauriceville, 11540 Highway 12, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, October 20 to Saturday, October 25; from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, October 27 to Friday, October 31.

Bridge City Public Works Building, 220 Nitsche, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, October 20 to Saturday, October 25; from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Monday, October 27 to Friday, October 31.

The Raymond Gould Community Center, 385 Claiborne, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, October 20 to Saturday, October 25; from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Monday, October 27 to Friday, October 31.

Patrick Beebe, mosquito control director, reported there was one confirmed collection of mosquitoes testing positive for West Nile Virus in Orange County in August. He added there are 100 collected in the sample with eight collections sent to the Texas Department of State Health Services.

In comparison, there were 1,200 positive collections of mosquitoes in Harris County thus far. It is estimated there could be 1,500 at the end of the season.

There were 13 service requests for August and 38 for September.

Beebe said adult mosquito activity levels were low, moderate and high in areas of the county during the course of the month August and September. Activity levels varied according to location. Larval development was low to normal. Highest concentrations were found in area roadside septic ditch locations checked a total of 500 larvae per dip on both east and west sides of the county during those two months.

There were 104 ground treatments during August, yielding a total of 90,381 acres treated. There were 111 in September, yielding a total of 102,327 acres treated.

There were 10 aerial treatments in August, yielding a total of 35,840 acres treated. There was also 10 aerial treatments for September, yielding a total of 30,720 acres treated.

Lastly, commissioners set the salaries of the county auditor, assistants in the office of county auditor and the official court reporters.

Mary Johnson, county auditor, salary is at $77,000 per year, the same as last year, according to the Texas Association of Counties website.