From the Creaux's Nest

EASTER GONE, PECANS NOT BUDDING YET

Here’s hoping you had a good Easter holiday.

Creaux and I did off like bandits.

Each year Marlene Merritt gives us a big, chocolate rabbit that we eat on for a year.

Never out of chocolate thanks to Marlene.

This year, she loaded us down with Peeps in a variety of colors.

Creaux loves Peeps.

We got a few other goodies that made for a great Easter basket.

*****As of Tuesday morning the old Pecan tree hadn’t budded yet.

It’s about three weeks late.

What’s up with that? All my life I’ve been told winter ain’t done till the Pecan tree says it is.

Hopefully, it’s just sleeping late and will bud in the next few days.*****I have a very long way to go so I’d best get going.

Hop on board and come along, I promise it won’t do you no harm.

LABOR MARKET STRONG IN U.S. AND MEXICO

NAFTA’s role in boosting the Mexican economy has benefited the United States by reversing the flood of Mexicans streaming across the border.

Mexicans can find better paying jobs at home, such as the auto industry, which has overtaken Japan in the number of vehicles exported to the U.S. by Ford.

Mexico will account for about a quarter of all autos produced in North America.

In the last couple of years, immigration by Mexicans to the U.S has been negative.

The number of Mexicans returning home now exceeds those entering the U.S. Soon we may have to build a wall to keep them from leaving.

That is what is so silly about Trump’s big, beautiful wall.

The day is coming when we will be advertising in Mexico for workers to come to the U.S. Illegal immigration is a political football that has been kicked around so much that the air is gone out of it.

Had congress passed the senate’s immigration bill, Trump’s campaign never would have been born.

It’s the empty political rhetoric that holds no merit.

A big, beautiful wall is a gimmick that is spun by a shyster.

On Monday, USA Today, in a front page economic story, wrote the following.

Hundreds of thousands of Americans are streaming back to an improving labor market as employees raise wages and hire less skilled job candidates to cope with a rising worker shortage.

Jobless rate has fallen to 4.9 percent, a level many economists consider full employment.

Some manufacturers, unable to find workers, are splitting jobs into two positions and hiring less skilled candidates.

Others due to the skilled worker shortage, are bringing on unskilled workers and training them.

A jobs report due out Friday could push Fed to hike rates.

Also a surge in consumer spending is expected.

TURNING BACK THE HANDS OF TIME

10 Years Ago-1976

Three Bridge City cheerleaders are getting ready to go to the prestigious Cheer Hawaii USA Invitational to compete.

Their coach Michelle Huff will accompany them.

They are Heather Miller, Kylie Simoneaux and Heather Gisclair.*****Chili’s Restaurant is opening in Pinehurst in about six months if the city of Pinehurst can work out a way to have liquor by the drink.

That is all that is holding back baby back ribs from coming to the area.

(Editor’s note: Best I recall the citizens of Pinehurst voted in liquor by the drink in November election.)*****Congressman Tom DeLay pulls out of congressional race.

DeLay, the architect of redistricting and gerrymandering districts to give the GOP the advantage in Texas and other states, gets to be too much of a drain on the Republican Party.*****Al DeRoche turns 78 on April 5.*****Little Mr./Miss Bridge City Photogenic winners are announced.

In the boy’s categories, winner from each are Lincoln Breaux, blue eyed, brown haired, 6 month old son of Bonnie and Clint Breaux.

Other boy winners are Landon Byers and Kameron Bertrand. Girl winners were Bella Rae Huckaby, 11 month old daughter of Clint and Misty Huckabay. Other winners were Kylie Olive, Hannah Grace Force, Baylee Forton, Simone Dies, Emernald Mason, Madaline Thibodeaux and Burgundi Mason.

Kim Davis was chairperson of the 28^th annual event.

*****The Greater Orange Area Chamber awarded the March Student of the Month to Kelsey Dardeau, a senior at West Orange-Stark.

She is the daughter of Dale and Barbara Dardeau. *****St. Paul Methodist pastor, David Green, had said he would shave his head if the congregations raised $30,000 for church renovation after Rita.

Over $47,287 was raised.

Mark Anderson and Missy Darbonne shaved him slick as “Mr. Clean.”*****A high school having a clean sweep day in all sports competition doesn’t happen too often but the last day of March was awfully good for the Bridge City High School Cardinals.

After the golf team won the championship, tennis star Kody Duplechin continued his winning ways, defeating three straight opponents to claim the title in Silsbee.

The Cards and Kody will compete in a district tournament Friday and Saturday at Lamar Beaumont.

Meanwhile, the Lady Cards knocked off W.O.-S., 10-0, the Bridge City freshmen, with Anthony Cessac on the mound, beat Hamshire 10-3, and the junior varsity team pulled out a 7-6 win against Hamshire-Fanett.

The much anticipated game between the Cardinal varsity and also undefeated in district Hamshire-Fanett Longhorns drew a large crowd.

In the first inning the Cards gave ace pitcher, Kevin Angelle, a four-run cushion and that was Katy-bar-the-door.

Big Red shut them out 10-zip in five innings.

In all Bridge City teams scored 37 runs, allowing only 9.

Earlier in the day the Cardinals ran off with the Bobcat Relays.

Bridge City’s Aaron Brannen avenged his loss in the 1600 last week to LCM’s Drew Bean.

Both youngsters clocked their season’s best.

Brennen ran the mile in 4:21.64, Bean in 4:22.39.

Brannen also won the 3200.

Bean chose not to run the two-miles.

The Cardinal team outdistanced the competition in both girl’s and boy’s events and took home double trophies.

March 31 was really a red-letter day for Big Red.

Now that was worth mentioning wasn’t it.

*****GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN: Emma Pearl ‘Toni’Algor, of Orange, died March 28.

Services were held Tuesday April 4.

She is survived by her two daughters, Rayda Neswick and Janet Howard, one sister, one brother and their families.

*****Nell Armstrong, 75, of Orange, died Tuesday, March 28 at St. Elizabeth in Beaumont.

Services were held Saturday, April 1.

She was a teacher’s aid for 20 years at Cove ISD, a member of First Baptist Church and active volunteer at Shangri La.

She is survived by her husband of 53 years, Robert C. Armstrong and their family.

*****Valton ‘Bubby’ Taylor, 62, a resident of Orange, died Wednesday, March 29.

He was born in 1943 in Morgan City, LA. and was a self-employed welder who enjoyed fishing, hunting, woodworking and gardening.

He was a LC-M grad and played football and baseball.

He is survived by sons Brian and Troy, a sister Darlene Leger, brothers Vernon, Lannie, LeRoy, Johnny and Richard.*****Charles D. Henry, 57, of Orange, died March 29 at Christus St. Mary in Port Arthur.

He had worked as a rigger.

He is preceded in death by his parents, brothers Frank Henry and John David Henry.

He is survived by his brother and sister-in-law, George and Lucy Henry, sister Janice Self and sister-in-law Sue Henry all of Orange.*****Funeral services were held Friday, March 31 for James Allen ‘Pee Wee’ ‘Pop’ Christian, 70, of Deweyville.

He lived in Deweyville for 33 years and worked as a clerk and forklift driver in the shipping department for Firestone in Orange.

He served with the United States Army during the Korean Conflict.

He is survived by his wife of 33 years, Ruth M. Christian of Deweyville, daughter Tonya Renee, Darlene and Betty, sons Lawrence, Kyle, E.L.’Tiger’ and their families.*****Marjorie Pflieger Smith, 75, of Bridge City, died April 2 at her home.

She is preceded in death by her parents; and husband Grover Smith. She is survived by her sons, Charles Pflieger, of Bridge City and Carl Pflieger, of Dickerson, TN. Daughter, Jane Tingler of Bridge City and eight grandchildren.

40 Years Ago-1976

County Commissioner Dudley Baker offers $200 reward for information as to who is destroying his political signs.*****The Lea boys, three attorneys; Bill visits Orange this week, brother Hugh is practicing law in Webster, Dick is still at NASA where he’s on the Air Force legal staff.

Their dad was Orange mayor and mostly responsible for the building of the Rainbow Bridge.*****In Las Vegas this week is Ralph Bufkin, Bob Banks, Paul Skinner, Jerry Stanley and Bob McDonald. The wicker-sticker gang won a free trip for exceeding 37 car sales in one month.

*****Legal secretaries chose George Barron as ‘Boss of the Year’ and Marilyn Vaughn ‘Secretary of the Year.’ Rusty Nicks is incoming president.

The politicians poured out for the banquet.

Cong.

Charles Wilson, W.T. Oliver, senatorial candidate, State Rep.

Wayne Peveto to name a few.

*****Laverne Ridley is now in Europe visiting with her sister Gladys and touring.

*****Mr. and Mrs. Joe Norman are in Morocco.

*****Beth Dugas is in San Francisco for a reunion with old classmates.

*****Two old boys who used to run together will be settling down and taking brides.

Tony Giarratano will wed Angela Perkins on April 25 and Neal Kelly and Donna Wilson will wed on May 1.

*****If you are traveling down 12^th Street and see three old guys sitting under a tree like they are holding court, they are former longtime judge Sid Caillavet, George Lafitte and C.R. Spradling.*****Twala Ford, chairman of Box 26, KC Hall, will be replaced by C.W. Lormand. The state ruled that because Mrs. Ford has a relative running for office she had to step down.

*****Kevin Smith, the fisherman, hooked a big one.

He hooked banker J.B. Duke in his lip.

He had to be brought in but not for the weigh-in.

The hook had to be cut out of Duke’s lip.*****Sandi Force is the pretty girl in this week’s Gunn Studio ad.*****Delores Stephens is still in the hospital after having surgery.*****Roy and Crystal Wingate, along with Jeff and Cay Rendall, will be traveling down the Buffalo River to Arkansas next week.

They will cook over an open fire, sleep in a pup tent and just live the rugged life.

For some reason that rugged business just doesn’t seem to fit Roy S.

A FEW HAPPENINGS

The final, annual reunion of the West Orange Chief’s at Serenity Oaks, on Lansing Street, in West Orange, Crip and Sadie Trahan’s old home place, has been set.

Mike, Crip and Sadie’s only child, had been living at the place but has now sold the old homestead and moving away.

By the way, Crip planted the oaks on the property years ago.

The last reunion picnic at Serenity Oaks will be held April 23, 11 a.m.

A breakfast for the gang will be held at Denny’s from 8:30 a.m.

to 10 a.m.

The last picnic will feature a live band.

Mike is a former commercial pilot and has written several books about the place he called home.

*****I was sorry to learn of the death of Dub Davis, age 95, who died March 23.

He was a great guy that I had known over 50 years.

A former deputy sheriff under Sheriff Chester Holt, he served many years in Vidor as chief deputy for the constable, going back to Carl Ward.

Dub was a long drink of water, kind, easy going, always helpful, but you didn’t want to mess with that cowboy.

Please see obituary.

*****The Final Four is all set.

Semifinals are Saturday, April 2, in Houston.

Villanova vs Oklahoma, North Carolina vs. Syracuse.

The National championship will be played Monday, April 4.

My guess is it will be N.C. vs. OK. with the Tar Heels winning it all.*****Margie Stephens wasn’t a happy camper when we spoke with her after the flood.

They were told the flood was going to be as bad as or worse than Ike so they moved the entire stock out at Harry’s Appliance building but the water actually didn’t come within five blocks of their store.

She said that wasn’t the worse of it, because of the mandatory evacuation, they couldn’t’ come back to their business, which didn’t have a drop of water around it, until the evacuation order was lifted ten days later.*****The Derry Dunn’s hosted the annual Dunn Easter reunion.

The annual gathering started in 1935.

They had a large Dunn bloodline gathering.

*****Meanwhile, Roy and Phyllis Dunn hosted an Easter gathering with a big crawfish boil and Easter goodies.

Dr.

Amber Dunn flew in from Garden City, Kansas for a three-day visit.

She got her annual fill up of crawfish.

Mark Dunn had a guest from Guatemala City, Ethel Batz Jerez, who was a good sport and ate crawfish for the first time.

She also took in Peggy’s on the Bayou and tasted all the Cajun dishes.

Grandson Garrett and Angie brought two-week old Juliana, the Dunn’s fifth great-grandchild, for their first visit with the new angel.

They also celebrated Garrett’s birthday which was March 28.

*****Corky Harmon says all those years of Betty wearing high heel, tight shoes, has finally taken its toll on her toes.

The pain is worse than a bad tooth ache that won’t go away.*****A few folks we know celebrating their special day in the next few days.

On March 30, retired educator, Ella’s other half, Terry Stubing, sees another birthday come around.

So does Kate Ferguson,Lisa Smith and Karen Bergeron. Celebrities celebrating on this day are singer Celin Deon, 48, Guitarist/singer Eric Clapton, 71, TV show host Piers Morgan, 51 and actor Warren Beatty, 79.*****On March 31, Dana Myers, Danny Carter, Rebecca Hunter, Mallory Walton and Hunter Wilson all celebrate.

They are joined by actors Christopher Waken, 73, and Shirley Jones, 82, also politician Al Gore, 68.*****On April 1, celebrating birthdays are Pam Savoy, Angie Sellers, Elizabeth Weir and Tracie Ray.

This is also April Fools Day.

On this day 40 years ago, Joe and Susan Kazmar were wed.

Hard to believe it’s been 40 years.

I knew Joe in another life that doesn’t seem that long ago.

*****They are joined by pop singer Susan Boyle, 55, country singer Kip Moore, 36, and actress Debbie Reynolds, 84.

*****Celebrating on April 2 are Jason Vincent, Kellie Fontenot, Sawyer Hogan, Vickie Foreman, and the ‘Lady with a green thumb’ Arline Dodge, who is a tough lady who has had two knee surgeries and a hip replacement and still makes a great garden.

They join country singer Emmylou Harris, 69 and actress Linda Hunt, 71.*****On April 3, Lannie Claybar, Alan Anderson, Desirea Wilson, Linda Currie and Eddie Asbury all celebrate.

Celebrities celebrating on this day are actors Eddie Murphy, 55, Doris Day, 92 and singer Wayne Newton, 74.*****On April 4, our buddy Burl LaSalle gets to celebrate another birthday as does Joe Peery,Sandra McRight, Mike Callahan, Kathie Dorman and Spencer Johns. They join actors Robert Downey, Jr., 51 and Jamie Lynn Spears, 25.*****On April 5, from Nancy’s Kitcher, our writer, Nancy McWhorter, celebrates as does our buddy, former ad salesman, Al DeRoche, also Libby Harrison, Janet Bland, Niki Viola, Lisa Coffey and Cora Woodard. Celebrities celebrating birthdays on this day are singer Pharrell Williams, 43, politician Colin Powell, 79 and TV show host Judge Greg Mathis, 56.*****There are 61 Fact Check groups around the globe.

I never knew there were that many.

The Fact Checkers have found that Donald Trump leads by a wide margin over other presidential candidates for being untruthful.

In fact, he had more “Pants on Fire” than all the others combined.

Ted Cruz ran a distant second.

What may surprise you is that they found Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush to be the most truthful.

Everyone, in the beginning, believed they would be running against each other.

Here’s another report from ‘Politico,’ not a liberal group.

They monitored 400 hours of Trump speeches and checked them for accuracy.

They found on average, The Donald lied every five-minutes.

That’s 12 times per hour, in 400 hours, that’s 4,8000 lies.*****The Wednesday Lunch Bunch will dine at JB’s Barbeque this week and at Robert’s next week.

Everyone is welcome.*****Now is the time to call Pete at Coastal Landscape Service. Get ready for the summer with a great Spring makeover.

See ad in this issue.

CAJUN STORY OF THE WEEK

A note from Cuzzin Sostan:

I ran into our cuzzin, Calvin Breaux, at Broussard’s Barber Shop. He said his wife, Agnes, gave him an ultimatum, “No sex until he quit smoking, him.” I axe him how long he tink he will be able to hold out, him? Calvin say, “At least as long as my girlfriend Clotele don’t die her.

Sugar Bee’s mama and papa went to Black’s Oyster Bar to celebrate dere 67^th anniversary. Dey didn’t have a reservation on a busy weekend and dey were told it would be a 45 minute wait. Papa say, “Look young man, we boat 90 years old us, we might not have no 45 minutes. Dey were sat rat den, deem.

We went to da Baptist Church for Easter Sunday service and Rev. Gaspard axe, “Wen you in da casket and friends are mourning over you wat would you like dem to say. Several of da mens made comments. Den Brother Gaspard axe Clovis him, wat he wanted dem to say. He answer, “Look! Look! Clovis him, is moving .

Dat’s all from here,

Cuzzin Sostan.

C’EST TOUT

No one was damaged more from the flood water than Elaine Myers, at The Horseman Store.

Elaine, who is battling cancer and is in chemo treatment, says she had a $2 million building loss.

She says they could have saved more than 1,000 pair of boots stored in the warehouse if not for the mandatory evacuation forcing them to leave.

She had less than two feet of water throughout the store.

She is temporally going to relocate.

We will have more information next week.

The County Judge ordered the mandatory evacuation before leaving the state.

County government was shut down for 10 days with the exception of law enforcement.

The Court House grounds didn’t have water, all roads were accessible to the Count House but employees were given 10 days off with pay.

Those called to work at the Expo Center were paid double time.

It was an expensive trial run for what was not a major disaster.

There were also other short comings.

The Emergency Management department was non existent, media information was not available.

Sheriff Merritt and a handful of seasoned storm veterans managed the situation for the most part, others were just in the way.

The county government worked only three days last week, off Monday and for Good Friday.

Thank God it wasn’t a major disaster.

Less than five percent of the county was affected.*****Thanks for your time.

Shop our family of advertisers when you can.

Take care and God bless.