Sherlock Breaux in the Creaux's Nest

TEN DIED—5,000 RESCUED IN COUNTY

For several days Hurricane Harvey, that entered Texas east of Corpus Christi, couldn’t find a low pressure path to move on north.

It maundered around in a weird spin that took it back to the Gulf where its eye entered between the Sabine River and Holly Beach, in Louisiana.

No storm before had ever affected such a wide area.

Harvey dropped from 40 inches to 55 inches of rain from Corpus to Lake Charles.

Areas that had not flooded before were turned into lakes.

Many homes destroyed by the surge of Hurricane Ike were totally spared.

The people not affected by Ike were ill prepared for so much rainfall.

Ten people lost their lives in Orange County.

Nearly 5,000 people and over 500 animals were rescued. During Ike Bridge City had seen less than a dozen homes survive without water damage.

Much credit goes to the city government, who after Ike did a complete citywide drainage program.

Very few streets were impassable and flooded areas were mostly from Cow Bayou getting out of its banks and also the Neches River spilling over in the Bessie Heights marsh flooding low lying areas.

Many homes built at three or four feet above sea level were like a bowl catching rainwater.

For nearly 65 years I had witnessed flooding homes in Bridge City after just a four inch rain.

That is no longer the case with the City’s new drainage program and Bessie Heights marsh raised by a foot last year.

With so many outages down the entire coast Energy is also due a lot of credit for quickly restoring power.

With many people without service it amazed me that most were restored within a few hours.*****Hop on board and come along.

I promise it won’t do you no harm.

10 YEARS AGO-2007

The Bridge City Strutters photo in the Penny Record, taken on the historical Cow Bayou Bridge, had folks talking all over Bridge City.

It was a great shot by photographer Mark Dunn.*****Potty-trained Republican Idaho Sen.

Larry Craig got caught doing the ‘Toilet Two-Step’ in an airport restroom.

Craig bashed everybody and was first to condemn his fellow senator Mark Foley for trolling for young, male pagers.

Louisiana Sen.

David Vitter, a D.C. madam’s patron, Sen.

Ted Stevens, of Alaska, and Rep.

Rick Renzi, of Arizona, were all caught up in corruption by the FBI.*****Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is walking out of the Justice Department gutted by scandal.

He announced Aug. 27 that he was headed to Texas.

Not one Republican spoke up for Alberto.*****Pct.

2 constable Parker Thompson, 59, passed away Sept. 2 after a long illness.

P.T. was elected constable in 1996 after a long career in law enforcement and the Armed Forces.

He was a friend to everyone here on our staff.*****Saturday was a great day for Carlos Vasek, TCU beat Baylor 27-0.

You can bet Vasek will be in the stands when TCU meets U-of-Texas on Saturday.*****Speaking of bankers, we understand that a longtime Bridge City Bank employee, Kim Davis, has returned home to the bank in Bridge City.

*****Faith Hill to sing the opening theme song for NBC’s Sunday night football.

The opening involves 300 extras, 14 NFL players and Faith singing 25 tweaked versions to fit specific games.

***** Republican Senator from Virginia, John Warner, looks and acts like a statesman should.

(He also was once married to Elizabeth Taylor).

Warner has announced he won’t run for re-election.***** President George Bush took a detour to Iraq on Labor Day.

***** Jerry Lewis has raised $2 billion for MDA in 42 years.

*****The City of Pinehurst sponsored another successful Senior Citizen’s Labor Day Picnic.

The food, fixed by Robert’s Restaurant was very good and Jay Trahan and his band of Cajuns put on a good show, with great music. ***** GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN: Constable Parker "P.T." Thompson, 59, of Orange, died, Sunday, Sept. 2.

Funeral service will be 11 a.m., Thursday, Sept. 6.

He served in the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army during the Vietnam War.

He served as Constable for three consecutive terms of Precinct 2 in Orange.

He was on the Pinehurst Police Department for 15 years as an officer.

He is survived by his parents, Arlene and Howard Johnston; daughters, Jennifer Lynne Nichols and Leslie Danelle Thompson, two grandchildren, brothers, Donald Thompson, Harold Thompson and sister Dorothy "Dot" Hudson.

*****Helen Grace Dumesnil, 81, a lifelong resident of Orange, died, Friday, Aug. 31.

A Mass of Christian Burial was held Monday, Sept. 3.

She is survived by her husband of 61 years, C.J. Dumesnil, daughters; Virginia Buchman, and Gloria Dumesnil, sons, Jim Dumesnil and Bruce Dumesnil, 11 grandchildren, 24 great-grandchildren, one great-great-grandchild, brother, Jerry Curl and sisters; Clara Green, Shirley Waldrep and Joycie Everette.

40 YEARS AGO-1977

Last winter, Emery Fontenot, of Orange, while trot lining in Conway Bayou for catfish, caught four turtles with a total weight of 430 pounds, the largest reaching 140 pounds. Emery recently caught a snapping turtle that weighed 110 pounds, grabbing it by the tail and hauling the rear end aboard.

It was quite a tussle to finally get the turtle on its back and tie all four legs to the boat seat.

Emery said this one is headed to the freezer.

(Editor’s note: Why don’t we ever hear about big turtles being caught in Conway or other area waters anymore?) *****The Technical Arts building at Lamar-Beaumont is named in honor of Cecil Beeson.

The Orange resident served many years on the board of regents.

*****W.B. Oubre and Brenda Braquet celebrate birthdays on Sept. 2.

They are the father and niece of Phyllis Dunn.*****Stella and Chuck Winter celebrate 15 years of marriage.

Stella, a district clerk, received a dozen dark red roses from Chuck.*****Wilma Grossman, 128 th district court clerk, is honored by KWIC radio as a career girl.

Wilma is also expecting a new grandchild by way of daughter Bobbie and Don Burgess. The new one is due any day now.

*****Agnes Sweezy, district court employee is home after an extended stay in the hospital.

*****Charles Curry, new Orange city manager, proposes a 5 percent salary increase for all non-civil service employees and 7.5 percent for police and fireman.

*****Gov. Dolph Briscoe is expected to name the new 260 th district court judge in a few days.

Bridge City attorney Don Burgess is believed to have the inside track.

Others being considered are Orange attorneys George Barron and Jerry Zunker.*****The mosquito control plane log is due to go to county auditor Julia Bacom and County Judge Pete Runnels for editing.

They will separate the private use of R.H. ‘Junior’ Bruce, public works director and pilot, from the county’s use.*****Audrey and Buster Lapeyrolerie and their children attend a family reunion in Louisiana.

*****Thad Thompson totaled his car and came out with just a few bruises.

*****Flo Edgerly works Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethon.*****Barbara Briggs is hospitalized with first, second and third degree burns received in a barbecuing accident.*****Mike Hatton to emcee B&PW beauty pageant. Denise Lormand currently holds the Miss Bridge City title.

*****P.M. ‘Red’ Wood has back surgery and is now home recuperating.

BIRTHDAYS

A few folks we know celebrating birthdays.

Aug. 30: Our friend Mike Cedars, at the Appraisal District, celebrates being a year older today.

Also Pam Comer, Cristi Harper, Jon Weidner and Dal Moreau.

They are joined by actors Cameron Diaz, 44, and Michael Michele, 50 and entrepreneur Warren Buffett.*****Aug. 31: Happy birthday today to Mary Behnke, Alex Murphy, Paul Vandervoort, Erin Weidner and Buddy Cox.

Also Happy 48^th anniversary to Judge Pat and Rosalie Clark.

Best wishes for many more.

Celebrities celebrating birthdays today are rock singer Van Morrison, 71 and actor Richard Gere, 67.*****Sept. 1: BCISD teacher Pamela Hayes celebrates today.

So does Sandy Shugart, and a good guy Bill McCorkle.

Today is also the anniversary of Tony and Karen Fusilier.

For this one day maybe they will have a truce.

They are joined by TV host Dr.

Phil McGraw, 66 and singers Gloria Estefan, 59 and Barry Gibb, 70.***** Sept. 2: Tanya Sterling, our friend at Kids Castle, celebrates today.

Also coach Cody Knight, Peyton Choate, Ernest Procella and Brenda Wilber.

This was the date also that “P.T.” Thompson and Roy’s mom Marie died.

Celebrating birthdays also are celebrities actors Salma Hayek, 50 and Keanu Reeves, 52, also football player Terry Bradshaw, 68.*****Sept. 3: Our writer Debby Schaumber celebrates today and T.W. Permenter, Barbara Daigle, Tammy Stevens, Rachel Briggs, Ryan Fisette and Thomas Tisdale.

They are joined by snowboarder Shaun White, 30 and actor Charlie Sheen, 51.*****Sept. 4: Celebrating today are Candi Cannon, Shirley Choate, Beverly Hanes and Ginger Williams.

This was the day 63 years ago that Judge Claude and Pauline were wed.

The Judge has been battling illness lately.

Our thoughts are with them.

Also having birthdays are singer Beyonce Knowles, 35, comedian Damon Wayans, 56 and actress Victoria Moroles, 20.*****Sept. 5: Pretty Virginia Oceguera at Dr.

Hackbarths office celebrates a birthday today.

Also celebrating are Jason Toal, Cindy Myers and Carolyn Ann Henry.

Celebrities having birthdays also are actors Michael Keaton, 65, Raquel Welch, 76 and Bob Newhart, 87.

A FEW HAPPENINGS

President Donald Trump has ended the ‘Dreamer’ program with a six-month delay.

Those are the people who came over as children and don’t know any other life.

One example is a 32-year-old Priest who came from South America with his other when he was 4 years old.

She has since died.

To the Dreamers it’s very cruel of Trump to send them to a country they know nothing about.

It’s very cold, cold hearted.*****It will be years before a full recovery can be made from the mind blowing damages of Hurricane Harvey.

Over one million cars have been lost to flood waters, at least a half million homes went under water.

Our roads and highways will be under reconstruction for years.

A small example: Highway 87 South, from Cow Bayou to 1006, was totally destroyed mostly by large trucks that came through, even driving on the esplanade reducing it to a gravel road with two foot deep holes.*****Our friend Harry Stephens stopped by our Orange office on MacArthur and Henrietta Monday morning to let us know Harry’s Appliance is again flooded with water too high to began clean up.

We were fortunate with very little water.

Harry’s is located at 10^th Street and Main.

He says simply, “I’m getting so tired of it.” He saved some appliances, lost others and all the carpet has to be replaced again.

Granger’s Chevrolet across from us seemed to have faired well at the dealership but lost a couple hundred cars on the old Sears parking lot.*****I spoke with our friend Keith Wallace from Reliable Cleaners.

He was hit hard at the main plant in Orange but was ok in the Vidor and Bridge City locations.

He is hoping to clean out and re-open in a few days.*****We were sorry to learnthat Richard and Peggy Albair have lost their restaurant, “Peggy’s on the Bayou.” Over five feet of water flooded it.

I doubt that they will ever reopen.

Someone else might.

They lost everything including their transportation.

Fortunately their home survived.*****Thanks to the churches and volunteers for making food and supplies available at several location.

At Cowboy Church they are distributing food for horse and other animals such as food, hay, etc.*****A special thanks to Andy Hill and Bryan Chauvin who took time Sunday to unload their airboat, after a full day of volunteering, to rescue two guys stranded on Cow Bayou.*****For three days I tried to find my old buddy Neighbor Cox.

He finally called me from Lufkin.

The nursing home on Highway 62 evacuated their residents to Welsh, LA. Cox hitched a ride with them to look after Ms.

Ginny. Someone picked him up and took him to Lufkin.

Ginny and the other senior citizens remain in Welch.

Cox’s good fortune is that his home was spared.

He just needs to figure out how to get back to it.*****Our friend Mary Alice Hartsfield evacuated her mother from the Cole home and they are now living in Port Neches.*****Getting any type of information from our county government has been impossible.

We received no bulletins or notices to pass on to our citizens.

In fact, it was difficult to get good information.

Social media was putting out rubbish.

Plenty of made up information.

That’s why we needed facts from the county.*****By the way, has anyone seen signs of FEMA anywhere.

CAJUN STORY OF DA WEEK

Clovis and Sostan were sitting around having a few beers at Tee-boy’s Place, wen Clovis said, “I really got a problem me, my house, last night while I was at work, was broke into for da turd time in tree weeks. Sostan, how you stop dem teeves from breaking into you house, hahn?”

“Well Clovis, I got me a security system.”

“Yea, wat’s dat Sostan?”

Well, Sostan said, “I went to a secondhand store and bought me some men’s used work boots, size 16 and put dem boots on da front porch, nex to a copy of ‘Guns and Ammo’ magazine. Den I put a few giant dog bowls nex to da boots and magazine, den I leave a note on da door.”

Clovis axe, “Wat do note say?”

Sostan answer, it say, “Hey Comeaux, Big Al, Tuffy, Convict Joe and me, we gotta get more ammunition us, we be back in one hour. Don’t mess wit da Pit Bulls, dey attacked da mailman dis morning. Messed him up real bad. I don’t tink ‘Killer’ took part in it but it was hard to tell from all da blood. Anyway, I locked all da dogs in da house me. You better jus wait outside until we get back den sign it ‘The Hulk.”

C’EST TOUT

September 10^th is Grandparents Day: Each year the president is requested to issue a proclamation to designate the first Sunday after Labor Day as National Grandparents Day.

The special day was signed into law in 1978 by President Jimmy Carter.

Many people honor their grandparents through a range of activities such as gift giving, card sending and even invitations to grandparents to visit their school.

People often go to nursing homes to visit with the residents who may not have family.

The official song is a song for ‘Grandma and Grandpa’ by Johnny Prill.The official flower for the day is‘Forget-Me-Nots.’ Grandparents are special in so many ways, don’t forget yours next Sunday.*****Next week our Record Newspapers will return to a printed issue, delivered to you free of charge.

To advertise in next week’s “Special Issue” call 886-7183 or email HYPERLINK "mailto:[email protected]" [email protected].

Thanks for reading us online.

Take care and God bless.