Sherlock Breaux in the Creaux's Nest

NOT ONLY TALKING BARBEQUE WITH J.B.

A couple of Saturdays ago, I had a nice hour visit with J.B. Arrington at the barbeque place.

I had out of state guest coming who said the first think they wanted was real Texas smoked barbeque.

That was an easy choice.

No one knows more about preparing and smoking meat than J.B. does.

He worked for the Barbeque King in Houston and Corsicana when he was just a boy but the sauce comes from his granddad and is all natural.

By the way, the brisket and slab of ribs I got were a great hit.

Just call Jarad at JB’s and tell him what you need and when you need it and you can be a big hit at your place.

Also get your Christmas turkey order in.

JB will smoke anything but skunk, so if you want that nutria done right, bring it on.

I’ve eaten barbeque all over Texas and we have the best right here at home.

Forty years in the same location.

Sometime I’ll share some of JB’s stories.

The old guy knows a lot about Orangefield, McLewis and Tulane Acres.

The first movie JB ever watched was at the movie theater in Orangefield.

It was a silent movie.

JB even recalls when Paul Cormier came to the oil field.

AT 94 JB is still active, up every morning and if it’s passed 3 a.m.

he’s going late.

JB served on the Orange County Drainage District and knows every foot of ditch in Mid-Orange County.

For your next barbeque lunch-dinner, if you haven’t been to JB’s for a while, go give them a try.

You might just run into the old master himself.*****I’ve been out of pocket a lot the last two weeks so I haven’t gotten around much.

It is what it is. Next week I’ll do better I promise.

Come along, it won’t do you no harm.

TRUMP PROMISED MORE JOBS THAN COULD BE FILLED

I recall in 2016, while Donald Trump was campaigning in Youngstown, Ohio, the city that was once a model city in our country, he told the crown that all those rusty buildings would be replaced with new shiny ones.

He said, “We will bring back so many jobs we won’t have the people to fill them.” Trump also told the same lie throughout the rust belt.

The people went for the “Con” and voted for him.

Today, like many others, Youngstown unemployment has gone up but the worst is yet to come.

GM will cut thousands of jobs and close plants.

The moves reflect the stark consumer shift to SUV’s, Crossovers and pickups.

All of the GM plants on the chopping block make passenger cars, Chevrolet, Cruse, Volt, Impala and the Buick Lacrosse, Cadillac, XT’s and CT6.

This won’t be the end of auto industry cut backs, GM will do more and other manufacturers will redo their operations.

To conform to trade tariffs and the cost shift of steel prices, GM offered buyouts to 18,000 workers weeks ago.

GM has 54,000 salaried workers in the United States.

GM says the moves will deliver more than $6 billion in additional annual cash flow.

The announcement comes ahead of next years contract talks with the United AutoWorkers. Meanwhile, a new Gallup political poll shows 60 percent of the voters disapprove of the job Trump is doing, while only 38 approve.

Trump’s approval had a lot to do with the large pickup in congress by Democrats.

We had predicted a 35 seat pickup, which would go to 232.

It appears now there could be as many as 40 pickups and the shifting of seven governorships.

The strong showing in U.S. Senate seats should have Trump looking at his hole card about the 2020 election.

It’s getting ready to start heading downward.

The auto industry is just the beginning.

I believe Trump would trade anything with Demos for his monument, the great southern border wall with his picture and name on it.

Then he would be ready to get out of Dodge.

His problems are just starting, 2019 will be a pay back year for Trump.

It will also prove up his money connections that will make it impossible to get re-elected.

Believe me, he won’t leave the country as good as he found it.

That tweet bubble will soon burst and the deficit will skyrocket.

Here is something interesting.

The Right Wing conservatives in congress have given Trump $250 million for the erection of a big, beautiful, stone wall, six miles long, $34 million a mile, with 2,000 miles to go.

Of course the port of entry with Trump’s picture, his Mount Rushmore, would be nicer but all a waste of billions.

The wall would require someone watching every foot of it because there is none too high to climb or too deep to get under. There is coming a point when that wall will have to take a back seat to the problems piling up.

TURNING BACK THE HANDS OF TIME

10 Years Ago-2008

The Harmon brothers started many years ago with OK Corral Used Cars. Their dad was in the car business but way before that, back in the 1800s the family sold transportation.

Their grandfather sold buggies in Orange.

Their family also invented the famous Harmon Saddle known worldwide by serious riders.

One of the original saddles is on display here at Harmon’s Used Car lot on Henrietta and MacArthur Drive if you would like to see how it is constructed.

Our operation today is in the same building thanks to their generosity after the Creaux’s Nest was ravaged by Ike.*****President-elect Barack Obama promised Monday “a new dawn of American leadership in the world” with appointments of his cabinet.

With his appointments of the brightest, most qualified professionals, Obama is treating our troubled country with the seriousness Americans deserve.

Obama is building a solid foundation.

He is setting the agenda of change the country so desperately needs and they are expected to administer his forward thinking wishes.

The team, led by Hillary Clinton, possibly the nation’s most qualified person, will serve as secretary of state with Robert Gates as defense secretary.

Both charged with reinvigorating diplomacy.

What Clinton called “America’s standing in the world as a force for positive change.” Also nominated were Eric Holder, attorney general, Janet Napolitano, homeland security secretary, Gen.

James Jones, national security adviser, Susan Rice, no kin to Condi, as United Nations ambassador.

Obama said, “I’m going to be welcoming a vigorous debate inside the White House.” Obama’s hands could be tied by the many problems he will inherit, plus a Bush foreign policy legacy from hell.

No president since FDR will have more on his plate.

An economy in recession, financial crisis, two wars, a hostile Iran, unstable Pakistan and re-emerging Russia, tensions with Cuba, stalled Middle East peace talks, just to mention a few.

Obama needs the best team he can assemble regardless of what their previous affiliations were.

Only a novice in politics or a no-brainer can criticize that.

Remember he will govern after the most failed administration in our lifetime.

(Editor’s note: Obama passed the country over to Trump with 84 months of economic job growth.

Trump is riding the Obama wave and taking credit for it.)***** Bridge City’s Matt Bryant, our boy in the NFL, never gets the credit he deserves.

Sunday, with two minutes left in the game, tied 20-20; Matt kicked his third field goal to win the game. Several reports I’ve seen, including USA and the Chronicle only said a 37-yard field goal put the Bucs 23-20 over the New Orleans Saints. They didn’t mention who kicked it.

Matt has outright won three games for Tampa Bay and could get credit for two others.

He’s the team’s leading scorer. Well known around the league yet he can’t get copy unless he kicks a 62-yarder, which he has.

He proves his worth every Sunday.

***** Happy anniversary also to Janelle and George Sehon on their 30 years of marriage.

40 Years Ago-1978

Rusty Nicks has opened her real estate office behind Bridge City State Bank next to H.D. Pate’s law office in Professional Park, developed by Doug Harrington. (Editor’s note: That building later became the Creaux’s Nest.)***** Paul Eason and Lawrence Gamble killed a six-foot, two-inch diamondback rattler Dec. 2 in Sabinal, Texas.

They were looking for a downed deer on their hands and knees when the deadly rattler sent them to fine toilet paper.

*****Jimmy E. Williams, son of Lucille Williams, has joined the Job Corps. Every enrollee receives room and board, medical and death care plus a GED certificate.

Job Corps is open to young people 16 to 21 years of age.

*****Harvey Baldwin was the winner of the top deer-hunting prize in a recent hunt.

He bagged an eight-pointer.

*****Barry Wiesman opens Midway Gulf on I-10 and 23rd St. in Orange across from Fisherman’s Reef. *****The “Plant Shoppee” opens at Harrington’s Pharmacy. *****Gene Edgerly and OscarThompson celebrated birthdays Dec. 1.

They celebrate birthdays together whether Gene wants to or not.

Sometimes Oscar decides to party at 3:00 a.m.****Ty Gipson turned age 9 on Dec. 2.*****Todd Guyote and Louis Mann celebrate Dec. 4.

Todd, 13, Louis 18.*****LC-M drama and music department presents “Music Man.” Major characters are HaroldHill, Dick Stelter, Linda Francis and Janet Steffler.*****Stark Museum of Art curators Sarah Beth Boehme and Julie Schimmel have arranged to show a volume of rare prints by John James Anderson. The museum started five years ago and was completed two years ago.*****Weldon Leger receives title of “King Cajun” at the Houston Astro Hall.

The rice farmer collects caps and is proud of his Cajun ancestry.

(Editor’s note: Weldon, along with his buddy W.T. “Boss Cajun” Oliver, died a few years ago.)*****Rosemary and B.D.Slaton are the proud parents of a girl born on Pearl Harbor Day, Dec. 7.

***** David Fusilier just found out wife Debbie is expecting sometime this summer.*****Lucy Sciarillo and JoeKazmar celebrate birthdays.

A FEW HAPPENINGS

I was sorry and surprised to learn about the death of Faye Parish, 67.

I wasn’t aware of her passing until I saw it in this paper’s obituary column last Wednesday.

Faye was a born school teacher who loved it.

She built a lot of math champions.

I had known Faye 50 years and I have never known a nicer person.

May she rest in peace.*****The Southeastern Conference has fined Texas A&M $50,000 for its fans rushing the field Saturday night after the Aggie 74-72, seven overtime victory.*****Speaking of real money, share per player for the Boston Red Sox for winning the World Series is $416,837.72.

The Dodgers received $262,027.49 a share.*****Now, here’s real deal, $23 million for one year is the reported new deal with the Braves for Josh Donaldson.*****Rewarded amount for 2019 funding to begin the process of deepening the Sabine-Neches waterway to 48 feet from 40 feet.

The project will increase the 64 mile waterway to 77 miles.

The project is a $1.2 billion project.

It must be cheaper to dig than to build a wall.*****Tear gas clash renews the border debate which faces a Dec. 7 deadline by this congress to fund Trump’s proposed wall.

The incident was condemned by U.S. Rep.

Joaquin Castro who said, “The decision to gas asylum seekers, including many women and children, was cruel and unnecessary and inconsistent with what we aspire to be as a nation.”*** Rep.

Beto O’Rourk’s response was brief and to the point.

“So far, in this Administration, the response has included taking kids from their parents, locking them up in cages and now tear gassing them at the border.

O’Rourke proposed, “Let’s do this the right way and allow asylum seekers to petition for asylum at our ports of entry peacefully and follow our laws.

We must also have the capacity to effectively and timely process these claims.” A U.S. Judge will determine those who have a credible fear of returning to their home and will allow them to stay until their asylum request has been determined.***Sen.

John Cornyn, who is thinking about 2020, noted that the Mexican government has increased security since Sunday’s melee, which saw women and children choking on tear gas that the U.S. had lobbed onto the Mexican side of the border.***All in all immigration is being made into a political football for one reason only, to feed a sick ego with a monument wall.*****Bitcoins are down 80% since last year.*****Mrs. Peggy called to let us know that everyone whom brings in an unwrapped gift for Toys for Tots, before Saturday at noon, will be entered into a drawing for a $25 gift certificate to Peggy’s Place.*****The Wednesday Lunch Bunch will dine at Robert’s this week and at Norvorsky’s next week.

Everyone welcome.*****Be sure and see ad this week of how your child can send a letter to Miss Melissa over at Car Works for their First Annual Toy Giveaway.

They are excited to give back to our community and customers.

Recipients of gifts must be school age to 12 years old.*****I noticed that David Fusilier celebrates a birthday on Nov. 28 and on Nov. 29, Tyler Bearden and Barry Burton celebrate.

Can you believe David is probably the old guy in this bunch.

I knew him when he was a puppy.

BIRTHDAYS

A few friends celebrating birthdays in the next few days.

Nov. 28: Rick Bridges, Russell Dillow, Jerry Childress, Lynda Walther, David Fusilier and Barbara Peveto all celebrate.

They are joined by TV host Jon Stewart, 55, race car driver Chase Elliott, 22 and actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead, 33.***** Nov. 29: Having birthdays on this day are Kaitlin Malveaux, Tyler Bearden, Barry Burton, Sharon Evans, Troy Manuel, Angela Harkness, Angela Webb, Freda Riley and Jim Bob Aven.

Also game show host Howie Mandel, 62 and actor Don Cheadle, 53.*****Nov. 30: Kirk Ellender, Vance Chauvin, Erin Evans, Evelyn Brandon, Kenneth Manuel, Tish Garrett and Brad Braus all celebrate.

They are joined by golfer Tiger Woods, 42 and boxer Laila Ali, 40.*****Dec. 1: Bill Hare, Frank Welch, Kelsey Dardeau, Amanda George all have birthdays on this day.

Janelle and George Sehon celebrate their 40^th wedding anniversary and it is also the day of daughter Stephanie’s wedding to Alex Hurst. Congrats to all.

Also having birthdays on this day are director Woody Allen, 82, and singer Bette Midler, 72.*****Dec. 2: Vergie Thomas, Beverly Blalack, Edd Brown, Eddie Robertson and Marie Moran celebrate along with celebrities singer Britney Spears, 36, football quarterback Aaron Rodgers, 34 and country singer Jana Kramer, 34.*****Dec. 3: Celebrating birthdays on this day are Susan MacCammond, Jo Ann Wilber, Carolyn Andrus and Chris DeCuir.

Also celebrating are singer Ozzy Osbourne, 69 and actress Julianna Moore, 57*****Dec. 4: Dana Simmons and Gwen Tallant celebrate.

Also having birthdays are model and TV host Tyra Banks, 44, actors Marisa Tomal, 53 and Jeff Bridges, 68.

CAJUN STORY OF THE WEEK

Alcid Comeaux and Sostan Breaux, two big game hunters from Mamou, hired dem a pilot to fly dem to Canada to hunt some moose. Dey bag six, dem. Wen Comeaux and Breaux start loading da plane for the return trip da Pilot him say, “Hey guy, da plane can only take four of dem.”

Da two Cajuns object strongly, “Las year,” Breaux say, “We shot six of dem moose and da pilot let us put all of dem on board and he had a plane jus like dis one.”

After arguing for several minutes da pilot gave in him. He crank dat plane up and taxie down da runway fas-fas and took off. However, even wit full power da little plane can’t handle da load and down it went crashing in da middle of nowhere.

A few moments later, climbing out of da wreckage, Comeaux axe Breaux, “Say coon, got any idea where we at hanh?”

Breaux answer, “Best I can tell me, we pretty close to where we crashed las year.”

C’EST TOUT

DOGGETT SEEKS TO LOWER DRUG COST

U.S. Congressman Lloyd Doggett, of El Paso, chairman of the House Democratic Force on Drug Pricing is in line to take over the Ways and Means Health Care subcommittee in the new Congress.

He is the chief sponsor of legislation giving Medicare authority to negotiate directly with drug makers.

Congressman Elijah Cummings will chair the House Oversight and Government Reform committee.

Studies show that prescription prices in the United States are more than twice as high as other developed countries.

Drug giant Pfizer announced it will raise prices on 41 of its medicines on Jan. 15.

The industry is certain to wage an all out effort against the Doggett plan.

Pharmaceutical companies have spent $21.8 million this year on lobbying which is only about 10 percent of the $216 million set aside for lobbying congress.

Profit of $350 billion is projected for the top ten drug manufactures.

Senator Orin Hatch, a friend of the drug industry, will now be gone, he killed all legislation, dead on arrival, of bills against drug companies.

Sen.

Chuck Grassley will replace Hatch as chair of the senate finance committee.

He will be more likely to take on the drug companies.

The President once said, “The drug industry is getting by with murder.” Doggett said he was hopeful they will find some common ground with President Trump. He and the senate republicans say they are open to drug price legislation.

He says he and congress will move quickly in the new congress to protect consumers from price “Spikes” and ease the financial crush on medicine cost.

I personally can attest to the fact that drug cost is bleeding the elderly.

They play games with drug cost that is termed “The Donut Hole.” A drug that normally cost $45 with my insurance jumps to $119 when I’m in the donut hole.

Multiply the cost of six other drugs and you get the picture.

That raises our cost yearly that is unaffordable to many elderly.

Some senior citizens do without medication, while it’s a hardship on most. Something has to be done to curb drug cost that is causing the death of many in this country.

The pharmaceutical industry will continue to escalate the cost while banking billions it the government doesn’t step in with regulations.

Good luck to Congressman Doggett, but I don’t hold out much hope for relief from the administration and the lobby controlled congress.*****Read us cover to cover and please shop our advertisers.

Take care and God bless.