Sherlock Breaux in the Creaux's Nest

THANKSGIVING WAS A TIME TO REFLECT

Here's hoping you had a good Thanksgiving. It's hard to believe winter begins Dec. 21 and Christmas is less than 25 days away. A new year will arrive in just four weeks. The year 2021 has flown by. My years are slipping away much too quickly. I was just reading our 50 Years Ago in this column and so much of it is still fresh in my mind. Where did the 50 years go? This Thanksgiving my mind was in a different place. It drifted off to remembering the path I've traveled. I'm fast approaching the middle of the fourth quarter. I ran through my mind so many of the great people I have known who are now gone. So many unique people from different walks of life, some laws and some outlaws, but all had a story. So many were just true friends, people I respected, just good, down to earth folks. I've been blessed more than most to have been at the right place at the right time. So many times I've met and spent time with some of the country's biggest stars and political figures. In my early days I met and got to know famous Texas Rangers and on the other hand I knew Jack Ruby. I have a great LBJ story but my head is full of great stories. There is one I've never told that I hope I can get someone else to write. It's that unbelievably. Thanksgiving gave me time to reflect on my present friends. There's not as many as there once were, so I treasure each one. I'm thankful I was surrounded by a loving family. It was great to see so many young, beautiful faces, three generations of loving souls. You bet I'm thankful.*****I must move on. Please come along, I promise it won't do you no harm.

SOMETHING FOR ORANGE PORT

TO CONSIDER

I was reading an interesting editorial view on the Opinion page of the Nov. 25 Beaumont Enterprise. I found it interesting because it had to do with ports and I have been pushing that. Right now a window might be open to dredge the Orange waterway to a depth that will afford large ships to come into the Port of Orange, bringing in billions of dollars to Orange County over the years. If not now, probably never. Here's a small portion of the long editorial. Other entities in the county should take notes.

Local ports have right idea

about infrastructure funds

The ports of Port Arthur and Sabine Pass are doing something that almost every taxing entity in Southeast Texas should be doing, thinking about ways they might qualify for some of the money from the $1 trillion infrastructure bill that President Biden signed into law recently. This is the biggest boost to federal funding for ports, airports, highways, bridges, etc. in years, and some of those needs undoubtedly exist right here in our region. But cities, counties and ports won't get any of that funding unless they apply for it, so they need to get moving now if they believe they qualify. The ports of Port Arthur and Sabine Pass are already getting started.

ALICE COLE REMEMBERED

Alice Cole, age 91, passed away November 23, 2021. Funeral services were held Monday, November 29. We had known this good lady for about 60 years. Her husband Don, who died five years ago, had served as a Bridge City councilman and County commissioner but the Cole's were best known for their plumbing business. Don, a master plumber, had been in almost every home in the area and knew everyone. The Cole's, over the years, contributed so much to the betterment of the community. They raised their family in Bridge City where all their children attended Bridge City schools. Don and Alice Cole will long be remembered. They came, they served and we're better off today because of it. Alice had been in failing health but her wish was to return to Mississippi to visit her brothers, Roger and Benny King and her nieces and nephews. About five weeks ago the family granted Alice her wish and drove her back to her homeland where she got to visit everyone and renew memories of her childhood home. After returning from that special trip the family noticed a change in their mother. It seemed like that is when she started drifting away. I've heard of that happening many times. Sometimes a dying person hangs on until they satisfy their mind, sometimes it's seeing a person for the last time. Alice Odelia King Cole lived a good, long life where she was loved and adored by all of her and Don's offspring. Our condolences to Alice Hartsfield, Angela Hebert, Michael Cole and the entire family. She's home now. May she rest in peace. Please see obituary.

TURNING BACK THE HANDS OF TIME

10 Years Ago-2011

Congrats to the West Orange-Stark Mustangs. Coach Thompson, his coaching staff and a great bunch of players deserve our congratulations on a great season. The future looks good for the Stangs even thought they fell to Cold Spring 35-13 in the state quarter-finals.*****Congratulations also to Bridge City native, coach Clint Hartsfield, who in his first year as head coach brought his Kelly Bulldogs all the way to the TAPPS state championship game. They lost to Fort Worth Nolan, 27-10 but had a great season.***** Over the last week I ate pretty good thanks to some local friends and some products not off the grocery shelf. Capt. Chuck Uzzle provided us with fresh killed ducks that after cleaning we put to good use. Neighbor Cox furnished us some of his saddle blanket mustard greens and a mess of eggplant that turned into great eggplant dressing. Judge Derry Dunn, again this year, provided one of my favorite foods, peanut butter. Not your common kind of peanut butter. He helped put up this homemade peanut butter for Family Canning Welfare Services of Salt Lake City, Utah. It's the best I've ever eaten and I'm a connoisseur of peanut butter*****A great gift also came from John Heard who brought a mess of locally grown Navel oranges and Ruby Red grapefruit. There is none better than Orange County grown citrus. ***** A few special folks we know who are having birthdays. Some of you may not know him as Thomas Austin Gunn, born to Marilou and Donald Gunn, on Pearl Harbor Day, Dec. 7. Most folks know him as attorney Tommy Gunn, a good lawyer, good guy and good friend. Happy birthday Tommy.***Our buddy, Jim Keith, who moved away from Bridge City, marks another birthday on Dec. 7.

GOODBYE HERMAN-OUT OF THE PAST 2011

The presidential campaign of Herman Cain came to an end Saturday. He had been accused of sexually harassing several women and having a 13-year affair with another. He denied the allegations. By not quitting and just suspending his candidacy, he can keep raising money and donating the money to any candidate he wants to. The word is that he will endorse Newt Gingrich. It's only fitting that he would since Newt was guilty of some of the things Cain is accused of. Twice divorced, he was having an affair with a young office staffer while voting to impeach President Clinton for the Monica affair. He later married his debutant but its been expensive. Recently he paid off a half million dollar jewelry bill at Tiffany's. Newt was charged with 87 ethics infractions and shamed out of office. Then he went and made $100 million by not registering as a lobbyist but going through the back door and being paid by Freddie Mac to influence legislation. By the way, Newt was in New York Monday meeting with the kingpin, Donald Trump, who has set up a debate and he will be the moderator. Trump has called Republican Ron Paul and Gov. John Huntsman "Joke Candidates" because they won't participate. Huntsman responded to this remark by saying, "I'm not going to kiss Trumps ring and any other part of his anatomy." Paul said about Trump, "I didn't know he had the ability to lay on hands and anoint people." Karl Rove said, "What the heck are Republican candidates doing showing up at a debate thrown by this guy, who says if he doesn't like what he hears he'll run as an Independent. Republicans strategist, Mike Murphy said, "GOP candidates would be foolish to show up at Trump's clown circus debate." Chris Mathews had the quote of the week. "Trump is the ring master of a political clown show." So far Mitt Romney, Rick Perry and Michele Bachman haven't committed. I think Trump is just trying to get back on the "Birther" issue. I wonder which network will carry the debate and who will show up at Trump Tower.

50 YEARS AGO-1971

On Sunday, December 5, 1971, Bohn Hilliard will be inducted into the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame. The presentation will be held at Breckenridge. Hillard is one of the great athletes in the history of Orange. He has become a legend and countless stories of his exploits have been told. He played at Orange High School in 1927-28-29 and played college ball at Kilgore Junior College for 2 years. He then went on to play four years at the University of Texas. Even though Bohn didn't weigh but 165 pounds and was only 5 feet, 9 inches tall he could do it all, pass, kick, run over and around defenders. He was considered greatest open field runner in Southwest Conference history. He was also outstanding in baseball where he played every position. Bohn is the brother of J.P. Hillard, who operates the Dr. Pepper Bottling Co. started by their father in Orange in 1919.*****State Representative Clyde Haynes has decided to seek re-election. That muddies the water for some other possible candidates. Haynes had planned to run for the 2nd Congressional District seat. Two Orangeites, former County Judge James Stringer and attorney Wayne Peveto, will run against Haynes. All are Democrats. (Editor's note: I don't recall for sure but I believe Stringer pulled out of the race and supported Peveto. I do know for a fact that Peveto won. A conservative, he upset liberal incumbent Haynes.*****The Orange Boxing Club will host three team matches on December 6, with Orange, Lake Charles and Port Arthur. Boxers include Norris leger, Ken Shivley, Joseph LaFleur, Kebble Free, Rickey Hargrove, Randy Caruthers, Marc Hodgen, Ray Hodgen, Ernie Morris, Roy Helm, Chris Leger, Tommy Miller, Jody Bailey, Joe Ray, Jimmy Ellis, Rorary Delano, Dale Delano, James Wimberly, David Millien, Lee Plunkett and Charles Muldoon.*****J.B. Bearden coached the Stark freshmen football team to a championship this year with an 8-2 record. Coach Ballenger is expecting great things from J.B.'s ninth grade talent for next year's varsity team. J.B. is a natural and should prove to be a tremendous asset to the coaching staff for years to come.*****Lamar Cardinals defeated Arkansas State 24-13 to grab share of conference championship in Southland. Orange's George Toal replaced Glen Hill as quarterback in game's first quarter. Cornerback Pat Gibbs, of Orange, broke a Lamar record with three interceptions. Toal and Gibbs were voted outstanding offensive and defensive players.

A FEW HAPPENINGS

LC-M-WO-S, Orange area teams in 4th playoff round. How unusual is it to have two teams in the fourth round of the state football playoffs from one community. Orange is the major contributor of talent to both LC-M and WO-S. What is also odd is that both teams are in Class 4-A. The LC-M Bears, coached by Eric Peevy, are traveling as Division I representatives, while Coach Cornell Thompson's Mustangs are taking on all comers in Division II. The Bears are 11-2 under Peevy's first season, coming off a 1-7 overall last season. In the playoffs, the Bears have beaten Palestine, Columbia and El Campo. Peevy's bunch have been underdogs in every contest. LC-M will play Chapel Hill, who beat Vidor in the regular season and the Bears will again be underdogs. The Mustangs don't need anything more to fire them up. I'm told over the weekend they had fire in their eyes. WO-S is out to get revenge against Cold Springs 13-0, who knocked the Mustangs out of the playoffs last season. Both Orange teams play Friday night. Football is back at LC-M and WO-S has hopes for another state title and beating China Springs would be a great start.*****A few folks we know celebrating birthdays. Dec. 1: Our buddy, one of the good guys Gene Edgerly celebrates today, also Kelsey Dardeau, Bill Hare and Ashley Mott. Celebrating their 43rd Wedding Anniversary is Janelle and George Sehon on this day, Happy Anniversary.*****Dec. 2: Happy Birthday Lisa Walker, Cheryl Formois, Beverly Blalack and Jake Glazner.*****Dec. 3: Celebrating birthdays today are Susan MacCammond, Glenn Perritt, Carolyn Andrus, Wayne Scales, Todd Wilson, Chris DeCuir, Amber Franklin and Sandra Huthison. A special Happy Birthday to Ms. Phyl's sister Jo Ann Huard, who turns 88.*****Dec. 4: Celebrating today are Dana Simmons and Stephanie Kreger.*****Dec. 5: Happy Birthday to Leslie Dishon, Gwen Tallent, Belinda Force, Mary Bridges, Shea Bolton and Rory Piccone.*****Dec. 6: On this day Rosalyn Potter, Richard Briggs, Debbie Bishop and Cheryl Jones celebrate.*****Dec. 7: Pearl Harbor Day. Happy Birthday to Jim Keith, Buddy Sheppard, Randy Philpott, Lisa Durso and Jon Sherwin.*****Omicron Variant, a new fear for the health of the nation and a risk to our economy. President Biden says the United States is on high alert. Over the last year the Biden administration has been fighting 24-7 to defeat COVID-19 and Delta viruses and now this comes along. We can be thankful that we have a president who believes in science as the way to fight these dangerous diseases. It's the only way the world can beat it.*****The U.S. Supreme Court will hear the biggest abortion case in years. The Mississippi case could overturn Roe. Regardless of the outcome of the Dec. 1 ruling, half the nation will be unhappy.*****Actor Matthew McConaughey will not be a candidate for governor of Texas. A centrist, his poll numbers showed him leading Gov. Abbott by 9 percent. Beto O'Rourke, a democratic, is tied with Abbott 44 to 43. Many believe Abbott, over the last year, has veered too far to the right.*****It appears Tucker Carlson and FOX News is attempting to make Kyle Rittenhouse the poster boy for AR-15 military weapons. He killed two unarmed men, maybe justified, but he could have just as well killed them with a hand gun.

CAJUN STORY OF THE WEEK

Joe and Ethel Badeaux was invited to a swanky Halloween party dem. Ethel get a terrible headache and told Joe to go to da party alone. She said she would take some aspirin her, and go to bed. So Joe, even though he didn't want to go along, took his costume and went.

After sleeping soundly for one hour Ethel woke up wit no pain. She decided to go to da party. Joe didn't know wat her costume looked like so she decided she would have some fun by watching Joe and seeing how he acted when she was not around her. She soon spotted Joe's costume on da dance floor. He was dancing wit every nice chick he could. So Ethel sided up to him and being a seductive babe herself he left his partner and devoted his time to da new stuff.

Ethel let him go as far as he wished since he was her husband. Soon, off dey went to da car and had a little fling.

Jus before unmasking at midnight, she slipped away, went home and crawled in bed. She was sitting up reading wen Joe came home him.

"Did you have a good time Honey?" she axe.

"You know I never have a good time, me, wen you're not dere Babe," he answer.

"Did you dance much Joe?" she axe.

Joe replied, "I'll tell you Babe, I never dance even one dance. Wen I got dere, I met Pete Comeaux, Joe Desormeanx, Clarence Hardy and some utta guys and we went into da den and played poker all evening. But I'll tell you, Oris Boudreaux, da guy I loaned my costume to, sure had a real good time him, plus he made out in da backseat of my car wit a real hot gal."

C'EST TOUT

Pearl Harbor United Nation

On this day, Dec. 7, 1941, 80 years ago, just before 8 a.m. our time, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Nearly 2,200 were killed and over 1,700 others wounded. This is the one event that mostly stands out in my lifetime. That's also true for most people who were around when the attack occurred. The other surprise events were the unexpected assassination of President John Kennedy in Dallas, the 9-11 terrorist attack on the New York Twin Towers and Pentagon and the Jan. 6 mob invasion of the United States Capital. Everyone who lived through WWII, ignited by Pearl Harbor, have their own memories of the war. Think about it, over 16 million men and women served, over 400,000 died and many thousands of others were wounded. Compare that to less than 5,000 Americans killed in Iraq. One life would have been too many but it shows the magnitude of hand-to-hand combat. Just 23 years earlier we were involved in WWI, which took thousands of lives on the battlefield, and many more died from influenza. In between the two wars, the Great Depression hit us. Thanks to President FDR and his CC camps and WPA, he put people back to work. WWII added 20 million to the workforce but over five million were women. At the time of the Pearl Harbor attack the U.S. had less than 135 million citizens. We still have some of our great veterans from that war with us but over many are dying daily. To me they are the favorite heroes of my day and I honor every one of them who are still with us. A few of these veterans are 100-year-old Ray Forenet, J.B. Arrington, Lindy Badeaux, J.D. Dixson, Maurice Fournet, 100-year-old Ed Hyatt, Robert Rothrock and my friend, 100-year-old Cedric Stout, Pearl Harbor survivor. America entering that war after Pearl Harbor made us a nation united. We forgot if we were Democrats or Republicans, we were all in to together. That Pearl Harbor event changed America. We had a sense of urgency and purpose. Unfortunately this great country has changed drastically. We have gotten away from the values that were forced on us at Pearl Harbor that made our country one, with everyone in the same boat. If one of those dead soldiers returned today, he would be shocked at our nation's failings, hate and selfishness.*****Thanks for your loyalty and please shop our advertisers. Take care and God bless.