Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 572
COVID-19 numbers are steadily rising in Orange County, though hospitalizations are low. Joel Ardoin, emergency management coordinator for the county, told Commissioners Court Tuesday that Orange County had recorded 234 new cases of COVID-19. Of those, 24 were confirmed and 210 probable, with six patients hospitalized. Five of those had been vaccinated. At the Commissioners’ last meeting, June 28, Ardoin reported 112 new cases, 19 of which were confirmed, with three h...
Plans to run a 42-inch crude oil pipeline around Bessie Heights Marsh and under the center of Sabine Lake are meeting opposition in Southeast Texas. Environmentalist John Beard of Port Arthur, a retired refinery worker leading the Port Arthur Community Action Network (PACAN) and SaveSabineLake.org, says the company behind the proposed Blue Marlin pipeline can't be trusted to avoid dangerous oil spills. Houston-based Entergy Transfer Partners, a company that transports about...
Bridge City Mayor David Rutledge has been on the job since 2016, but half the city council members – three out of six – are first-termers. What better time to get back to the basics? Rutledge and council members began the summer with a day-long training session which served as an orientation for new members and a refresher course for veteran members. Sherby Dixon and Patty Collins were elected to city office for the first time in May. Aaron Roccaforte is still in his fir...
For the past six years, I've been working for Roy Dunn and The Record Newspapers and learning and sharing a ton of things I never knew about Orange County despite living next door for 30-odd years. Along with being informative and oh-so helpful, everyone has been so kind. That list begins with newspaper publisher Roy Dunn and prominently includes Margaret Toal, who I'm proud to say will be taking my place writing and coordinating news and feature coverage at The Record...
The City of Orange's much anticipated grand opening of the new Recreation Center has developed a late-stage hiccup. The massive temperature control system has to get the humidity just right inside the 17,200-square-foot building before the rubberized floor can be installed. The last-minute snag is frustrating. "The city hasn't had an organized recreation program since 1993," says James Lawrence, Parks Director for the city. "I think the challenge we're going to face is...
The Loaves and Fishes Soup Kitchen at Bridge City's First Church, 201 Roberts, will open at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, July 7. Initial plans are to offer a hot lunch weekly to Bridge City seniors not already participating in Meals on Wheels programs. "We are targeting senior citizens to start," Duane Gault said. "But anyone who needs a meal, we're not going to turn them away." "It won't be steak and lobster," Pastor Allen Chapin said. "Maybe spaghetti and meatballs. But it'll be...
While the neighborhood children pop firecrackers and shoot bottle rockets Monday night, the big July 4 fireworks displays in Orange County are taking place on the east and west sides. The City of Orange's celebration of the 246th birthday of the United States of America will be held at Riverside Pavilion, 708 Simmons Drive, beginning at 5 p.m. Meanwhile, at Vidor's Maplecrest Baptist Church at 7 p.m., the Republican Party of Orange County is hosting an indoor community-wide...
Things would really suck the breath out of you if Orange County suffers another storm like Hurricane Harvey. But first responders and others working out of the Emergency Operations Center at the Orange County Convention and Expo Center aren't likely to complain about the eats. County Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to pay $30 per meal for four meals a day – or $120 per day per person -- for Disaster Food Services served at the EOC. L3S BBQ & Catering, a business h...
The Orange Lions Club celebrated its history Monday night, then made some more. Lion Butch Campbell highlighted the club's long tradition of service to the community as he installed a new slate of club officers and directors for the 2022-23 term after dinner at the Brown Center in Pinehurst. He pointed out the Orange Lions had a special history as the presenters of their annual Lions Club Carnival for almost a century as he reminded that the officers had a defined role in...
The folks at 3rd Coast Movement are stepping out in a big way for Bridge City. The personal fitness training center is holding a Team 10K Relay fundraiser Saturday, beginning at 9 a.m. at its location at 300 E. Roundbunch Road. From two to 10 runners can be on a team, with an entry fee of $20 each due the day of the event. Proceeds are going to a Public Outdoor Recreation Project for Bridge City. “We do an annual 10K run just to give back to the community,” says Maggie James,...
After three weeks of being closed to roadway traffic, the East Roundbunch swing bridge was being repaired and a new master control panel tested by technicians Tuesday afternoon. The outlook for reopening was good and it can’t come soon enough for Peggy Albair. Her restaurant, Peggy’s Place, is at the north end of the popular shortcut from Texas Avenue in Bridge City to the plants on Chemical Row, also known as FM 1006. The bridge, which used to bring Albair a packed-house lun...
Gulf Coast homeowners are getting hammered this year when renewing their property and casualty insurance and the Bridge City school district is no different. Insurance carriers are socking it to their customers in the areas hard-hit by hurricanes and tropical storms in recent years. After watching its property insurance bill practically double from $418,000 in 2019 to $820,000 in 2022, the district’s board members held their noses and signed off on a bill of $1 million, 87 tho...
Orange County's State Representative, Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, proposed Monday that the state's highest elected officials should take "immediate, concrete action" to make Texas schools safer. The price tag: more than $170 million reallocated from other budget spending pools to pay for mental health services and school safety improvements to be in place before schools reopen in late summer. Phelan transmitted his proposal in a four-page letter to Texas Lt. Gov. Dan...
Anthony Dandridge, the City of Orange's recreation director, chats with a visitor at the nearly complete Recreation Center on West Orange Street at 13th Street. The $3.1 million building which will feature either two basketball or four volleyball courts, is expected to open in August. RECORD PHOTO: Dave Rogers...
Joel Ardoin, Orange County's Emergency Management Coordinator, told County Commissioners Tuesday that the county had not been as dry as it is since before Hurricane Harvey hit in 1997. "We went several weeks without rain," he said, discounting a light morning shower in the Bridge City area. "We're getting close to where we need to put a burn ban into effect." Ardoin noted that as of Tuesday afternoon no county east of Houston had called for a burn ban but added a heat wave of...
Orange City Council approved spending $500,000 of hotel occupancy tax funds to renovate the first floor of the old City Hall building on Green Avenue Tuesday morning. Also, longtime Public Works Director Jim Wolf announced his retirement. "Sometimes it's time," he said. "I've been here 23 years and it's been an honor to serve the citizens of Orange." Wolf celebrated his 75th birthday last week. Historical architect Dohn LaBiche provided the numbers and a rough plan on how the...
Orange County is getting healthy, both physically and fiscally. That was the message left by Tuesday's County Commissioners meeting and an employee health insurance workshop that preceded it. Commissioners Court allocated $1.1 million of the $10 million FEMA check recently received to reimburse the county for Hurricane Laura expenses. Midway through the last decade, a group insurance consultant labeled Orange County the least healthy in the Tuesday, Ashley Cureton, an...
It’s time for the Pinehurst City Council to renegotiate its deal with the people they pay to engrave the nameplates in front of the members’ seats in the council chambers. The little city within a city should get a quantity discount, having seen seemingly constant turnover at the front of the room. Three elderly mayors in a row retired early only to be replaced by another council member. The six-member council can’t seem to fill one vacancy before another seat opens up. Such...
Often wished for, rarely realized, Meri Elen Jacobs, a member of the first class of students and first four-year graduating class at West Orange-Stark High School, spent 22 years in her dream job. Now she's putting it in the rear-view mirror. "Being at West Orange-Stark, that was my dream job. Now I just want to spend as much time as I have taking care of my grandkids," Jacobs said last week. She retired from the school district at the end of May. A 1981 WOS grad, Jacobs...
The worst kind of tragedy – the senseless murder of 19 children and two adults – touched the world last week and hit home especially hard in Texas. The events involved in the state's worst school shooting ever, a lone gunman's attack at an elementary school in Uvalde, are under close scrutiny. "Something like this was unthinkable when I was growing up," said Brian Ousley, Director of Support Services for Orangefield's school district. "Fire drills, stop, drop and roll, and...
When a possible $6 billion Chevron-Phillips Chemical ethylene plant was first introduced to Orange County headlines in January of 2019, everyone agreed it was a big deal. That single investment, it was noted by someone who knows, would be equal the rest of the county's industrial plant values all put together. In the three-plus years since, Orange County's list of "possible" investments has nearly tripled in value, to $16.5 billion with between 25,000 and 30,000 construction...
The City Council of Orange voted to promote John Bilbo to be its new Fire Chief Tuesday night. City Manager Mike Kunst called the Special Meeting to deliver his hand-picked candidate for a council vote. Bilbo, 50, had been serving as interim Fire Chief since the April retirement of David Frenzel. A 1990 graduate of Little Cypress-Mauriceville High School, Bilbo will complete his 22nd year with the Orange Fire Department in August. The U.S. Army vet worked his way up from...
The City of Orange has scheduled a special meeting of City Council for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, at which it is expected to name longtime Fire Department employee John Bilbo the next Orange Fire Chief. City Manager Mike Kunst has the responsibility of bringing forth a candidate to the city council after several candidates for the job were interviewed last week. He called the special meeting, which will take place at the City Council Chambers at the Orange Public Library, 220 N....
Orange County Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to establish a Reinvestment Zone south of Rose City that could lead to a $6 billion investment by Enterprise Products Co. The county's action on the 1,800-acre property on the Orange County side of the Neches River should help convince the Barbers Hill company to build two projects on the site: a $5.25-billion ethane cracker and a $975-million export terminal able to process fully refrigerated ethane onto ships. The...
The first round of interviews for hiring a new Orange Fire Chief are over and City Manager Mike Kunst said Tuesday he’s doing “due diligence” before recommending his choice at a future City Council meeting. But Council member David Bailey has spent time in two of the last three council meetings objecting to Kunst’s candidate search process. Bailey is upset both that Kunst has a non-Orange resident on his four-person committee and that Bailey is not on that committee. The com...
