Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
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Cheryl Warren has become experienced in speaking before Orange County Commissioners Court, but Tuesday she was shaking and near tears. Her son and his family live on Foreman Road, the heart of an air-borne chemical accident Thursday, July 18. At least 150 people went to hospitals in Southeast Texas because of the exposure, according to Beaumont lawyer Brent Coon, who has already filed a lawsuit. "That was an epic failure in information to the residents," Warren told the...
Octavia Guzman will officially become the new Orange County tax assessor-collector on July 31 as Karen Fisher retires. Commissioners Court Tuesday accepted Fisher's resignation after she worked in the office for 32 years, with eight of those as the top official. The court took only a few minutes in a closed door session to name longtime employee Guzman as the interim tax assessor-collector. Guzman ran unopposed for the position in the March Republican primary and has no...
John Cash Smith, a local lawyer and head of the Orange County Democratic Party, said he thinks putting Kamala Harris in as the candidate for president "turned the tables" on Trump, who had been campaigning against the age of President Joe Biden. "He's the one man too old in the campaign now," Smith said. The longtime Democrat is a close follower of local, state, and national politics. He had been on vacation in Colorado Sunday when his oldest son texted him about Biden's...
As a precautionary measure a shelter in place has been issued by Orange County Emergency Management due to an unknown chemical release in the areas for residents of West Orange, Bridge City and Orangefield. To shelter in place – get inside, turn off air conditioning and try to block air from entering the room you are in and tune into local radio, television and social media for updates. Do not leave your shelter unless authorities tell you it is safe to do so. Emergency M...
Following rigorous testing and continuous air quality monitoring, the unified command of all agencies involved has determined that there are no longer detectable levels of ethyl acrylate in the affected area. As a result, the shelter-in-place order imposed earlier today will be lifted effective 8:00 PM, July 18, 2024. Ethyl acrylate, the product identified as the cause of concern, has been successfully mitigated, ensuring the safety of our citizens. A comprehensive report...
The past is always present, and no one knows that better than Shervonne S. Gallow. After spending a career in law enforcement, including service as a U.S. marshal, she is now spending her days tracking down old relics instead of criminals. Gallow has become an avid metal detector hunter and loves looking at old properties where people have lived, worked, and played. Public areas around the Sabine River in old downtown Orange, or places in the Old Orange Historic District...
COLLEGE STATION, Texas—In the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl, Texas A&M Forest Service has estimated that hurricane force winds, measured by the NOAA National Weather Service, impacted 50% of Houston’s urbanized area tree coverage. Over 400,000 acres of rural forestland were potentially impacted by hurricane force winds (74-80 mph) and another 7.4 million acres of forestland experienced tropical storm force winds (39-73 mph). The National Weather Service preliminarily rep...
The Orange County Republican Party met recently at “The Venue” in Mauriceville. The new incoming chairwoman, Cheryl Warren welcomed those present and was sworn in as were the Precinct Chairs by David Covey, also a former Orange County Chair. Ms. Warren stated in her opening remarks that the mission of the precinct chairs is to identify, inform and involve voters and turn out the vote to elect Republicans. She also shared that she is aware there are those who were misled and...
A lawyer by day and artist by night, Lindsay Simon of Orange has been relatively unknown in the art world locally. Only her family and friends were aware of her immense talent featuring waterfowl and racehorses. That changed Saturday night, when a reception for her first solo art show "Flights of Fancy: Defying Gravity" was held at the Texas Artists Museum in Port Arthur. A good turnout is always a nice indication of success, but a better indicator is selling art and Simon sol...
The world-famous Gator Country will be appearing at the Orange Riverside Pavilion off Simmons Drive on Wednesday, July 17, from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. The program about American alligators is part of the Orange Public Library's Summer Reading Program for elementary-age children. However, because of the popularity of the subject and the displays with live alligators, the library is opening the event to all ages and the public. The presentation will focus on educating students...
The city of Orange is continuing to see a big drop in sales tax income as most of the other entities in the county are seeing healthy sales at their businesses. The Texas Comptroller's Office has sent payments to the cities, Orange County, and one special district in the county for their shares of sales tax receipts in May. Orange County, which has a 0.5 percent sales tax, or half-cent per dollar, had a 29.8 percent increase in sales tax returns for the month and is up 10.91...
Members of the Bridge City school district's cafeteria staff last week attended the Texas Association for School Nutrition Academy to learn new skills and information. Honored by the academy for their accomplishments were Kandis Skibo, Lindy Christman, Glenda Granger, Amy Collins, and Judy Babbitt....
The Orange City Council recently recognized accomplishment of Deputy Fire Chief Payton Smith for becoming a certified fire executive through the Texas Fire Chief Academy. Smith, center, shows his certificate along with Mayor Larry Spears Jr., left, along with Fire Chief John Bilbo....
Expect the post-storm mosquitoes to come out in another week and a half, Orange County Mosquito Control Director Patrick Beebe told commissioners court Tuesday. But Beebe's department is prepared. During the Tuesday meeting, Orange County Commissioners Court approved him moving $50,000 from county contingency, or emergency, funds to pay for overtime salaries through the end of September. Beebe has had to make budget adjustments for the current fiscal year because of influxes...
Orange will be getting a new pizza restaurant on Allie Payne Road and a new DuGood Federal Credit Union building on Interstate 10, according to building permits issued by the city in June. Brown & Brown Pizza is owned by Randy and Kathy Brown of Orange and operates Domino's Pizza franchises. The company got a permit to build a new $850,000 building at 1715 Allie Payne Road near the intersection with Texas Highway 87 North. The contractor is Better Built Metal Buildings. DuGood...
Monday night Michelle Judice of Bridge City was honored with the highest award given to a non-Mason, the Community Builder award, at the Bridge City Masonic Lodge #1345 by worshipful master Reese Forse. The lodge committee distinguishes one community builder (one person that has made an impact on the community) at least once a year. Forse said the pandemic did prevent them from presenting one for a few years. Their selection is then passed on to the Grand Lodge of Texas in...
The old adage "We dodged a bullet" was heard across Orange County Tuesday morning after Hurricane Beryl, but not everyone was so lucky. The county was on the far western side of the storm, which came ashore near Matagorda, south of Galveston. "We're very lucky that storm went where it did," County Judge John Gothia said. Though the sustained winds here did not reach tropical storm force, they were strong enough to knock down numerous trees and limbs. An older couple raising...
Orange artist Lindsay Simon will be honored with an opening reception of her first solo show, "Flights of Fancy: Defying Gravity" at 6 p.m., Saturday at Texas Artist Museum, 3501 Cultural Center Dr. in Port Arthur. Simon works in pastels with a focus on waterfowl and racehorses....
Kolbe Hughes, a member of Boy Scouts Troop 1 in Orange, has received the prestigious Eagle Scout award during a ceremony at the Orange VFW Post 2775. His mother, Anna Hughes, pinned him with the award. He is also the son of the late Bill Hughes and is the seventh Hughes son to earn the rank of Eagle Scout. Kolbe is set to go to boot camp for the U.S. Air Force in a few days. Jim Seales, an Air Force veteran and member of the VFW post, spoke at the ceremony....
Today on the floor, U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) discussed Hurricane Beryl, which made landfall in Texas as a Category One Hurricane this morning and has impacted millions of homes and businesses as it's moved through the southeast and eastern parts of the state. Excerpts of Sen. Cornyn's remarks are below, and video can be found here. "Early this morning, Hurricane Beryl made landfall in Texas as a Category One Hurricane." "I've reached out to the county judges and mayors...
Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) Actuarial & Underwriting Committee will meet on Monday, July 15 at 10 a.m. CT. The meeting agenda and meeting materials are available on TWIA’s website. The Committee will review the 2024 Rate Adequacy Analysis prepared by the Association’s actuarial staff, receive public comment, and consider whether to recommend a change in rates to TWIA’s Board of Directors. The Rate Adequacy Analysis indicates that TWIA’s current rates are inadequate by 38 percent for residential coverag...
The Orange Chapter of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) in June gave their annual scholarships to two local graduating high school female students. Alicia Parker of Little Cypress-Mauriceville and Jordynn Patton of West Orange-Stark High Schools were given the scholarships to continue their educations. Parker plans to go to Lamar University in Beaumont and Patton will be attending Centenary College in Shreveport, Louisiana. The club, which is part of the...
On July 7 ,fifty-four years ago, Orange County's newest city was born as residents in the community of Bridge City voted to formally incorporate. It was a long journey from a community that started out with pioneer settlers in the 1800s moving to the county and making a settlement they first called Prairie View because it was in the coastal prairie of the Gulf of Mexico. Residents in the community of Bridge City went to the polls on July 7. A total of 1,123 votes were cast wit...
Today Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, M.D. announced that the Texas General Land Office is monitoring three active Atlantic systems with a possibility of impacting Texas. "The Texas General Land Office stands ready to help Texans prepare for, and recover from, hurricanes and tropical storms," said Commissioner Buckingham. "The GLO is monitoring the current storm systems in the Atlantic and will increase readiness procedures as needed in accordance with emergency...
The Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) is issuing a reminder that individuals whose employment or self-employment was impacted by April and May’s severe weather events have until July 16 to file for Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA). The Presidential Disaster Declaration includes Austin, Bell, Calhoun, Collin, Cooke, Coryell, Dallas, Denton, Eastland, Ellis, Falls, Guadalupe, Hardin, Harris, Henderson, Hockley, Jasper, Jones, Kaufman, Lamar, Leon, Liberty, Montague, Montgomery, Navarro, Newton, Polk, San Jacinto, Smith, T...
