Countyrecord issue032316

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FISHING ORANGE COUNTY

Capt. Dickie Colburn Page 1B

Sports

OUTDOORS

Kaz’s Korner

Capt. Chuck Uzzle

Hunting & Fishing

Commentary Page 1B

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HEALING POWER OF PRAYER Church Briefs Page 5B

County Record

TheRecordLive.com

Vol. 57 No. 48

The Community Newspaper of Orange, Texas

Week of Wednesday, March 23, 2016

County approves mobile device data extractor Tommy Mann Jr. For The Record

Orange County returned to business as normal on Monday morning followed this past week’s historic flooding of the Sabine River. Orange County Commissioners Court met in a specially called session on Monday morning at Vidor City Hall to handle regular court business as Commissioners were unable to meet this past week due to flooding. One of the pressing matters on Monday’s agenda was considering requests for Hotel and Occupancy Tax funds for the Mauriceville Crawfish Festival and the Texas Bar-B-Q Festival in Vidor. The Mauriceville Crawfish Festival will be held from Friday, April 15 to Sunday, April 17 at the festival grounds on State Highway 62 and the Texas Bar-B-Q Festival will be held Thursday, April 21 to Sunday, April 24 at Conn’s Park in Vidor.

‘Bunny Run’ March 26 Staff Report For The Record

Make plans to join in on the third annual Bunny Run and Easter Egg Hunt, Saturday, March 26, at Bridge City Intermediate School. There will be a 5k run at 8 am and a 1k run at 9 am. The Easter egg hunt will immediately follow the 1k. New this year will be timing chips and tech shirts and as always, every participant will receive bunny ears. All money raised stays local and is given to Bridge City and Orangefield students in the form of scholarships. Walk up registration / late packet pick up starts at 7:30am. To register, follow the link through the active website https://endurancecui. active.com/event-reg/select-race?e=32046153 Entry fees are $30 for 5K and $15 for 1K. March 23rd fees go up to $40 for 5K and $25 for 1K. Teams of 4-8 participants are $25 per person for 5K. Packet pickup is Friday, March 25, from 6-8 pm, at the Bridge City Elementary School.

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“Since the (Orange County) Economic Development Corporation has been in transition for a while and just recently situBurton ated, we have been running behind on getting the word out about taking applications for these funds,” said Barry Burton, Orange County Commissioner of Precinct 2. “So, we wanted to bring this to the court now instead of waiting, since these events are only weeks away. We want to make sure they have the funds needed in order to handle advertising and the other costs associated with the festivals.” Organizers with the Mauriceville Crawfish Festival and organizers with the Texas BarB-Q Festival each requested $8,000 in HOT funds. Commissioners unanimously approved each request.

In other news, commissioners took action on two trust properties. Lynda Gunstream, Orange County Tax Assessor-Collector, presented two trust properties to Commissioners Court which have recently received bids. The City of Vidor submitted a bid on an abandoned manufactured home and small lot at 460 Oak Lane in Vidor, which has been on the trust property roll since November 2014. An unidentified person submitted a bid of $1,150 on a property located at 260 Blueberry in Bridge City. Although the property has only been on the trust property roll since November of 2015, Gunstream said she did not think it would move quickly and commissioners should consider accepting the bid to remove from the trust roll. Commissioners unanimously approved the acceptance of both bids on both properties. Tina Barrow, Orange County

Elections Administrator, requested $18,300 from the contingency funds for her department citing the accounts being depleted because of expenses

associated with this year’s Primary elections earlier in March. “We are out of money in my election expense funds,” Bar-

row said. “We spent $18,000 on election workers between early voting and the election, and my

COUNTY BUSINESS Page 3A

Bridge City to add “In God We Trust” Tommy Mann Jr. For The Record

Another Orange County community is the latest to join the growing trend in adding the national motto to cityowned vehicles. Councilmembers in Bridge City recently approved a measure which will allow for the placement of the United States national motto, “In God We Trust,” to not only be placed upon police department vehicles, but upon all city-owned vehicles in the very near future. “This is something that has been going on recently through Orange County, and I think it is a very nice thing, which is why I asked to have it placed on the agenda,” said Mayor Kirk Roccaforte during March 15 city council meeting. “I think having it placed on all city vehicles is appropriate.” Jerry Jones, the city manager of Bridge City, informed councilmembers that the city could not “expend funds” on the purchase of the vehicle-

made motto and graphics, but funds could be obtained in other ways. “This would have to be done on a volunteer basis,” Jones said. “But I feel we would have no problem obtaining funds to have this done.” Although cost estimates were not immediately available to purchase the items for the vehicles, Mayor Roccaforte and Councilman Eric Andrus both quickly volunteered to donate to the cause. Chief Paul Davis of the Bridge City Police Department there have been inquiries from the community on the matter. “I’ve had a lot of phone calls from citizens who have been asking about this,” Davis added. “And there is a lot of support for it.” Early this month, the City of Orange approved a measure to place decals with “In God We Trust” on city vehicles following a request by Councilman Patrick A. Pullen of District 1.

IN GOD WE TRUST Page 3A

HOLY WEEK

Spiritual Renewal & Reflection Mark Dunn

For The Record

It is Holy Week, the days just before Easter next Sunday. On Easter, Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. For Catholics, Easter Sunday comes at the end of 40 days of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving known as Lent. During Holy Week one can find Catholics in Orange County, and throughout the world, taking part in ancient religious practicessome are so rare and sacred, they’re done only once a year. Beginning Palm Sunday, and running up to Easter, Catholics act out parts from the finals days of Christ’s earthly life. On Palm Sunday the Catholic Church recalls Jesus’ messianic entrance into Jerusalem before his crucifixion. As Jesus rode into the city on a small donkey, the Jews gathered

around him, throwing cloaks and palm branches on the road and exclaiming praises as he passed by. So at Palm Sunday Mass, there is a blessing of palms which the faithful hold as they process into church. The blessed palms are later kept in the home as a witness to faith in Jesus Christ. The following observances offer a glimpse into the week ahead for Catholics in Orange County and worldwide. HOLY THURSDAY On Holy Thursday, the Catholic Church celebrates a special Mass of the Lord’s Supper – that commemorates the institution of the Holy Eucharist at the Last Supper. On the

HOLY WEEK Page 2A

LSC-Orange begins work on flood damage Tommy Mann Jr. For The Record

It’s a little bit like deja vu for many across Orange County following this past week’s flooding, including for those at Lamar State College-Orange. Floodwater from the Sabine River found its way into downtown Orange this past week and Lamar State College-Orange (LSC-O) sustained considerable damage to several of its properties. Although not as devastating as the storm surge from Hurricane Ike, the Sabine River flood was an unwelcome event for all. “We are working on remediation of the Green Avenue building and the Wilson buildings right now,” said Cindy Wyles, public information director of LSC-O. “It’s not as bad as it was for the college

Workers place debris in a large waste container in front of the Lamar State College-Orange Green Avenue building on Tuesday morning. Several of the LSC-O facilities, including the Wilson building, book store and print shop, sustained considerable damage from the Sabine River flooding this past week. RECORD PHOTOS: Tommy Mann Jr.

during Hurricane Ike, but the Green Avenue building had 10-inches of water in it this time, and the Wilson building had five-inches.” Wyles said the LSC-O print shop sustained considerable damage, as did the LSC-O Book Store, along with the numerous classrooms and labs in the two large buildings. “The dental lab was completely destroyed and the information technology rooms had extensive damage as well,” Wyles continued. “We will be replacing all of the flooring and tile in both buildings, and most of the sheetrock up to four-feet up the wall. Also damaged were the Leisure Learning and Education rooms. We don’t have any cost estimates on damage yet.” Fortunately for the college, students were on spring break

this past week so the amount of missed instruction time was minimal as classes were only canceled this past Monday and Tuesday. “We feel fortunate that it wasn’t as bad as the damage was during Hurricane Ike,” Wyles added. “And we are very fortunate that this will not interrupt classes any more than it has or our spring commencement.” Wyles said Dr. Michael Shahan and other LSC-O administrators were wading through floodwaters to assess damage this past weekend and cleanup began on Sunday. “The preliminary estimate is that it will be four-to-six weeks on making all of the necessary repairs,” Wyles said. “We hope to have everything back to normal by summer. “

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