H Published For Orange Countians By Orange Countians H
County Record TheRecordLive.com
Vol. 58 No. 39
The Community Newspaper of Orange, Texas
Week of Wednesday, January 25, 2017
County taps ‘rainy day fund’ for $3.2 mil Dave Rogers
For The Record
It was a bad news-good news 25-minute stretch for Orange County Commissioners Court Tuesday. First, commissioners voted 5-0 to hand over more than 40 percent of the county’s “rainy day fund” to pay the $3.2-million lawsuit award resulting from the 2011 death of a man being held in a county jail observation cell. Then, less than a half hour later, a representative of Jefferson Energy Terminal presented nearly $2.4 million worth of checks to the court. Speaking in the citizens’ comment time near the end of the meeting, Mark Viator thanked the court for grant-
ing the company a tax abatement for the project that has grown from $46 million since conception to Carlton $278 million. Viator is government affairs director for the crude oil blending and storage facility on the Orange County side of the Port of Beaumont. “When people talk about economic development, tax abatements and tax incentives are very important to companies,” Viator said. “I want to say that to you, and I want to thank you for what you’ve done for us.
Kicker’s mom set for Super time Dave Rogers
For The Record
After more than three decades of watching her son push the rock up football’s mountains, Mary Hargrave Bryant was there Sunday when Matt Bryant and his Falcons teammates topped the highest peak and earned their spot in Super Bowl 51. Though he’s one of the oldest players in the NFL at 41, the Bridge City native will be playing in his first Super Bowl on Feb. 5 at Houston’s NRG Stadium. “I’m very, very proud of Matt,” Mary, a former school board member in Bridge City, said of her son, the veteran kicker who scored eight of Atlanta’s points in their 44-21 destruction of the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship Game. “You have all these little boys who dream of playing football. You don’t want to squash that dream, but you think, ‘Nobody’s going to find a little boy from Bridge City,’ Mary Bryant said. “From a little boy who was
“We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28
H
THE RECORD DIGITAL EDITION ONLINE NOW
TheRecordLive.com
Mary Bryant embraces her son, former Bridge City Cardinal now Atlanta Falcon kicker Matt Bryant, after Sunday’s 44-21 victory over Green Bay propelling the Falcons to the Super Bowl.
told he might not make it, to a man walking out there on the field in the Super Bowl.” Matt, she said, had a difficult birth. But he’s proved himself again and again to be tough enough. “When he was born, they told us there was a possibility he might not make it,” the player’s mother recalled. “But he’s done well. “Matt has so much determination. He’s a fighter. He’s been blessed. We’ve all been blessed.” Bryant, playing for his fifth team in 15 NFL seasons, led the high-scoring Falcons in scoring this year, booting 34 regular season field goals plus three more in the playoffs. “I don’t know how much longer Matt will play. I’m sure he’s getting close to retiring,” Mary Bryant said. “I just wish he could get a [Super Bowl] ring before he retires.” Mary was in Atlanta Sunday night when the thrill of seeing her son succeed turned a tad chaotic. Besides a household that includes wife Melissa and seven children under 20 years old, there’s a ton of Super Bowl prep taking place for the Bryants, according to Mom. “Everything is just crazy,” she said. “They’re trying to get ready for the Super Bowl. “Even though I have nothing to do with it, they hit you with, ‘Do you want to go here? Do you want to go there?’ “I’m so excited he gets to play in the Super Bowl.” The Bryant clan will be in
“You’ve helped us expand and create economic development in Orange County. We hope to continue to expand. Thank you.” Viator presented a $2.2 million check for the compa-
ny’s 2016 taxes, plus a second check of $112,500 for payment to the county’s PILOT in-lieu-of taxes program and a third for $11,250 for the Orange County Economic Development Corporation.
Those dollars, however, were monies anticipated in the 2017 county budget. The $3,175,674.79 payment for the Montano vs. Orange County Texas lawsuit was not.
It was labeled an “emergency expenditure” and, according to the day’s agenda, “Commissioners’ Court finds the expense to be of grave public COUNTY BUSINESS Page 3A
Age just a number for Roy McDaniel Orange historian, collector Roy McDaniel turns 92 Dave Rogers
For The Record
Roy McDaniel lost a wife and a newly built dream home in a long-ago divorce. But what the retired plant worker says he misses most is the 1961 black Lincoln Continental he used to park in that house’s three-car garage. “That was the best car I ever had. I wish I still had it,” says the man who wrote a book about his cars. “I just didn’t have any place to keep it.” One look at McDaniel’s home and the many storage buildings behind it makes it clear that cars may be the only thing he doesn’t save. And an afternoon in his presence will convince you he never lost his youth, despite what the calendar says. McDaniel turns 92 years old Thursday. “When I was 90 a man wrote a story and said I felt like I was 20,” McDaniel said. “I don’t feel like I’m 20. I don’t believe a 10-year-old kid could feel like I do – so good.” He shares his house with his 46-year-old son, Shon. “I could get him to cut my grass, but ain’t nobody going to cut my grass as long as I can.” McDaniel is a non-stop kind of fellow. Born Jan. 26, 1925 in Fullerton, La., he grew up in a sharecropper’s family farming “on the halves,” which meant his family got free housing and got to keep half the food it grew working someone else’s farm. His father’s family worked in the central Louisiana sawmills and papermills when not farming and Roy Jr. fol-
Roy McDaniel Jr., who celebrates his 92nd birthday Thursday, Jan. 26, stands at the door of his backyard museum where decades of regionally historic antiquities and memorabilia have been collected. RECORD PHOTO: Dave Rogers
lowed suit. He said he worked seven six-hour shifts a week as a teen, working it around his schooling. “I graduated from high school at Elizabeth, La., but I worked 12 hours that night instead of going to graduation,” he said. “I’ve wished many times, ‘Why didn’t I go to my graduation that night?’ I could have found somebody to take my place.” He was drafted into the Army and spent 30 months
in the service during World War II, most of it in California and none in combat. “My grandpa, he was a Hardshell Baptist preacher, he was a sawmill man, and he was in the Civil War for 30 months,” McDaniel said. “Nobody shot at him and he didn’t shoot at anybody. I did the same thing.” McDaniel moved to Orange after his time in the Army and worked 44 years on Chemical Row. He be-
came a charter member of the Calvary Baptist Church in 1951. “When I got out of the Army, my step-daddy had moved over here,” McDaniel said. “He had a big house, and he rented beds to workers. “I started at DuPont in 1946 and worked five different jobs in five different plants until 1990.” ROY MCDANIAL Page 3A
County hosts hospital informational meeting Dave Rogers
For The Record
Orange County will host a pair of town hall meetings Thursday, Jan. 26 to explain and answer citizens’ questions about a proposed hospital district for the county. Both meetings will be held at the Orange County Convention & Expo Center on FM 1442, near Interstate 10. The first is at 2 p.m. A similar meeting will be held at 7 p.m. County Judge Stephen Brint SUPER BOWL MOM Page 3A
Carlton said the goal was “to talk about the hospital district and also take questions from members of the audience on any other matters of concern to our citizens.” The recent closing of emergency services at Baptist Hospital Orange has brought to light a two-year effort by many civic leaders to find a new alternative to bring full hospital services back to the county. Creating a county-wide hospital district was deemed the top priority. “I can’t stress enough that a
hospital district is not created by Orange County government. It’s not created by commissioners’ court. It’s not run by commissioners’ court. “It will be a totally separate entity. There’s been a lot of confusion on that. “The existing Baptist Hospital is not owned by Orange County. It was years ago, but it’s not any more. So we want to talk about those issues and what we’ve found out so far: give you an update on what we found out a hospital district is, what it could look like.
CMYK
“But ultimately, that decision is up to all of you. It’s not up to us [on commissioners’ court], other than we have the same vote as you have whenever the time comes to vote on it.” Johnny Trahan, Commissioner Precinct 1, summed it up. “A lot of people are confused about what the issues are. So show up and find out they really are,” he said. “Get down to the facts, not so much rumors.”