H Published For Orange Countians By Orange Countians H
County Record TheRecordLive.com
Vol. 58 No. 29
The Community Newspaper of Orange, Texas
Week of Wednesday, November 16, 2016
New county officials busy with transitions Dave Rogers
For The Record
While nothing as eyecatching as last week’s pictures of Donald Trump sitting down with Barack Obama in the Oval Office has surfaced, there is another post-election transition going on right here in Orange, Texas. Four newcomers to leadership roles at the county courthouse were officially elected last Tuesday and, like Trump, they will officially take office in January. But there was no November surprise in vote-counting for incoming county commissioners Johnny Trahan and John Gothia, nor for constable Lane Mooney and tax assessor-collector Karen Fisher. With no opponents in the general election, three of the four have been 99.9 percent assured their offices since winning in the Republican primary election held on Super Tuesday, March 1. Trahan, who originally was one of five running to replace
Gothia
Trahan
retiring Precinct 1 Commissioner David Dubose, required a May 24 run-off win to claim the place on the November ballot. Then he had to wait fiveplus months to make it official. Because, technically, a write-in candidate could have surfaced to pull an election day surprise bigger than Trump’s. “It’s been a little different,” Trahan admits of the waiting around. Like all the rest, he hasn’t quit his day job. Yet. Trahan has been a customer service representative for Entergy for 35 years. Gothia, incoming Precinct 3 commissioner, is territory sales manager for Altria, a nationwide consumer product
Fisher
Mooney
company, and plans to retire soon from the company for
whom he’s worked for more than three decades. Mooney, a peace officer for 29 years, mostly in Orange County, will be moving from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, where he’s a deputy, to the Precinct 4 office in the Vidor sub-courthouse. Fisher will be moving from the county’s tax office in Vidor to the county Adminis-
tration Building across the parking lot from the Orange courthouse. She was unavailable to be interviewed for this story Tuesday. The others all said the 2016 campaign was their first time to run for elected office. And they said they’ve been busy getting ready to hit the ground running as soon as
they are sworn in. “There is a lot of preparation,” said Mooney. “There’s a lot that goes into it. I’ve been preparing since the election.” In Mooney’s case, he said that included getting from the state a list of licenses and mandatory schools he needs to attend for his job, which he NEW COUNTY Page 3A
Mustangs begin march through Texas
County backs 2017 Bassmasters tournament Dave Rogers
For The Record
Fish was on the menu for the Orange County Commissioners Tuesday and they were plenty anxious to reel in some economic benefit. Commissioners voted 4-0 to authorize spending $90,000 in Hotel/Motel Occupancy funds to promote the 2017 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Open fishing tournament staging from the Orange Boat Ramp June 15-17. “The cost-benefit analysis is off the chart,” declared Jody Crump, Precinct 4 Commissioner. It will be the third Bassmaster tournament to come to Orange in three years. The first, a Bassmaster Elite event held in 2013, set a record for the series with weekend attendance of more than 33,000 spectators. A 2015 event here was shortened by rain. Organizers said the 2017
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” John 14:27
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tournament would bring about 400 fishermen to compete and predicted that would translate to more than 1,000 hotel nights, not to mention the money they leave behind after buying food and gas. And that doesn’t even include money spent by fans. “We know our economic impact is going to be really good,” said John Gothia of the Greater Orange Area Chamber of Commerce, who has chaired all three Bassmaster events in Orange. “We know our hotel stays are going to be really good from that. And then they’ll come in, they’ll fish for three days and weigh a limit every day. “And we make a very big family-event around it. We do a festival, we do a carnival, country music around it.” Barry Burton, Commissioner Precinct 2, said the decision to spend money to make money and create goodwill was an easy decision. “The number of nights they spend, the amount of money they spend, it has a huge impact on our sales tax revenue,” he said. “Not only that, it gets the word out on Orange County being a sportsman’s paradise, some place people come and enjoy outdoor activities throughout the year.” Ida Schossow, president of the sponsoring Greater Orange Area Chamber of Commerce, said a smaller Bass Champs tournament held in October rewarded the city with 540 hotel/motel nights from the competitors. Gothia predicted this summer’s tournament would draw twice as many fishermen. “We’d like to say thanks to the court for all the years of support with this,” Gothia said. “This has been extremely productive for us and Orange County and we’re definitely glad to do it. We look forward to good things to come out of it.” Schossow said some local hotels were considering putting in “boat hookups” so fishermen could recharge all their boats’ batteries between
In a season that has been no less than extraordinary, the undefeated 2016 West Orange-Stark Mustangs head into this week’s Region III playoff round against Robinson after having accumulated 594 points on the scoreboard while allowing all opponents--- for the entire season--- to score just 30 points! Also to their credit the Mustang Chain Gang defense has shutout eight of their opponents, including the 73-0 victory over Tarkington in the opening round of the state playoff last week. Above: Quarterback Jack Dallas hands off to Jeremiah Shaw. Dallas finished the game with 121 passing yards, completing 10 of 12 attempts and 3 passing touchdowns. For story and more photos see Section B. RECORD PHOTO: Meri Elen Jacobs
Environmentalists organize against Vidor loop Dave Rogers
For The Record
The seeds of protest were served up with the blueberry scones Tuesday night in Vidor. The Coalition Opposing Vidor Loop 299 held a public meeting at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites and host Ellen Buchanan of the Big Thicket National Heritage Trust urged a group of about 30 people to take flyers and leaflets and go door to door to protest the proposed roadway. “A lot of folks don’t know about this,” she said. “We need to make sure people know this. “What can you do? Recruit. If you’re got neighbors, recruit your neighbors to join the Coalition Opposing Vidor Loop 299. Just tell me how many hundreds of these (flyers) you want and we’ll get them for you.” Orange County Commissioners Court has entered into what has been described as a non-binding agreement with consultants to consider an agreement with Texas Department of Transportation to build FM 299, the so-called Vidor loop, a 6.2-mile roadway that would connect the north and south ends of Vidor’s Main Street. Buchanan made it clear she considers the project to be fool-hardy for many reasons, including a price tag that COUNTY BUSINESS Page 3A could result in higher taxes
Ellen Buchanan of the Big Thicket National Heritage Trust makes a point during Tuesday night’s informational meeting for the Coalition Opposing Vidor Loop 299 held at the Holiday Inn Express in Vidor. RECORD PHOTO: Dave Rogers
for Orange County citizens. But the environmental considerations are why she was there Tuesday night to press the case for a coalition that now includes the National Parks Conservation Association, Texas Conservation Alliance, Big Thicket Association, Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club and Southeast Texas Clean Air and Water, Inc., among others. She points out that the entire length of the road would
be within the flood-prone Neches River area and that 2-1/2 miles of the road runs within yards of the boundary of the Big Thicket National Preserve. She said the loop would destroy important cypress-tupelo swamps and would destroy or fragment wetlands that absorb floods and hurricane storm surges. City councils for six of the seven cities in Orange County have signed resolutions op-
posing the expenditure by the county of any money to build FM 299. But those resolutions have no authority over county government, a fact that is lost on some citizens who believe the loop project has already been stopped. Buchanan said the Texas Transportation Commission is scheduled to consider FM 299 at its Dec. 14-15 meeting VIDOR LOOP Page 3A