Pennyrecord issue030216

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S h o p O u r Ad ve r t i s e r s Fo r Q u a l i t y S e r v i c e s A n d P ro d u c t s

The     Record TheRecordLive.com

Vol. 57 No. 45

Distributed FREE To The Citizens of Bridge City and Orangefield

Week of Wednesday, March 2, 2015

Merritt remains Sheriff, Gothia defeats Banken Tommy Mann Jr. For The Record

The ballots are in and the voters of Orange County have spoken. Super Tuesday sparked a lot of voter interest across the country on Tuesday, including Texas. Voters in Orange County were just as interested in the Presidential races this Primary period, but there were several local races of interest as well. The Orange County Republican ballot was loaded with local races. Orange County Sheriff Keith Merritt was successful in his bid for re-election as he defeated challenger David Smith by a vote of 11,173 to 3,067. Merritt’s victory was never in jeopdardy as he held a com-

Master Gardeners to hold plant sale Staff Report For The Record

The Orange County Master Gardeners’ Annual Bloomin’ Crazy Plant Fair will be held Saturday, March 19, from 8AM – 1PM at Jewel Cormier Park, 8235 FM 1442, Orangefield (Exit 869 S off IH 10). Perennials, annuals, shrubs, tropicals, Satsumas, limes, lemons, grapefruit, figs, Rio Grande Cherries, Thornless Blackberries, coldhardy avocados and Texas Superstars are just a few of the unique and hard to find plants we will have available. Specialty booths will be available selling unique items. For more information check our website http://txmg.org/ orange/2016-annual-bloomin-crazy-plant-fair/, or email Sheri Bethard at sheribethard@yahoo.com.

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Keith Merritt

John Gothia

Karen Fisher

Brandy Robertson

manding lead following the release of early voting totals, 5,633 to 1,249. “We put together a heck of a campaign and had a lot of great workers to help us get voters out,” Merritt said after winning his third term as Orange County Sheriff. “I’m very

pleased and it’s been a good race.” Merritt said be believed the large support of voters, of which he received 78.46 percent, is because of his overall performance the past seven years. “I’ve run this campaign on

my experience and what I have done during my two terms as sheriff,” Merritt added. “The people have supported me all my years as constable and now for a third term as Orange County Sheriff. I’m very blessed.” A runoff will be required for

the Orange County Commissioner’s seat in Precinct 1 as five candidates were seeking to win the position currently held by Commissioner David Dubose, who opted not to seek re-election this year. Johnny Trahan and Bobby Manshack had the most votes

Orange County shows increase on February sales tax figures Tommy Mann Jr. For The Record

Sales figures for the holiday season are in and most of Orange County showed increases for that period. Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced in mid-February he would send cities, counties, transit systems and special purpose taxing districts $867.1 million in local sales tax allocations for February, 0.7 percent less than in February 2015. These allocations are based on sales made in December by businesses that report tax monthly; October, November and December sales by quarterly filers; and 2015 sales by businesses that report tax annually. “Energy-centric cities such as Odessa, Midland, Corpus Christi and Houston continued to see decreases in sales tax allocation,” Hegar said. “Other areas of the state helped to somewhat offset those losses as cities such as

San Antonio, Austin, Fort Worth and Dallas saw moderate increases in allocations.” While Texas had a slight decline for the month of February, Orange County, overall, had an increase of more than $44,000 compared to February 2015, an improvement of 4.25 percent as six of the seven incorporated cities showed increases. As a whole, the county is 2.78 percent ahead for the year to date. The City of Orange was the only city with a decline based on February figures as the city’s sales tax allocation was $6,820.46 less than February 2015, a decrease of 1.76 percent. For the year to date, Orange is 0.72 percent behind 2015 figures. Bridge City had a sizable increase of 6.91 percent for the month, or approximately $10,100 more than it received in February 2015. For the year, Bridge City has received more

SALES TAX Page 2A

in the race and will face off against each other in the runoff election in May. Trahan had 1,046 votes, while Manshack received 828 votes. Shirley Zimmerman finished with 527 votes, Ryan Peabody had 305 votes and Gary Hinote received 266 votes in the race for Precinct 1 as well. “My campaign got a late start, but I received a lot of support from friends and from people I haven’t seen in 30 to 40 years,” Manshack said. “Without the support of my wife and my son and my family, as well as the people at my work, I wouldn’t have been able to make it this far. I’m going to give it my all in the runoff and I am looking forward to getting started.” In the highly contested race

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• Hands-On Biology Lessons •

Seventh graders at Community Christian School recently learned how to identify muscles by deserting frogs in science class. Bryant Jacobs and Abigail Rose team up to work on muscle identification in science class. There are many surgeons who say that they first discovered their life’s passion standing over a dissected frog in a middle or high school biology class. One reason frogs are often chosen to be dissected is that their bodies provide a good overview of the organ systems of a complex living thing. While the way their bodies work is nowhere near identical to a human’s, there are many similarities. The organs present in a frog, and the way they are laid out in the body, are similar enough to humans to provide insight for students about how their bodies work.

Students win big in 112th Stark reading contest The 2016 winners of the schoollevel competition at Orangefield High School (Left to Right): Katy Swiere: 1st place, Declamation; Sable Reynolds: 2nd place, Declamation; Jeri Agee: 1st place, Interpretive Reading; Scarlett Neely: 2nd place, Interpretive Reading.

Tommy Mann Jr.

For The Record

Orangefield High School students Katy Swiere and Jeri Agee earned first place in Declamation and Interpretive Reading, respectively, at the school-level finals of the 112th Miriam Lutcher Stark Contest in Reading and Declamation, a scholarship program sponsored by the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation. On Thursday, Feb. 25, Orangefield High School students competed in the locallevel contest, which was coordinated by Ron Chevalier, Orangefield High School teacher and school director for the Stark Reading Contest. Katy

Swiere won first place in Declamation with A Left-Handed Commencement Speech by Ursula K. Le Guin, while Agee won first place in Interpretive Reading with her presentation of an excerpt from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Second place in Declamation went to Sable Reynolds, with Scarlett

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Too BIG to Miss! MARCH 5 – MAY 28

©2016 All Rights Reserved.

Shangri La Gardens


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