Pr20 072016

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FISHING ORANGE COUNTY

Sports

OUTDOORS

Kaz’s Korner

Capt. Chuck Uzzle

Commentary

Capt. Dickie Colburn Page 1B

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Hunting & Fishing

RELIGION & LOCAL CHURCH GUIDE Page 6B

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The Record TheRecordLive.com

Vol. 58 No. 12

Distributed FREE To The Citizens of Bridge City and Orangefield

Week of Wednesday, July 20, 2016

New BC water filtration system taking shape Tommy Mann Jr. For The Record

The final pieces of a new water filtration system are coming together and the system will soon be online for its residents. A much anticipated $1.4 million water filtration system is just weeks away from being put into operation and will eventually be the cure for a water quality issues which have plagued many residents of Bridge City for years. Various components have been installed into the system in recent weeks, namely the reclamation tanks at each well location, and the installation of pipes at each well site is continuing. According to Jerry Jones, city manager of Bridge City, the purpose of three units being installed at each well system is to remove iron and manganese from the city’s water supply. These two minerals have been the culprit for

the city’s brown-water problem. “When these three plants are put in operation, they will filter out the Jones iron and manganese before it gets into the system,” Jones explained. “Up to this point we have been using tripolyphosphate, which encapsulates the iron and manganese to the sides of lines. “The water would get dirty when we had reverse flows in the lines,” he continued. “A big cause of that would be breaks in the lines or if a fire hydrant got turned on to quickly.” Plagued by weather issues through the first part of this year, Jones believes the water filtration system could be up in just a matter of weeks. However, when the system is

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Sheriff looks to add new vehicles Tommy Mann Jr. For The Record

Orange County Sheriff Keith Merritt has announced he will use funds acquired through numerous seizures during previous operations conducted by personnel to purchase approximately 10 new vehicles of various makes for his agency. He has also requested another 15 vehicles be purchased by county for his

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

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agency for the coming fiscal year. “We need vehicles bad,” Merritt said. “We are definitely behind on getting Merritt new vehicles every year, so that is why we are trying it this way. We’ve never done it this way before.” Merritt stated he has requested the county purchase 15 patrol cars , while he plans to use asset forfeiture funds to purchase the 10 others vehicles. Merritt stated the Orange County Sheriff’s Office received no new vehicles in 2015, while only receiving seven in 2014 and just three in 2013. “I know the county cannot afford to purchase all 25 vehicles, so that is why I am planning to purchase 10 with the funds we have had awarded to us from state and federal agencies, and the funds we have seized from the bad guys,” Merritt continued. “Hopefully, the county will come through and purchase these 15 other vehicles, or at least most of these vehicles.” The 10 miscellaneous vehicles will be of various makes and models, such as Ford Expeditions and Ford Explorers, which will be utilized by personnel to transport prisoners, members of the criminal investigations division and others. “We have a lot of rural areas in the county, and we need something for those rural settings that we deal with too,” he added. “A patrol car isn’t very good for some of the dirt roads and back woods areas we have

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A two-year paint job for the historic Rainbow Bridge between Bridge City and Port Arthur is on schedule to wrap up near the end of 2016 RECORD PHOTO: Lawrence Trimm

Update for signature Rainbow Bridge nears completion Dave Rogers

For The Record

It’s almost time for the big unveiling. A two-year paint job for the historic Rainbow Bridge between Bridge City and Port Arthur is on schedule to wrap up near the end of 2016 and give commuters traveling Texas’ tallest bridge a trafficcone free ride. At least for another two decades. “We do this every 20 years,” Sarah Dupre, public information officer for Texas Department of Transportation, said of the overhaul for the 1.5mile structure first opened in 1938. “The process consists of completely taking off any paint and rust on the bridge, doing any maintenance that’s required and completely repainting.” The project carries a price tag of $26.5 million. Beginning construction 80 years ago, the Rainbow Bridge was built at a cost of $3 million -$50 million in today’s dollars. This update takes so long for several reasons: First, there’s a lot to paint. Experts say you could build a battleship with the amount of steel in the bridge. And its height – spanning 176 feet above the river – was stipulated to allow the tallest U.S. Navy ship at the time to pass underneath. Then there’s the disruption of traffic patterns. Since the addition in 1991 of the Veteran’s Memorial Bridge 400 feet downstream, Texas Highway 87 has split travel with two northbound lanes from Port Arthur to Bridge City on the Veteran’s Memorial Bridge while southbound Bridge City to Port Arthur traffic crossed on the Rainbow Bridge’s two lanes. While bridge repainting is ongoing, TxDOT has kept one of the Rainbow Bridge’s

two lanes open during peak driving times (rush hours and most weekends), and changed the nearby Veteran’s Memorial Bridge to a twoway roadway. Until the project is complete, the Rainbow Bridge will be closed from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays to allow workers full access. “Some weekends it is closed, too,” Dupre said. “Regardless of whether the bridge is open or not, there’s the option (for Port Arthurbound traffic) to take the Veteran’s Bridge.” Environmental protection is a big concern. Drapes around and under the work areas prevent sandblasted paint and other metals from the project from finding their way into the waterway and marshland. The scaffolds and wraps on the bridge are nothing like what Henry Bailey remembers of his first encounters with the Rainbow Bridge. He couldn’t get past its steep five percent incline. “I used to have nightmares about the bridge a lot,” he said. “I’m riding in the back of a pickup truck, and the bridge is getting steeper and steeper. It looks like it goes straight up and you can’t get down. “It’s really foggy; just eerie. I’m riding back there – way up there – and thinking I’m going to bounce out of this truck.” Bailey grew up in and around his family’s Bailey’s Fish Camp, which was located at the Bridge City end of the Rainbow Bridge. He was born in 1945, too early to remember life before the Goliath spanner. But he heard plenty about the ferry that preceded it as Highway 87’s route between Bridge City and Port Arthur. “My father (Rob Bailey) was the guy that ran the ferry,”

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Until the project is complete, the Rainbow Bridge will be closed from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays to allow workers full access. RECORD PHOTO: Lawrence Trimm

The Rainbow Bridge during construction in 1938. The dramitic image portrays the linking together of Orange and Jefferson counties over the Neches River near what became Bridge City.

Dangling high above the Neches River a construction worker in 1938 spray on the first coat of paint to the Rainbow Bridge.

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