Dickie Colburn: Fishing See Page 1B
Cooking with Katherine See Page 8A
Hometown Baseball
Page 1B
County Record Vol. 51 No. 50
The Community Newspaper of Orange, Texas
County searching for new engineer David Ball
For The Record
Salvation Army seeks youth volunteers David Ball
For The Record
The economic recession and its remaining aftershocks throughout American society have had a major impact on American families and youths across the country according to the new report, “Growing Up in a Downturn,” released by The Salvation Army today. The report, based on a 2011 fourth quarter survey, found that 81 percent of Salvation Army social service centers in cities throughout the United States have seen increases in requests for youth programs and services, including education, food, arts and theater, athletics and youth ministries. Despite an increase in volunteerism at some centers, many programs were also forced to cut back on services due to the growing need and losses in funding. The Orange County Salvation Army, located on MLK in Orange, is no stranger to helping those in need. Each month, they help hundreds of local families by offering social services and food. Salvation Army centers, including Corps Community Centers, Ray and Joan Kroc Community Centers, summer and day camps, preschools, daycare and after-school programs, have witnessed the growing need since 2008, when 75 percent of centers first experienced increased demand during the recession. Centers in more than 80 cities, including a dozen major metropolitan areas such as Baltimore, Cincinnati, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Diego and San Francisco participated in the survey.
The Orange County Commissioners’ Court approved advertising for a Road and Bridge Department engineer at their meeting Monday afternoon, though the decision wasn’t unanimous.
Owen Burton, Precinct 2 Commissioner, voted no against the measure for what he thought was an action from the Texas Legislature dictating to counties what they must do regarding filling a vacancy for a county engineer. The final vote was 4-1. The position has been va-
cant since former county engineer, Les Anderson, died in late February. Michael James has since been serving as road adminis- THIBODEAUX trator of the department.
“The taxes are raised here in Orange County and I think the State of Texas is micromanaging us. They’re telling us how to spend our own taxes. The attorney general’s opinion on it (Section 252D) is ambiguous,” Burton said. Burton’s reference to Section 252D of the Texas Trans-
portation Code states: (a) The commissioners court shall appoint a county road engineer, who must: (1) be a licensed professional engineer experienced in road construction and maintenance; and COUNTY BUSINESS PAGE 3A
OC family sues for PA disannexation David Ball
For The Record
Though it lies within the city of Bridge City’s domain, the Entergy Sabine Power Plant actually has been inside the city of Port Arthur’s jurisdiction for 15 years. All of that, however, could change through legal processes. Attorney Alan Sanders of Orange has filed a petition on behalf of his clients, Rodney Sr. and Debbie Townsend, to disannex their property from Port Arthur. There’s also the possibility of disannexing the 3,200 acres from Port Arthur where the power plant sits upon. Their home is on 340 acres on Highway 87 at the foot of the Rainbow and Veteran Memorial Bridges. “Disannexation is the removal of territory from a city,” Sanders said. “It’s the opposite of annexation. There are different paths to disannexation.” He explained the acreage was previously part of Orange County before the city of Port Arthur annexed it on April 15, 1997. Though there are several owners of the acreage, only the Townsends as registered voters may file a petition. “Port Arthur has failed and refused to provide municipal services to the Townsends. Port Arthur has only given them a tax bill. Failed means you just didn’t do it. Refuse is an active word and means you’re not going to do it.” Sanders said his clients have tried several times to receive
city services, but to no avail. “The Townsends have made several efforts for services, including receiving a police patrol after they had a break-in. They (the Port Arthur Police Department) refused to investigate it. They have no fire protection, no animal control to pick up dead critters, no trash pick-up, and no water and sewer,” he said. Sanders believes Port Arthur annexed the property 15 years ago because there were some legal contentions between Bridge City and Port Arthur with Port Arthur concerned Bridge City was expanding that direction. The Townsends have lived at the location for over five years, but they didn’t know Port Arthur wouldn’t provide the city services. “Most expect the provision of city services. It’s the city’s problem; not the Townsends,” Sanders said. Sanders has just filed the petition with the city secretary in Port Arthur. The city has 60 days to disannex the property. If they refuse or more petitioners come forward, an action may be filed in the district court in Orange County on their behalf. He further explained there are two courses of action his clients can take: “One, Port Arthur responds to the request from the Townsends through the city council. They made previous requests to the city council PA DISANNEXATION PAGE 3A
The Rodney Townsend Sr. and his wife, Debbie live at the foot of the Rainbow and Veterans Memorial Bridges and are seeking to be disannexed from the city of Port Arthur. There’s a possibility the city could lose the Entergy Sabine Power Plant through the legal process. RECORD PHOTO: Mark Dunn
Pinehurst City Hall tabled Mike Louviere For The Record
The Pinehurst city council has pondered what to do with their old city hall building on Mockingbird since moving into their new city hall complex. The council went into closed session and discussed the issue at the special meeting and workshop. They decided they needed more time
and information to make an informed decision and took no action in regard to the sale of the building. Allen Sanderson of Sanderson, Knox & Company, Certified Public Accountants, auditors for the city of Pinehurst, presented the council with a draft of the annual audit. In his remarks, Sanderson stated that the city is fortunate enough to have a surplus large enough to allow them to
Bellfield takes seat again on council David Ball
H
For The Record
Inside The Record • SHERLOCK BREAUX Page..................... 4A • Obituaries Page......................7A •Dicky Colburn Fishing...................1B •Outdoors Weekly Chuck Uzzle.........12B • CHURCH NEWS Page......................9B • CLASSIFIED ADS Page....................10B
Week of Wednesday, March 14 , 2012
Former Orange mayor and councilwoman Essie Bellfield is administered the oath of office by Judge Jerry Pennington at the regular council meeting Tuesday morning. Bellfield was appointed to the Single-Member District 3 council seat that was left vacant after Councilman Jeff Holland resigned. RECORD PHOTO: David Ball
A familiar face returned to the Orange City Council at their regular meeting Tuesday morning. Essie Bellfield, former mayor and councilwoman, was appointed and sworn-in for the Single-Member District 3 council seat that was vacated after Councilman Jeff Holland resigned. She thanked the council and city staff for working with her. Councilwoman Annette Pernell said appointing Bellfield is a win for the city since she’s a former mayor. Mayor Brown Claybar added the council won’t miss a beat since Bellfield served before. Additionally, a resolution was passed canceling the May 12 General Election since no incumbents face an opponent. The council approved the first reading of an ordinance
introducing the “Buy Orange First” program. The intent of the program is to encourage city purchases of goods and services under $50,000 form local businesses in Orange, Orange County or Jefferson County. Purchases over $50,000 will be made in accordance with the “City of Orange Purchasing Policies and Procedures Manual.” Jay Trahan, executive director of the Orange Economic Development Corporation, said the program is an effort to maximize the effectiveness of local tax dollars by ensuring a portion of citizens’ tax dollars remain in the local economy for economic benefit of the citizens and the city. Preference may be given to a local business, providing the local business is within five percent of the low quote, but BELLFIELD PAGE 3A
operate for several months, if the need should arise. “Even though the lay of the land has changed with the purchase of and moving into this new facility, making it somewhat hard to make a comparison with past years, the city is in good financial shape. The city has done better on revenue than budgeted, and has done a good job in controlling expenses,” said Sanderson. The council will review the draft and vote on the audit at the next council meeting. Reid Carruthers, a resident of the Camelot subdivision gave a report on his work reviewing the problems with the cell tower in the city and the lack of an ordinance to cover cell towers in the city. The tower is located at the rear of the property owned by Triple L Honda on Strickland Drive. There is currently no ordinance dealing with the installation of cell towers in the city. The city government recognized the need for an ordinance and Carruthers agreed to work with the city rectifying the problems with the current tower. Among the items Carruthers discovered is there should be a public hearing when the construction of a tower is considered. There should also be some noise control measures installed on a tower. Carruthers said there is a noise coming from slack cables slapping the tower in windy conditions. In the case of a power outage, there is a very noisy generator that kicks on and causes disturbance to residences near the tower. PINEHURST PAGE 3A