Sabine Lake Fishing See Section B
Orange County Cookin’
PLAYOFFS
BC Cards Advance See Section B
See Page 8A
County Record The Community Newspaper of Orange, Texas
Vol. 52 No. 7
Week of Wednesday, May 9, 2012
County reverses ordinance on firearms
David Ball
For The Record
The Orange County Commissioners’ Court repealed an ordinance at their Monday afternoon meeting they previously passed two weeks ago. The court repealed an ordinance prohibiting the discharge of firearms within the Quail Trails Estates Subdivisions off of FM 1442. A public hearing was held prior to the regular session to receive input from residents. Ronald Dischler is a Beaumont Police officer who lives in the subdivision and he teaches firearms instruction. He doesn’t understand why the commissioners’ court passed an ordinance when state law already addresses the issue. Dischler said deadly conduct is a third degree felony in the Texas Penal Code. He said the original complainants said bullets were skipping across the pond on
May 14 was proclaimed as Leadership Southeast Texas Day with a proclamation from the Orange County Commissioners’ Court at their Monday afternoon meeting. The organization has been in Orange County for over 20 years. Gisela Houseman, a local LSET alum, poses with the Orange County Commissioners’ Court. RECORD PHOTO: Mark Dunn
Orange to cut frills from riverfront project David Ball
For The Record
Though it’s not back to the drawing board for the city of Orange’s riverfront development project, it’s a bump in the road in starting the project. Jeffrey Carbo, landscape engineer, said the permitting process took longer with the
ASTROS See Kaz’s Korner Page 4B
Inside The Record • SHERLOCK BREAUX Page..................... 4A • Obituaries Page......................9A •Dicky Colburn Fishing..................1B •Outdoors Weekly Chuck Uzzle..........6B • CHURCH NEWS Page......................9B • CLASSIFIED ADS Page....................10B
U.S. Army Corp of Engineers and the agreement with contractor SpawGlass of Houston had lapsed. Some items in the contract had to be re-bid because of a $267,500, or 4.33 percent increase in costs. The base bid for the project is $5.87 million and $1.91 million in alternates. Carbo said any items that are re-bid may easily be added CLAYBAR back in the first two to three months of the project’s construction through value engineering. Value engineering is a systematic method to improve the “value” of goods or products and services by using an examination of function. Value, as defined, is the ratio of function to cost. Value can therefore be increased by either improving the function or reducing the cost. It is a primary tenet of value engineering that basic functions be preserved and not be reduced as a consequence of pursuing value improvements. For instance, every name in the historic markers and donor bricks on the sidewalk along the Sabine River will be replaced. Mayor Brown Claybar said the city will know how much of their contingency fund they will need to use. City Manager Shawn Oubre said there may be some areas of the project that they may do without, yet the city can still have a successful project. Ben Culpepper, president of the OEDC, said he was concerned about the project becoming “blah” in its design just to save money. Claybar said it is their intent to add them back in. Allan Sanders, attorney for the OEDC, said the project is still solid in the river stabilization phase of the project. Councilman Cullin Smith believes the contingency fund was mislabeled and should be ORANGE RIVERFRONT PAGE 3A
the property, but there were no calls for service from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. Dischler added shots aren’t coming from his property. The other neighbor has a long pipeline running through his property which would make gunfire from that direction unlikely. The third neighbor to the north has heavy brush and trees that would stop a bullet. “That’s why we purchased our property to be in the country,” Dischler said. “Now you can’t discharge a firearm without violating an ordinance. This turns citizens into criminals and keeps the sheriff busy.” Resident Tim Turley was in favor of the ordinance. He said one day he was cleaning his swimming pool when a stray bullet hit a nearby tree. Shortly thereafter, another bullet came close to hitting him. “I don’t want to change any-
one’s rights but we’re too close to each other. I want to protect my family. I”m not against guns but there’s not enough pieces of property between us,” Turley said. “I told a neighbor not to shoot toward me. I made two calls to the sheriff’s office. This is not a policing matter. They do a good job. If that bullet was four more inches, I wouldn’t be here. The ordinance states I can protect my property.” County Judge Carl Thibodeaux said it wasn’t the county’s intention to take away anyone’s rights, or to protect their families or not to keep and bear arms. Dischler said state law allows residents to contact the sheriff’s office and file a deadly conduct charge if anyone is shooting at their property. “The state address the discharge of a firearm in the city,” he said. COUNTY BUSINESS PAGE 2A
LCM Lady Bears head into semifinals
Raven Cole is on the mound for the Lady Bears defeating Barbers Hill. The Lady Bears (31-7) next face Richmond Foster (30-1) in the Region III semifinals. Game one of the best-of-three series will start at 7 p.m. on Thursday at Goose Creek Memorial High School. See Page 2B. RECORD PHOTO: Larry Trimm
‘Do it in Orange’ fishing and music fest David Ball
For The Record
If weather forecasts hold true, the weekend weather should be beautiful for the Do It In Orange 2012 Fishing Classic and Spring Music Fest. John Gothia is chairman of the first time-ever fishing tournament. He said this tournament has been in the planning for two years. The Greater Orange Area Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring the
event. “This tournament will highlight local resources of waterways and fisheries and how we used GOTHIA these resources,” he said. Gothia anticipates a good turn out for the event since he’s been on the telephone the last two weeks answering questions when and where the
tournament is. He added he expects Friday afternoon will be “crazy” with everyone registering. The event will be a familyfriendly environment and is co-schedueld with the Spring Music Fest on Saturday. Fishing times are 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. with weigh-in by 4 p.m. on Saturday at 700 Destroyer Drive at the Orange Boat Ramp off of Simmons Drive. Sunday’s times are 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. with weigh-in at
3 p.m. There will be $20,000 in prize money guaranteed. There will be three divisions — bass, speckled trout and redfish. There will be one entry fee for all three divisions with a $2,000 prize in each division. There are also opportunities to sponsor the event: • VIP tent sponsor- $1,500 (limit one) ‘DO IT IN ORANGE’ PAGE 3A