Dickie Colburn: Fishing See Page 1B
Cooking with Katherine See Page 8A
Kaz’ Korner: Astros See Page 5A
County Record The Community Newspaper of Orange, Texas
Vol. 51 No. 16
Week of Wednesday, July 27, 2011
County goes with Plan A for redistricting Greg Hayes
For The Record
Commissioners’ Court decided Monday that there will be no need for a Plan B, as they voted unanimously to proceed with Plan A of the precinct redistricting lines project, as drawn up by Rolando L. Rios and Associates. Through Plan A, voting box 11 will be moved into Precinct 3 from Precinct 2 and voting
box one will also be moved from Precinct 3 and into Precinct 1. Precinct 4 will remain as it was with no THIBODEAUX changes. County Judge Carl Thibodeaux said that Plan B would have split the City of West Orange across three different precincts and would
have been more confusion than it was worth. “In Plan A, 90 percent of West Orange will be in Precinct 1,” Thibodeaux said.
Now that the court has given its approval, the new lines will be sent to the Justice Department in Washington. Rios said that the coun-
ty should get the go ahead from Washington within two months so that the new lines and voting box locations can go into effect.
“I’m sure they will approve it,” Rios said. “The county will not be able to hold an election REDISTRICTING PAGE 2A
H Fleur de Chic honored by GOACC H
John Thomas, executive director of O.C.A.R.C Inc. presents John Clark (right), member of the Boat Club board of directors, with the Don & Evelyn Award for 2011.
Helping others help themselves Darla Daigle
For The Record
In 1956, Orange County parents and citizens with a great awareness of the opposition facing the mentally challenged combined their efforts and started a long lasting non-profit organization, the O.C.A.R.C. In 1956, parents and citizens with a great awareness of the opposition facing the mentally challenged, combined their efforts and started this long lasting non-profit organization. The primary focus of the affiliation is to attempt to bring a variety of different vocational skills into the lives of those who cannot get voca-
Inside The Record • SHERLOCK BREAUX Page..................... 4A • Obituaries Page......................7A •Dicky Colburn Fishing..................1B • Kaz’s Korner Joe Kazmar...........1B • CHURCH NEWS Page......................7B • CLASSIFIED ADS Page......................8B
The Record Digital Edition Online Now
tional training through average means to obtain a source of income. This was in a time prior to government mandated help for the challenged and prior to government funding. This idea in and of itself posed great hurdles getting up and started but found Orange County citizens with a vision of the future of all of its citizens, not just those considered of normal abilities. “Orange was one of the few communities nationwide that started its own organization itself,” states John Thomas. Thomas, Executive Director of the program/business, has been with O.C.A.R.C. for 38 years and has seen the best and worst of times of the community support. “Orange has been great to us always. Last year was hard with all the market uncertainty, but this year our levels have been back up. When times are hard for people times are hard for us.” His blue eyes easily tell a story of many years of helping and direction those who need extra help. The group of mentally challenged clients he has the privilege of overseeing work their tasks as a regular job. They are trained and put to work in an industrial setting making signs, assembling trophies, and engraving plaques of metal and wood. “We are helped some by The United Way which is good and bad. Since we generate a lot of our own funds when time get hard it can affect us. Of course funds have been cut for government program in a lot of areas. Beaumont MHMR is a skeleton crew compared to what it used to be,” he smiles. He isn’t negative, just matterof-fact. Being negative isn’t an option when so much is on the line. “The world is changing though.” Thomas is referring to the OCARC PAGE 2A
The Greater Orange Area Chamber of Commerce presented Candice Harrison of Fleur de Chic with the Business of the Second Quarter Award. Fleur de Chic has been very active in the Chamber and trying to give back to the community. Fleur de Chic is located at 2222 MacArthur Drive Orange. For more information call 409-886-2442.
Getting to know ‘Gene’ Smith Smith takes over as new Veterans Service Officer
Mike Louviere For The Record
The Orange County judge and the four county commissioners were faced with a difficult two part question. They had to decide how to get the Orange County Veterans Service Office back to serving veterans in the shortest amount of time, and who to select to fill the position of veterans service officer. After only a few days the office was once again serving the veterans. The county administration was advertising for candidates seeking the VSO position. Last Tuesday, members of commissioners court met with the final four candidates and gave each a 30 minute interview. After reviewing the qualifications of each candidate and their impressions of the interviews the court decided to hire F. E. “Gene” Smith as the new VSO for Orange County. Smith was born in Port Arthur, lived in Orange for a short time, graduated from Victoria High School in Victoria, Texas in 1957, then came back to Orange in 1959 to join the workforce at DuPont Sabine River Works. He has lived in Orange since then, except for periods of time serving in the Naval Reserve. Smith began his 30 years of service with active duty in the Navy aboard the aircraft carrier Valley Forge, working on the flight deck. When the opportunity came to join the Construction Battalion, or Seabees, Smith jumped at the chance to join. “I enjoyed my time in the Seabees. There is a lot of pride and tradition in belonging to
F.E. “Gene” Smith has been named as Orange County’s new veterans service officer. RECORD PHOTO: Mike Louviere
that outfit. We often worked hard, but when there was time to relax, we took it, and played hard. The Seabees are a group that builds camaraderie. We relate to things and experiences that other Navy outfits know nothing about. Of course the non-Seabees feel the same way about their units,” said Smith. As Smith’s time in service increased and he rose in rank, he was called to active duty and recalled several times. His naval reserve unit was based at Barksdale Air Force Base in Shreveport, La. “Once I asked to transfer to a unit that was closer to home. They sent me to Gulfport Miss.,” said Smith. “It was three miles closer to Orange. I also spent a little time in a unit in Dallas.” In the reserves he served as the senior enlisted training advisor. He was called to active duty prior to Desert Storm and also during Desert Storm. MEET GENE SMITH PAGE 2A
Local athlete heads to Junior Olympics Taylor Wendt
For The Record
At 14 years old, it’s hard to imagine that a girl could already be an amazing athlete. For Alexus Henry, however, this expectation has already been met as she is one of the top track stars in her school, and more impressively, headed to compete in the Junior Olympics. Alexus Henry, a soon to be freshman at Bridge City High school, is already at the top of the sports world at Bridge City. Since the seventh grade, Alexus has been high jumping for Bridge City and has made remarkable progress, considering she has only been competing in the sport a few years. Alexus realized her potential in the seventh grade when she scored first place in dis-
trict in the triple jump, long jump, and high jump. Then in eighth grade, she scored first place again in the long jump and high jump. Because of her dedication, Alexus has scored a spot to compete in the USATF NaHENRY tional Junior Olympic Track & Field Championships this week at Wichita State University in Kansas. At Regional level for the Junior Olympics, where she competed with about eight other girls, Alexus scored second place in high jump with a jump of 5’3”. The competition for the USATF Championship takes place in six two-year age diviJUNIOR OLYMPIAN PAGE 3A
• Award Winning Hometown News