Dickie Colburn: Fishing See Page 4B Cooking With Katherine See Page 8A
High School Football See Page 1B
County Record The Community Newspaper of Orange, Texas
Vol. 51 No. 30
Week of Wednesday, November 2, 2011
OF agriculture students present program to court
Penny LeLeaux For The Record
The Orangefield Agriculture Issues Team used commissioners court as a practice run for a competition in Dayton on Nov. 9. Students presented a 10 minute program on
the pros and cons of factory farms. Judge Carl Thibodeaux asked if the competition was a debate. Jessica Gates, FFA advisor and Orangefield H.S. Agriculture Science Teacher said, “You don’t choose if you are for
or against, you just present both sides.” She said subjects cover bio-tech or anything agricultural that is “big in the news or controversial.” The main con the students had was that with factory farms there was a lack of human contact that comes with a
family farm. Animals are kept in tight confinement because with vitamins A and D they no longer need exercise and sunlight. According to the students factory farms produce over 2.7 trillion pounds of waste a year which is a problem for disposal, whereas the
family farm use waste as fertilizer for gardens. The pros say automation allows for larger production. CRUMP They claim it is not cruel to the animals because they have always been herded, confined and eaten. Commissioners and Judge Thibodeaux found the program very interesting and educational. “We told the one pig ‘hello’ every morning,” said
Thibodeaux of his life on the family farm. He said they would look at the food on their plate and ask dad, “Is this Scruffy?” Commissioner Precinct 1 David Dubose said their dad always told them no, that they traded Scruffy at the market for one they could butcher. In other business, the court kept the burn ban in effect for another week on the recommendation of Emergency Management Director Jeff Kelley. “It’s not much different than last week,” said Kelley. COUNTY BUSINESS PAGE 2A
‘Hope For Health’ Expo set for Nov. 5
Nicole Gibbs
For The Record
Football going to the birds
Orange County Judge Carl Thibodeaux has created a birdhouse in the shape of a football helmet for each of the local school teams in Orange County. He said if each helmet was created from start to finish at one time, it would be at least 40 hours of work. “These are the actual decals that are on team helmets.” Thibodeaux said each school was nice enough to give him the decals. He started the project with West Orange-Stark; as a memorial to Reggie Garrett, but then decided to do one for each of the teams. “Now Community Christian has started playing ball, too,” said Thibodeaux, acknowledging he also has a helmet in the works for the Lions. Don’t bother calling the judge to order one. “I only do one of a kind of something.” One toy, one anything. He said someone offered him $1,000 to recreate the Thomas the Train toy box he did for his grandson. Once he completes all the helmets, he will build no more. He said the schools are free to do with the birdhouses as they please. Thibodeaux said they would be good to help raise money for Project Graduation or some other cause.
No Land in Japan, Kishi came to Orange County Mike Louviere For The Record
Located on FM 1135 about midway between I-10 and FM 105 is a historical maker dedicated to the Kishi Colony. The houses and barns are gone and the fields are fallow, but this was once the land that grew crops from rice to strawberries and even had a profitable, though short production of oil. Kichimatsu Kishi was born in Nagata, Japan in 1872. He was an ambitious young man that wanted to accomplish more than he felt he would be able to in his homeland, so he left Japan in 1907 with his second wife, Fuji, and young son Taro and migrated to America. Kishi eventually settled in the community of Terry, located between Orange and Vidor. He had encouraged 16 other Japanese men to move to Texas and they began prepare 1600 acres for cultivation. The first order of business was to dig irrigation canals from Cow Bayou to the fields. Levees were constructed to hold the water and the plowing and planting began. In the 1908 harvest the sale of 15,753 sacks of rice weighing 200 pounds
apiece brought $47,000 income to the new colony. Salt water invaded the rice fields and they colony needed to diversify its crops. By 1920 the crop production included cabbage, potatoes, onions, corn, cucumbers, spinach, celery, tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, beets, and strawberries. It was also about this time that oil was discovered on the portion of the land near Orangefield. The east edge of Kishi’s land was on the deep salt dome that would produce the Orange oil field boom of the 1920s. The discovery of oil made Kishi a millionaire practically overnight and enabled him to pay off all of his creditors and begin to buy more land. He would eventually own 9000 acres. Kishi’s son Taro was college age and registered at Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College. While at Texas A&M he became an outstanding football player under legendary coach Dana X. Bible. He was a part of the teams that were football powerhouses of the time and won several Southwest Conference titles. Taro Kishi was the first Asian to play for the Aggies. During the 1924 football season,
Isoroku Yamamoto,second from left, in the Orange oil fields, 1924.
Taro caught a touchdown pass against Baylor and returned a punt for a touchdown against Texas Christian. In 1925 when the Aggies captured the Southwest Conference championship, Taro tore a ligament in his shoulder early in the season. He came back to perform solidly against TCU and after a reinjury he played a game against Rice, it was said he played “purely on guts.” He was considered one of the Aggies’ most consistent ground gainers of the era. Taro graduated in 1926 with
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a degree in Agriculture and returned home to help his father farm. Count Kojiro Matsukata, president of the Kawasaki Dock Company had made a large investment in Kishi’s oil venture and the Orange Petroleum Company had been created. The land was leased for drilling to the Gulf Production Company, The Sun Company, and Humble Oil and Refining Company. At its peak the wells produced slightly in excess of 400 barrels per day. NO LAND IN JAPAN PAGE 2A
The Orange County AgriLife Extension Office is hosting their second annual “Hope For Health” Expo on Saturday, Nov. 5. The event will start at the Carl Godwin Auditorium, located at 202 Western Ave in West Orange, with registration beginning at 8 a.m. Helen Phillips, Season 7 winner on the Biggest Loser, will come back again this year to give an update on her weight loss journey and to promote her new cookbook. Admission to Phillip’s presentation is free and will begin at 9 a.m. “She’s going to talk about her cook book, how she’s kept the weight off and how her family eats,” Paula Tacker, County Extension Agent over Family and Consumer Sciences said. This year marks the first year for the Healthy Lifestyle Weight Loss Challenge. Participants in this challenge were asked to email a before and after picture with a one page story of their personal transformation. “We wanted to do our own little ‘Biggest Loser’ contest,” Tacker said. “People have been sending in their story and their before and after picture. The winner will receive a year’s membership at Fit Life (in West Orange), a six month membership at Body Workz and a plaque.” Each of the contestants in the weight loss challenge has faced an uphill battle but they didn’t let that dampen their spirits. Amanda Adams, one of the participants in the weight loss challenge, wrote in her personal transformation letter: “In November of 2010, I was fortunate to be chosen for a new job. Things seemed to be turning around for me, but my health was still quite poor. I grew up as an overweight child, fought for self-esteem as an overweight teen and finally caved to my tumultuous relationship with food and became a morbidly obese adult with a pre-diabetic diagnosis and on high blood pressure medication by age 30. I always had a zest for life, but my struggle became the inner me versus my body. “ The dedication to the kind of journey is not easy, but it can be done. Adams has lost over 75 pounds and isn’t slowing down just yet. “I’m accountable for what I eat. I workout 7 days a week, rain or shine. On October
Paula Tacker
19, I completed 12 weeks of a high intensity training program (p90x), and I’ve spent months working on my weight and overall fitness to participate in this 5k today,” Adams said. “It is my first 5k, but I can guarantee that it will not be my last. Every day is a new step forward. I’m making my future better. I’m doing it for myself which will in turn benefit the people in my life that love and care for me. I’m filled to the brim with the most grateful feeling for having lost a total of 75 lbs. It is possible, and I’m living proof!” The 5K walk/run will begin at 10:30 a.m. Those interested in registering can do so at www.hopeinorange.com or they can register Saturday morning at the event. Holiday in the Park will begin at 10 a.m. Those attending the 5K walk/run are encouraged to attend the festival and check out the local vendors.
Inside The Record • SHERLOCK BREAUX Page..................... 4A • Obituaries Page......................7A •Dicky Colburn Fishing..................4B •Outdoors Weekly Chuck Uzzle........10B • CHURCH NEWS Page......................7B • CLASSIFIED ADS Page......................8B