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The Record TheRecordLive.com
Distributed FREE To The Citizens of Bridge City and Orangefield
Vol. 56 No. 8
BC annexes property near Rainbow Bridge David Ball
For The Record
The city of Bridge City just got a little bigger after Tuesday night’s city council meeting. The council approved a proposed annexation plan for the city that will extend two fingers toward the Rainbow Bridge, according to City Manager Jerry Jones. The new city limits will be where the Extra Territorial Jurisdiction now lies- to an island in the middle of the Sabine River near the Rainbow Bridge. A strip of land on FM 1442 will also be annexed. Jones said there’s a total
BC resident Steve Bisson appeals for help Steve Bisson, a 1974 Bridge City High School graduate, is on a waiting list. A waiting list for people that can’t wait, but still have to. He knows the folks at St. Lukes are working really hard to find a liver to transplant into his body. But now he is not only running out of time, but also, running out of money. Steve has to drive back and forth to Houston all the time for his medical needs. He has no one to help him and now he can not afford to pay his doctor bills. Please, if you can donate to help Steve, call or go to Firestone Credit Union (409-697-2461) where an account has been set up under Steve Bisson, or call him at home at 409-735-5914.
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of 1,022 acres that can possibly be annexed by the city. “There’s a lot of area we could annex if we wanted Roccaforte to,” he said. Councilman Danny Cole asked why the city was annexing marshland. Jones answered there were many problems when the city of Port Arthur annexed the then Gulf States Utilities power plant in the past. The state made Port Arthur pull their boundaries back to the middle of the river. Bridge City officials want to get to the point so Port Arthur won’t annex that property again. “It (Bridge City city limits) butts up against Port Arthur,” Jones said. He added annexation is a very extensive time line to follow and the city has 90 days to complete. The council also approved an ordinance regulating peddlers, itinerant vendors, hawkers, solicitors and canvassers and establishing registration requirements. Jones said his officer receives a lot of calls about solicitors. City Attorney Paul Fukuda said the ordinance tries to strike a balance in the right to solicit, but to be regulated albeit not to an excessive degree. Civic organizations will be able to use large stores, such as Market Basket, Walgreen’s and Walmart, parking lots and children under the age of 18 may still go door to door for nonprofit reasons. Other exemptions are businesses who set up shop for 45 days or less, those operating less than six hours a day and 5013c nonprofit organizations. Peddlers must obtain a license for a $100 fee and pay for a $2,000 bond. Temporary vendors may get a license for $20 a day or $100 for the entire year. Solicitors and canvassers need
BRIDGE CITY Page 3A
Week of Wednesday, June 4, 2014
‘Pomp and Circumstance’ 2014 Bridge City High School Class of 2014 Moves On To Next Phase Of Life
Class of 2014 Valedictorian Luke Placette Staff Report For The Record
On Friday night 189 students of the Bridge City Independent School District crossed the field in Larry Ward Stadium to the tune of ‘Pomp and Circumstance’ as the Class of 2014 came together for a final time for graduation. Mistress of Cermonies for the Class of 2014 was senior class president Kaitlyn Suzanna-Reinstra Louvier. Louvier introduced fellow classmates, Valedictorian Luke Anthony Placette and Salutatorian Sidney Jude Shubarth. The Moment of Dedication was offered by Magna Cum Laude graduate Trinity Leighann King. Welcoming the overflow audiance at Bridge City High School was 2013-2014 BCISD Board of Trustees President Michael C. Johnson. The Class of 2014 earned over $1 million in scholarships to help further their education.
Magna cum laude graduates were: Matthew Joseph Beadle, Jessica Renee Bean, Brooke Ashlee Bertles, John Tolbert Ellis, Jessi Breanne Glover, Forrest Dalton Gothia, Colton Chance Huebel, Trinity Leighann King, Bryan Austin Landrum, Bailey Elise McBee, Ciera Noel Mires, Kevin Vinh Nguyen, Linda Thi Pham, Anna Kathleen Piper, Karli Madison Pittman, Gregory Kent Sattler, Jaden Scott Trahan, Jannet Dung My Tran and Karley Monet Worthington. Cum laude graduates were: Amanda Rose Ashby, Kolten Robert Bergeron, Colton Blake Cockrell, Ciara Dawn Cooper, Sage William Elmore, Victoria Danielle Gauthier, Aubrey Elyse Hale, Thomas Christopher Henry, Blaine Allen Huff, Kelsey Jordan Keeler, Joshua Brandon Khoury, Kethryn Grace Laird, Cade Reed Lange, Brent Allen LeBleu, Caleb James Marshall, Windsor Truc Nguyen, Garret Paul Oliver and Colten Payne Robbins.
Class of 2014 Salutatorian Sidney Shubarth
Class of 2014 Mistress of Ceremonies Kaitlyn Louvier RECORD PHOTOS: Mark Dunn
D-Day war effort recalled by WWII soldier David Ball
For The Record
Ray Fontenot is an example as to why the Greatest Generation is so great. Fontenot was born on January 5, 1921, in Washington, Louisiana near Opelousas. His father was a farmer and worked a cotton gin. In fact, the family home was in the middle of a cornfield. The house had no electricity. He joked some of his younger friends talk about when they received their first cars. Fontenot remembers when he received his first horse. His father’s first vehicle was a Ford Model-T in the late 1930s. Fontenot completed school in 1938. His first job was away from home in Lafayette, digging ditches for farmers in the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression. He was paid $1 a day and provided with room and board. He
Ray Fontenot, a Louisiana native and Orange County resident, worked in the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Consolidated Steel Ship Yard, enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps, and at DuPont in Orange before retiring. RECORD PHOTO: Mark Dunn
made $5 a week and his parents were paid $25 a week by the CCC. Fontenot said the idea behind the CCC was to get money flowing again in the economy. He went back home to the family farm but decided farming wasn’t the life for him. He moved to Port Arthur to work on an oil tanker for Texaco. That job wasn’t for him either. It was during his time in Port Arthur he would meet his wife. They dated for six months before marrying. They were married for 70 years until she passed away three years ago. Fontenot worked selling shoes in Port Arthur for $12 a week until he landed a job in Orange at Consolidated Steel when World War II started. He attended school for six weeks to become a ship fitter. He was guaranteed a job at the ship yard upon completion of school. “I told my wife I can’t believe
this. I was paid $.66 an hour,” Fontenot said. Fontenot and his work mates built the destroyer, USS Aulick and LCIs landing craft used on the D-Day invasion. His fatherin-law, then age 44, moreover, may had been in one of the LCIs Fontenot built when he landed on the Normandy beach 70 years ago on June 6, 1944. Fontenot’s father-in-law also crossed the English Channel to France to fight in World War I. Fontenot enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1942 for the duration of the war plus six months of service. It was his third deferment due to his work and he wanted to serve. He was training to be an aerial gunner on a B-24 Liberator bomber. His first assignment was in Victoria, then Harlingen, and lastly, Omaha, Nebraska. He was assigned to a plane when
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