FISHING
East vs. West
The Best On The Coast
Cooking With Katherine
Tasty Recipes
Orange County Football Stars
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County Record The Community Newspaper of Orange, Texas
Vol. 52 No. 10
Week of Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Vidor man receives 30 year sentence Debby Schamber For The Record
County to repair busy BC bayou bridge David Ball
For The Record
The East Roundbunch swing bridge near Peggy’s on the Bayou restaurant on Cow Bayou is still a busy bridge. Clark Slacum, Road and Bridge engineer, reported to the Orange County Commissioners’ Court the bridge was opened 63 times for the month THIBODEAUX of May for boats to pass through. Consequently, the commissioners are looking for ways to either build a span across the bayou or rebuild it. County Judge Carl Thibodeaux said the county is seeking renovation grants from Ike Round 2.2 funding or a Texas Department of Transportation grant. “It was damaged and it’s old. It was built in the 1940s. We’re constantly repairing the electronics on it. When we had the storm the other day, some lightning knocked it out. We would like to replace it with a span or repair it,” Thibodeaux said. Several months ago, the commissioners gave approval on the Disaster Recovery Round 2.2 application budget consisting of $3,780,000 for the swing bridge on East Roundbunch in Bridge City, which was heavCOUNTY PAGE 3A
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Wayne Lee Wilkerson, 41, of Vidor, pleaded guilty Monday afternoon in the 128th District Court to two counts of intoxication manslaughter. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison on each count to be served consecutively for a total of 30 years. He will have to serve a minimum of 15 years before he is first eligible for parole. He could have received a sentence of 25 years to life for the second degree felony which was enhanced. The vehicle he was driving was found to be a deadly weapon. The charges stem from an incident on Dec. 15, 2009 when Wilkerson crossed the center line into oncoming traffic causing the deaths of Ann Lynette Sizemore, 42, of Rye and James McCollough, 45, of Call. According to reports from the Texas Department of Public Safety, Sizemore was driving a 1996 Dodge Dakota pickup truck east on State
Highway 12 while Wilkerson was driving west in a 2000 GMC Yukon. Upon impact to the front of the pickup,it flipped over onto the roof of the vehicle. Sizemore and McCollough were pronounced dead at the scene. Wilkerson and his passenger, 39-year-old Mary McDaniel, received non-life threatening injuries. Witnesses reported to troopers they saw Wilkerson fail to maintain a single lane and suddenly go completely into the opposite lane of travel and strike the pickup head-on. The witness approached the scene following the wreck and Wilkerson who who was laying in the grass on the side of the roadway stated he was not driving when the incident occurred. However, Wilkerson would later tell an ambulance driver he was driving the vehicle. Wilkerson reported to troopers he was driving and suffered a “blow-out” on the left front tire. But, at the hos-
pital the following day said he fell asleep at the wheel and it was not a blow-out. He added he had used drugs the morning of the wreck. According to reports, he tested positive for stimulants. While the judge was sentencing Wilkerson, the daughter of the deceased couple sobbed. She managed to gain control and give a victim impact statement. MANSLAUGHTER PAGE 3A
Wayne Lee Wilkerson, 41, of Vidor, is led to the courtroom Monday by James Lucia of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office where he will receive a 30 year sentence for two counts of intoxication manslaughter. RECORD PHOTO: Debby Schamber
LCM names ‘Teachers of the Year’ Jenny Morgan For The Record
On Friday, May 25, Little Cypress-Mauriceville held their annual Recognition Celebration. The first part of this workday began with an address by Superintendent, Dr. Pauline Hargrove, followed by recognition of those who received service awards, retirees, and teachers and employees of the year. There were 95 employees who received service awards for five, up to 30 years of service to the students of LCM CISD. This year’s retirees include Principal Keith Lindsey - Little Cypress Junior High, Mary Lou Hude - Little Cypress Elementary, Elaine Reeh – Mauriceville Elementary, Gwen Cales – Little Cypress Junior High, Linda Vercher - Little Cypress High School, and Vicki Gore - Little Cypress Elementary. The District Elementary Teacher of the Year is Little LCM EDUCATORS PAGE 3A
Gwen Cales
Melanie Claybar
Sommer Reynolds
Corey Parsons
Susan Eby
Shirley Colvin
This week in Orange County news . . .
Inside The Record • SHERLOCK BREAUX Page..................... 4A • Obituaries Page......................7A •Dicky Colburn Fishing..................3B •Outdoors Weekly Chuck Uzzle..........5B • CHURCH NEWS Page......................7B • CLASSIFIED ADS Page......................8B
Becky Barker, left, and Margo Richards were at the Travel Information Center on Interstate 10 in Orange on Friday morning for “Orange Means Safety Day,” sponsored by TxDOT. The annual event is designed to inform people about the importance of safety.
It was standing room only for the retirement celebration for outgoing city of Orange Mayor Brown Claybar, held on May 30 at Lamar State College-Orange. Several spoke of their fondest memories of working with Claybar as mayor. RECORD PHOTOS: David Ball
Search for missing father brings film crews Penny Leleux
For The Record
“I just happened to be the one to answer the phone about a month ago,” said Orangefield HS Librarian Mona Bradford. She was referring to a phone call from across the Atlantic Ocean. On the other end of the phone was Deniece Ostenda, an editor for Stephenson the German TVProduction company Endemol Deutschland GmbH. “The show we are producing is called “Missing” and we are looking for long lost people on behalf of their family members all over the world,” wrote Ostenda in a subsequent e-mail. “In this case a woman named Melanie has written to us who is looking for her father,” she continued. Apparently he was in the military in Germany around 1968. He married her mother, but they broke up when she was about two, and he came back to the states. Melanie really never had much contact with her father. The production company had determined the father was a 1968 graduate of Orangefield High School by the name of Lonnie Roy Stephenson. Ostenda asked Bradford if she could help them locate Stephenson or find some of his former friends. Friday morning a film crew will be at the school to interview Stephenson’s best friends from high school, Kent Sarver and Johnny Dorman. “They’re going to come to the high school because we have pictures of him in the annual,” said Bradford. One of those pictures is of the 1967 District 25A football champs. “Then they are going to Zavalas because I guess he had a little cabin there.” “Then they are going to fly to California and meet up with Lonnie Stephenson because that’s where he lives. They’re going to take him to Germany,” said Bradford. “His daughter doesn’t know they found him. They are going to surprise her.”
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