BEST FISHING IN TEXAS
SPORTS VIEWS
Kaz’s Korner
Capt. Dickie Colburn Page 1B
Page 1B
DOWN LIFE’S HIGHWAY
FISHING AND OUTDDORS Capt. Chuck Uzzle Page 3B
Roy Dunn-Columnit See Page 7A
H H H H H Your Hometown Newspaper Since 1958 H H H H H
The Record TheRecordLive.com
Vol. 56 No. 11
Distributed FREE To The Citizens of Bridge City and Orangefield
Week of Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Commissioners work through summer agendas David Ball
For The Record
A Vidor businessman will have to wait another week to know if his permit for a property is approved or disapproved. Jody Crump, Precinct 4 commissioner, requested the Orange County Commissioners’ Court reach a decision at their regular meeting on Monday af-
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.
H • SHERLOCK BREAUX Page...................... 4A • Obituaries Page.......................6A •Dicky Colburn Fishing...................4B • CHURCH NEWS Page................ ......7B • CLASSIFIED ADS Page......................8B
ternoon. Sonny Stevenson of Parkwood Land Company filed the request to the code compliance office on March 28, THIBODEAUX 2014 concerning the Interstate 10 property located adjacent to the Neches River. Crump said Stevenson wanted to know what the status of the permit was in the process. Joel Ardoin, code compliance official, said his department was waiting on a legal concern before the permit was released. The court then went into executive session to discuss the matter. After executive session County Judge Carl Thibodeaux said there would be no action taken but to give Stevenson the court’s decision by end of next week. The court also adopted the local option homestead exemptions for the 2014 tax year. The rate will be 20 percent for homesteads and $25,000 for those over age 65. This is the same rate it has been for several years. The court approved authorizing the county judge to sign routine equipment rental agreements of up to $5,000 for the duration of the Ike 2.2 Disaster Recovery Grant without the need for additional court approval. Clark Slacum, county engineer, said this action will allow the Road & Bridge Department
to quickly adjust resources as the workload requires. He added if their equipment breaks, they have to wait the following week before any action is taken.
The commissioners can act on the judge’s behalf for approval. The motion was approved but Crump said for Road &
Bridge to make sure the county gets their reimbursements back. Thibodeaux said they’ll do the rental for a week and then
put it on the commissioners’ court agenda. The rental of a smooth drum COUNTY BUSINESS Page 3A
Lazy days of summer...
Summer brings a multitude of activities enjoyed by young and old alike. For many it is the best time of year. For students of area schools summer vacation means freedom from homework and the classroom. For others it is a time to relax in the yard after the end of a hot summer day. Above: Soon to be Bridge City first grader Delilah Ballou has her own summer escape from the heat. Her favorite summer pass-time is a refreshing dip in the pool. RECORD PHOTO: Mark Dunn
Forty years since the murder of Officer Gray Melodie McClain For The Record
Many recall when Captain Danny Gray was killed during a jail break forty years ago this week. June 28, 1974 started out quiet in Orange, but the day had all the twists and turns of a badly written western movie script, complete with armed robbery, a shoot out during a jail break and a posse rounded up to catch the bad guys. Sharon Bearden, now a private attorney in Orange was the district attorney at the time, says that “the death of Danny Gray was the low point of all the law enforcement years in Orange County.” Gray, a 31-year-old Captain for the Orange Police Department had a wish come true early in the morning, then lost his life hours later in a tragic confrontation. Gray, a ten year veteran of the Orange Police Department, had told fellow officers that he wanted to stop an armed robbery in progress some day. Around 1 a.m. Gray and four other officers on his shift, arrested Charles Dowden, for committing armed robbery as he left the Sak-N-Pak drivein grocery on Green Avenue.
Captain Danny Gray loved being a police officer and left quite a legacy behind.
Bearden said that Gray had Sharon Bearden, District Attorney when the jail break in Orange occalled him early in the morning curred 40 years ago. RECORD PHOTO: Chris Gunn all excited about making the arrest, not knowing that before Clifford Blansett, fired shots eyville. Nearly 70 officers surthe dawn of that morning he with Denton and Windham re- rounded the house with a heliwould receive another call say- turning fire. Gray’s pistol nev- copter flying overhead and ing that Gray was dead. er left its holster. One of the horses and bloodhounds standAt 4 a.m Gray, Ronnie Den- shots fired struck Gray in the ing by. ton and Bryan Windham were head. The assailants then fled Chief Deputy Charles Mordoing paperwork in the dis- into the darkness. Gray was vent, Jr. telephoned the house patch office when two armed rushed to Orange Memorial and said, “Billy Wayne, I have a men walked in saying that they Hospital where he was pro- warrant for your arrest,” and were there to get Charles, Billy nounced dead. that there was a “small army” Wayne’s brother, out of jail. Events moved quickly that around the house. One of the men then kicked morning and that afternoon, Dowden and Blansett suropen the dispatch office door. law officers from throughout rendered to Orange Police Gray knocked him into the the area and Louisiana con- Chief L.C. Jones, Sheriff Allen hallway and shots were fired in verged on a small frame house (Buck ) Patillo, Morvent and the confusion. The two intrud- in Forrest Heights, in northern Texas Ranger Haskall Taylor. ers, Billy Wayne Dowden and Orange County, south of DewJudge James D. Stringer, the
justice of the peace for Precinct 1, set the bond at $500,000. Bearden, the district attorney, was responsible for the case against the men. Billy Wayne Dowden and Clifford Blansett were indicted on capital murder charges. When the ballistic tests were returned they showed that the bullet that killed Gray didn’t come from either of the men’s weapons, but from Windham’s gun. The prosecution was stymied for a while, then Bearden, utilized a recently passed statue that said if someone’s actions caused a death then murder charges could be brought. The case prosecuted by Bearden was the first time that the statue was used in the State of Texas. Dowden pleaded guilty and received a life sentence while Blansett opted to go to trial. The trial for Blansett lasted three weeks. Blansett also received a life sentence when the verdict was returned. He has since died in prison. The Dowden brothers still remain the Texas prison system and have now been locked up for 40 years. Billy Wayne Dowden is 77 years old, curOFFICER GRAY Page 3A
Bearden Law Firm JIm Sharon Bearden, Jr.
beardenlawfirm.net
883 -4501