Everybody Reads The Record

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Dickie Colburn: Fishing

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Cooking with Katherine

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Matt Bryant home in BC Page 1B

The       Record TheRecordLive.com

Vol. 51 No. 14 Week of Wednesday, July 13, 2011

The Penny Record of Bridge City and Orangefield • Founded 1960

Major road resurfacing underway in BC Greg Hayes For The Record Bridge City residents can get along much smoother now — especially if they are traveling down certain streets in town. Road work on several streets in town has new surfaces poured, part of a $9.6 million project according to city manager Jerry Jones. “The project has been moving along relatively well,” Jones said. “The release of funds took a lot of time. The first round of the $9,689,653 project went to generators, drainage work and a S.C.A.D.A system that lets us monitor all of the water and

sewer plants from one location.” The phase of street repairs and resurfacing covers a 12-mile JONES stretch and comes under a $2,178,865 bid, Jones said. “We are doing a six-mile stretch of hot mix asphalt and six-miles worth of chip seal,” he said. “We budgeted $3 million for the job, so we have about $1 million left that we can put toward areas that could be severely damaged.” Currently, the street resur-

facing has been taking place on East Roundbunch, Stewart, Nevils, Rachel, Jones, Blueberry, Bland and Henry streets. “Before paving, we added

about four to six inches of base material to the streets,” Jones said. “These are streets that were heavily damaged during (Hurricane Ike) due to stand-

ing water and heavy trucks bringing in trailers and equipment for rebuilding.” Jones said that an environmental study is currently be-

ing conducted so that they can begin the resurfacing project on the 13 streets in the Dugas BRIDGE CITY ROADS PAGE 3A

Drought hits local ranchers, farmers

Road crews work on curbs on newly resurfaced Henry Street in Bridge City. Major road resurfacing is ongoing throughout the city as part of a $9.6 million project. RECORD PHOTO: Mark Dunn

Community Day Camp summer fun for kids Mac Guillory stands next to the dock that goes out into the pond on the back of his property off of Texla Road. Normally, the water is up to the dock where Guillory is placing his hand. RECORD PHOTO: Greg Hayes

Greg Hayes For The Record With current drought conditions continuing to bear down on Southeast Texas, those who work with plants and vegetation are suffering, but they are not the only ones. Raising cattle and other livestock can also take its toll financially during these dry

Inside The Record • SHERLOCK BREAUX Page..................... 4A • Obituaries Page......................8A •Dicky Colburn Fishing..................2B • Kaz’s Korner Joe Kazmar...........1B • CHURCH NEWS Page......................7B • CLASSIFIED ADS Page......................8B

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times. Ed Scales, who has 100 head of cattle scattered around on several different properties across the south end of Orange County, said that he has seen a significant jump in expenses. “It has actually cost me quite a bit for my feed boxes and hay,” Scales said. I’m blessed that I had hay left over from last year. For the guys that don’t bale their own hay, I’m sure this year has been tough on them especially.” Scales said that he has seen about a 30-40 percent rise in cost for him so far, but says that he has found a silver lining in the situation. “We’ve had a few little hitand-miss rain showers and they have helped my ponds,” he said. But that isn’t the case for everyone. “Depending on the farmer, and where their land is, the scattered showers may or may not help you out,” Mac Guillory, who has about 20 to 25 head of registered Black Angus off of Texla Road, said. “Somebody a few miles away might get two inches of rain while I don’t get a drop.” Guillory said that his ponds are down by about 50 percent capacity. “Our ponds are getting very low,” he said. “Fortunately, we have a 500-foot well to pull from.” Guillory said that his costs are up by about 30-35 percent over a traditional year. “Fertilizer is extremely DROUGHT PAGE 2A

Taylor Wendt For The Record For many kids, summer is the perfect opportunity to take a break from school work by relaxing inside and playing video games all day. For some, however, they can experience a memorable summer at Community Day Camp where they have the opportunity to make new friends, discover new talents and visit exciting places. Community Day Camp was founded 20 ago by Lisa Ellermann. Her idea for the camp was to create a safe environment for college students to educate and entertain children during the summer months. The current camp director is Risa Adams, daughter of Lisa Ellermann, is following in her mother’s footsteps to create a fun, safe summer for children of all ages. The camp originally started with about 40 children per day, but as the camp became more popular the number grew to 120 children per day. In more recent years, the number of children signed up has diminished due to different directors and the economy. “There has been a big up and down with this COMMUNITY DAY CAMP PAGE 3A

Nicole Gibbs For The Record

Pictured above are several girls at the Community Day Camp having a good time during their free time. RECORD PHOTO: Taylor Wendt

Shangri La surviving drought Taylor Wendt For The Record Orange, TX, a city where it can rain for days on end, is experiencing something very different from what people are accustomed to. For several months now, Orange has been in a drought and many trees and plants are dying because of the lack of rain. According to weather.com, the average annual precipitation for the city of Orange is 58.6 in. As of July, the precipitation levels are down quite a lot. For the month of June, the average rainfall is 6.21 in, but Orange only received about 3.10 in of rain. One of the places in Orange that would seem to be greatly affected by this drought is Shangri La Botanical Gardens. However, the beautiful trees, flowers, and wildlife of Shan-

Top four applicants selected for new VA officer

gri La are doing well considering the extreme weather conditions. When Shangri La was created, it was designed as an earth-friendly environment that would stay green through rain or drought. A very elaborate irrigation system was constructed that would prevent the trees and plants of Shangri La from dying during times of very little rain. Workers at Shangri La are able to keep the gardens fresh and growing, but it does not come at an easy cost. Mike Hoke, managing director of Shangri La, has to be very diligent when it comes to running the irrigation system. Usually, during times of moderate rainfall, the irrigation system runs from about once evSHANGRI LA SURVIVING DROUGHT PAGE 2A

The Orange County Commissioners have narrowed down the list of applicants for the Veteran’s Service Officer position to four out of 21 applicants. Each Commissioner and the County Judge were given a copy of all of the applications and were asked to grade each one (on a one to five scale, five being the highest score given). At the Comm i s s i o n e r s ’ THIBODEAUX Court meeting on Monday, County Judge Carl Thibodeaux announced the final four applicants (listed in order of the grade given on their applications): Felix Smith, Billy Pruett, Charles Perry and Donald Sullivan. The final four applicants will go through a very thorough screening process and the Commissioners and County Judge will conduct 30 minute interviews for each applicant on Tuesday, July 19 at 10 a.m. These interviews will be considered closed meetings unless the applicants want them to be open to the public. If the county doesn’t chose a VSO officer from the top four applicants, they will conduct interviews with the next four, and so on and so forth. The Veteran’s Service Office has been undergoing several changes since the previous COUNTY BUSINESS PAGE 2A

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