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Dickie Colburn: Fishing See Page 5B Cooking With Katherine See Page 8A
Hometown Football
The Record
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TheRecordLive.com
Vol. 51 No. 27 Week of Wednesday, October 12, 2011
The Penny Record of Bridge City and Orangefield • Founded 1960
Gisela Houseman gets roasted Thurs. mayor of Beaumont; Betty Harmon, retired executive director of the Greater Orange Area Chamber of Commerce; and Debbie Means, Houseman’s oldest daughter. “Gisela and I are best friends,” Betty Harmon said. “We travel together and really enjoy each other’s company.
Darla Daigle
For The Record
The Bridge City Chamber of Commerce Roast will honor none other than Ms. Gilsela Houseman, owner of Tony Houseman Homes and Houseman Companies. The roast will be held on Thursday, Oct. 13 at 6:30 p.m. in the Bridge City Community Center. Chairwoman Adrienne Coletti said “We’ve never had a female roaster before. I just decided it was time to have professional business woman.” The roast, held every two years, will not only provide an evening of laughs but also provides funding to the Chamber, which “helps benefit all of our local businesses,” Coletti said. “So far we’ve raised over $10,000 and that’s not even including the silent auction we will be hosting,” Coletti said. “We have been in contact with an auction house and we have
I’m going to be proud to roast her.” Harmon and Houseman have been close friends ever since Houseman moved to Orange, over 20 years ago. Harmon explained she has to be careful what she says during the roast because turn about is fair play.
“I was so honored that [Gisela] asked me to this, I had all my preparations made as to what I was going to say and she cleverly comes back and says ‘remember, I have the last word.’ She holds the upper hand.” Houseman is well known throughout the community
not only for her and her late husband’s business, but also for her philanthropic work in Southeast Texas. Born in Hamburg, Germany Houseman became a U.S. resident in 1956. Before moving to Southeast Texas in GISELA HOUSEMAN PAGE 2A
H Brooklyn Hogden crowned Homecoming Queen H
GISELA HOUSEMAN
autographed pictures, signed Willie Nelson album and lots of stuff from our local businesses.” This year’s roasters include: Dr. Jimmy Simmons, president of Lamar University in Beaumont; Evelyn Lord, former
Court approves new hours for veterans service Penny Leleux
For The Record
Commissioners Monday gave F.E. “Gene” Smith, the new veterans’ service officer authorization to change work hours as needed to four 10 hour days a week. Smith wants to extend the hours the office is open to service veterans without requiring overtime. “The veterans’ service office is right now open 8-5,” said Smith. “We don’t feel like we’re providing service for all the vets. For the people who are working and paying the bills, we’d like to extend our hours from 7-5:30 with flexibility to, by appointment, work outside of that hour too, without involving overtime.” Once Smith assured the court that he or the assistant service officer would always be there and the office was still going to be open Monday
Inside The Record • SHERLOCK BREAUX Page..................... 4A • Obituaries Page......................7A •Dicky Colburn Fishing..................9B • Kaz’s Korner Joe Kazmar...........4B • CHURCH NEWS Page......................9A • CLASSIFIED ADS Page....................10B
through Friday, the court passed the measure unanimously. “I will say this,” said Orange County SMITH Judge Carl Thibodeaux. “After we made the changes [at the veterans service office] the concerns and issues with the veterans’ office has just totally dropped off the radar. Every now and then there may be one or two come in and basically the veterans’ office has been absolutely correct in their handling of the situation. I commend you and your office.” One of the main items on each week’s agenda has been the county burn ban. Monday commissioners removed the ban for a minimum of a week. “By no means was it a drought breaker,” said Jeff Kelley of the recent rain in Orange County. He did determine it was enough to lift the burn ban briefly. Some areas of Orange County got three inches of rain, while some only received half an inch. Kelley said the average rainfall in the county was a little over an inch. The burn ban signs will be picked up and will be replaced when the ban resumes. Doug Manning, the county attorney presented the court with the possibility of cutting and baling hay at the closed landfill site. Les Anderson, the county engineer had been approached with the idea by William Hamilton. “TCEQ (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality) says it would not violate any of their rules as long as it does not penetrate the cap,” said Manning. Anderson said the cap in some areas of the landfill is only two feet deep. There is up to another foot of wood chips on top of the cap from trees that fell during Hurricane Rita. “Normally, when anything COUNTY BUSINESS PAGE 2A
Brooklyn Hogden was crown Bridge City High School 2011 Homecoming Queen on Friday. Brooklyn was escorted by her father Cody Hogden. Also honored was Kaitlyn Ezell as Football Sweetheart, Eric Mummey Cheer and Band Beau. Karli Anderson is Strutter Sweetheart and Cody Banken was named Strutter Beau. Chelsea Phillips was named Band Sweethert. RECORD PHOTO: Mark Dunn
Dipping vats and wild horses Editor’s note: The following story was written by Wilson “King” Dunn, father of Pct. 2 Justice of the Peace Derry Dunn. Judge Dunn asked his father to start writing down his memories so future generations may know the rich history of this area. Wilson “King” Dunn was born (and raised) in Mauriceville in 1918. He graduated from Mauriceville High School in 1935. He was married for Eloide Linscomb Dunn for 72 years and he retired from the Postal Service after serving as Mauriceville Postmaster for 35 years. He was active in the Mauriceville Community for all of his adult life - Mauriceville School Board, Orange County Drainage District, Lions Club and Volunteer Firefighter. King is the father to six children and has numerous grandchildren and greatgrandchildren. Back in the early 1930s, the depression was still in ef-
fect and there was no money or jobs. A lot of families were turning to dairying to eke out a living because milk was in demand. The renewed interest in dairying also created a demand for high producing cows, so soon they started bringing them in truckloads. They were kept in a large corral near Beaumont so that the farmers could select and bid on the cows they liked. That’s when problems arose. Texas had ticks, lots of ticks, so many that they could almost cover a cows body. The local cows had grown up with ticks and even if the sapped their strength, they could tolerate it and survive. Not so with the newly arrived cows. These were fever ticks they were exposed to and they soon came down with tick fever, which was often fatal to high Wilson ‘King’ Dunn travels down memory road as he recalls his youth priced milkers. and the many days spent out at the dipping vat on his father’s land. RECORD PHOTO: Nicole Gibbs
DIPPING VATS PAGE 3A
Bayou Bowl Scholarship Banquet nears Staff Report
For The Record
The Bridge City Chamber of Commerce will hold the third annual Bayou Bowl Scholarship Banquet on Monday, Oct. 31 at 7 p.m., in the Orangefield Elementary Cafeteria. The guest speaker will be Mike Defee, longtime area football referee. Mike is currently calling games in the Big 12 Con-
ference. The banquet has two purposes in mind; to earn $1000 scholarships for a senior football player from both schools and to allow Orangefield and Bridge City to come together and celebrate the children that represent the two schools. The coaching staff of each school will submit three deserving players from their school to a committee of Chamber members. This
committee will select the 2011 recipients and they will be named at each school’s Spring Athletic Banquet. Last year’s recipients were Shane Stankus from Bridge City and Todd Shores from Orangefield. Tables that will seat six people are being reserved for $200, or tickets will be sold at the door for $12 each. Tickets may be purchased at Trophies by Lee or Bette’s Gift Shop. Reserved tables may be deco-
rated to honor a favorite player or student, or to represent local businesses. Raffle tickets for footballs that have been autographed by each football team will be sold at the next home game. The proceeds will be applied toward the scholarships. Please find the tables where the tickets will be sold and participate in this fundraiser. The footBAYOU BOWL PAGE 3A