Lamar State College - Orange has partnered with DuPont De Nemours and Co. Inc. to provide custom training for over 500 new and incumbent employees at the Sabine River Works location in Orange. The Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) awarded a $728,937 grant from the Skills Development Fund to assist in the training. The technical training will allow DuPont’s junior workforce to learn the trades and best practices of the senior retiring workforce. Included in the training are first line production supervisors, general operators and fire brigade firefighters. Workers will earn an average hourly wage of $35.37 once training has been completed. TWC Commissioner Representing Employers, Hope Andrade, visited the campus of LSC-O to offer words of praise and encouragement to all involved who worked diligently to bring the partnership to fruition. The commissioner also acknowledged the need for this type of training to better equip employees for successful employment as well as a promising future in the community.

Commissioners’ Court approved Monday renewing a contract between the Orange County Jail and Lamar State College Orange to allow the Nursing Department to conduct educational studies at the jail’s infirmary. Commissioner Jody Crump asked Sheriff Keith Merritt if the Sheriff’s Office employs any of the students in the jail. Sheriff Merritt said no that his office does not employ any Lamar students in the jail’s infirmary. The approved contract is a general contract used by Lamar’s Nursing Department for similar studies with hospitals and doctors’ offices where some of the students are employed. Event Coordinator Sabrina Gray spoke to commissioners and is optimistic she will be scheduling events every weekend in 2015 at the Expo Center. This weekend will be the first of three gun shows in the exhibit hall this year. The court held its weekly meeting in the morning Monday so Commissioner John Banken could travel to attend mandatory training at the University of Texas in Austin. Banken said the training is a construction management course that will help him learn how to better manage large construction projects.

As of 4pm Monday, there is still a boil water notice for parts of Mauriceville - Due to a main break Saturday on FM 1130 just past Zavalla Road the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has required a boil water notice for customers between Zavalla Road to Stallion Road in the Mauriceville Municipal Utility District. Water should be boiled vigorously and then boiled for two minutes. Bottled water is another option. The Mauriceville Municipal Utility District will notify customers when the boil notice is removed.

The West Orange City Council will host a Town Hall meeting on Thursday, July 31 from 5-6pm inside the WO Community Center to discuss existing and future ordinances pertaining to residential rental property within the city. This meeting is for informational purposes only; no action will be taken. The public is invited to attend.

Orange police Sunday evening arrested a 28-year-old man for aggravated sexual assault of a child. Detective Captain Cliff Hargrave said the man told officers he had met the 12-year-old girl online and that she told him she was 18. Captain Hargrave said the girl had been reported as a runaway to the Orange County Sheriff's Office. A sheriff's deputy called Orange police about 6:30 p.m. Sunday from a house in the 1200 block of DuPont Drive. 28-year-old Dustin Michael Voegele was arrested for aggravated sexual assault and taken to the Orange County Jail.

Burglars escaped from Orange police during a break-in early Friday morning at Seven-O-Industrial at 87 W. Main Street. Security guards at nearby Signal International shipyard called police at 4:42 a.m. because they heard noises in the building. Officer T.P. Pruitt said police arrived with their lights out and walked around the building. A guard yelled “He’s running” and Pruitt saw a white pickup truck with a man in the back bed go through a closed gate and drive west on Main. Pruitt followed but lost sight of the truck. Four, 200-foot welding leads had been stolen. The burglars got inside by cutting a lock on a gate. Inside the gate, a lock on the back of a van had been cut, but police arrived before anything was stolen. Pruitt said the truck appeared to be a four-door Ford F-250 with a Louisiana license plate.

Bridge City ISD would like to invite all Parents and Community members to a Community Meeting on Thursday July 31st at Bridge City High School Cafeteria at 6:00 pm. This Community Meeting will be for the discussion of a potential Bond Election for the construction of an Academic, Fine Arts and Athletic Facility as well as renovations to existing facilities. This is an important meeting as we work together to promote the continued success of our students at Bridge City ISD.

A woman who says her boyfriend kidnapped her jumped out of a car at Allie Payne Road and Meeks Drive and sought help at the fire station. Orange police were called to the station, 1901 Allie Payne Road, about 4 p.m. Friday. Detective Captain Cliff Hargrave said the woman told officers her boyfriend forced her into a car and drove her to a wooded area. The man beat her and threatened to kill her. As he was driving with her, she escaped when he stopped at the intersection. Captain Hargrave said Monday afternoon that the suspect has not been found.

A helpful man turned out to be a thief. A woman called Orange police at 9:45 p.m. Friday from a restaurant in the 1700 block of 16th Street. She had parked in the back of the restaurant and the lot was crowded. A man helped guide her in backing up her car. When she rolled down her window to thank him, he reached inside, grabbed her purse and then ran off. She had an iPhone inside the purse. She described the man as black, about 5-feet, 6-inches tall and age 20 to 30 years. He was wearing a gray shirt, black shorts and a light-colored ball cap.

The Orange Fire Department extinguished a fire in a house on Green Avenue Monday morning a block from Simmons Drive. Battalion Chief Joe Mires says the call was received at Station 1 of the Fire Department at 6:20. Smoke could be seen by the fire fighters in Ladder Truck 1 as they turned onto Green Avenue from 8th Street. Mires states the fire was concentrated in the attic portion of the structure, and the cause is still being tracked down at this time. No one was in the structure at the time the fire fighters arrived. The structure previously served as the office of former County Judge Grover Halliburton. Mires believes the last owner was an insurance company, but the structure may have been vacant recently.

Bridge City ISD was one of eight schools in the country to receive $1000 in the Champions for Kids contest. CFK joined forces with Kellogg Company and Diamond Foods to collect breakfast food items for school-aged children during an April SIMPLE Giving promotional period. The program launched in participating Walmart stores during April, with a goal of supporting as many children in need as possible. Customers participated by purchasing and donating breakfast food items at local, participating WM stores. All donations will go to children in local schools near each participating store. In addition to the food donations, Champions for Kids is donating four $10,000 awards to the school districts in each Walmart division that collected the most donated items at a single store. Plus, eight $1,000 regional awards are being given to the top collecting school districts of each region. This money can go to providing additional breakfast food items and hunger education in the school district.

Behind the steps of choreographer John Gray, the City of Orange hosted its first National Day of Dance celebration on Saturday at the downtown pavilion.

Marriage Licenses Issued By The Office of Karen Jo Vance, Orange County Clerk For the Week of July 21, 2014 through July 25, 2014. Donald W. Mosby and Jill M. Williams, Christopher L. Smith and Lacey N. Keown, Kendrick R. Castilaw and Tana M. Kirbow, Tracy L. Caswell Sr. and Sylvia S. Bland, Jerry A. Steele and Cristina G. Lavapie, Jonathan H. Mitchell and Evelyn F. Yancey, Damian R. Trussell and Alicia L. Broussard, Richard D. Mikulich and Carrie J. King.

The Orange Fire Dept. put out a truck fire on 16th St. Saturday afternoon.

Taylor Swarers, 18, of Orange, was one of five Regional Winners of the Lovin’ Scoopful Awards for her dedication to serving students with disabilities. Taylor was nominated for her many years of involvement with Project Unify Meet in the Middle Club, an initiative encouraging typically developing and special needs students to develop greater understanding of and appreciation for each other. Taylor has attended conferences with Special Olympics and has recently been asked to briefly speak at the Meet in the Middle Conference in Austin this August. Taylor became certified as an aquatics coach, participated in Unified Track meets and Unified Bocce Tournaments, and been a fan in the stands for our Special Olympics athletes throughout her high school years. She has donated her time and energy to promote inclusion and respect for those without a voice. Taylor plans to continue her dedication to students with disabilities by bringing Meet in the Middle events to a college level as she works towards a degree in speech pathology. She will begin her college career at Lamar State College Orange this Fall.