Property taxes are normally due on January 31st but because this year the last day to pay falls on the weekend, the law considers payments timely if paid in the office or postmarked on the next regular business day. The tax office will be accepting payments on Monday, February 2nd, without penalty and interest. Because the February 2 postmark is crucial to avoid penalty and interest, taxpayers need to be aware of the last pick-up time posted for the mail box or have a post office clerk personally stamp the mail. Payments can be made at the Orange Tax Office located at 123 S. 6th Street or the Vidor Tax Office at 155 Wilson. Drop boxes located outside the front entrances are available for “after hour” payments. Tax payers also have the option of paying online by going to www.co.orange.tx.us/taxoffice and clicking on “Tax Records and Tax Payments Online”. The credit card service provider charges a fee of 2.5% of the total tax being paid or $1.50 if paid by an E-Check. Taxpayers who qualify under the homestead exemption of sixty-five or older, disabled, or disabled veteran or their surviving spouses, are eligible to set up a tax payment plan of four equal payments. Please call the office for additional information. For inquires, contact the tax office at (409) 882-7971 or (409) 769-0064

Several months ago, Orangefield Water Supply Corporation (OWSC) sponsored a field survey for interest in expanding our Water and Sewer service in the Victory Gardens Subdivision. The positive interest indicated at that time, encouraged OWSC to do an Engineering study of the cost to serve the Victory Gardens Subdivision with Water and Sewer service. The present OWSC rates, for a minimum 3000 gal of water and sewer service, is $64.00 a month.  An application for a Sign Up Drive “Indication of Interest” agreement, which includes an application fee of $100.00, will be passed out to all residences if possible.   Application are available at OWSC office, 9913 FM 105 and the Gulf Credit Union on Hwy 87 or call 409-988-4166.  more

Orangefield High School Third Six-Weeks Honor Roll 2014-2015

Filing begins Wednesday to run for city councils and some of the school boards in Orange County. Incumbent council members in Bridge City and Orange have reached term limits in their cities and will not be able to run for re-election this year. In Orange, the single-member district No. 1 spot will be vacant because Theresa Adams Beauchamp has served her limit on terms. Orange is the only city in the county with single-member districts. To run for the position, a person must live within the district, which is generally the west side of Orange. Only people who live in the district may vote for the council member. The mayor's seat, currently held by Jimmy Sims, is also up for election this year. Every resident in the city may vote for the mayor. Bridge City council members Kevin Mott in Place 1 and Robert Simonton Jr. in Place 3 have served their term limits and will not be able to run. The other position open this year is for Place 5 now held by Richard Savoy. iling will end on Friday, February 27 and the election will be Saturday, May 9. Filing is conducted during regular business hours of the entity through the city secretary's office or the office of the school superintendent. Early voting will run April 27 through May 5.

Other positions open this year: Pinehurst City Council: At-large positions now held by Dan Barclay, Dan Mohon and Matt Chandler. Pinehurst does not have term limits.
West Orange City Council: Mayor Roy McDonald and at-large seats held by Mike Trahan and Charles "Chuck" Winter. West Orange does not have term limits.
West Orange-Cove CISD: At-large positions three-year terms are now held by Pete Amy and Eric Mitchell. Nathaniel Colbert was appointed by the school board in July to serve the unexpired term of Mary Kirksey. That unexpired term will also be up for election.
Little Cypress-Mauriceville CISD: Position 2 held by David Jones, Position 4 held by Tammy Rountree and Position 5 held b Don Anderson.
Bridge City ISD: Place 1 held by Lon Hubbard and Place 2 held by Kirk Ellender.
Orangefield and Deweyville school districts have board of trustee elections in November.

Marriage Licenses Issued By The Office of Brandy Robertson, Orange County Clerk For the Week of January 19, 2015 through January 23, 2015. Jesse L. Gardner and Measie M. Thibodeaux, Jeffrey R. Grant and Sarah E. Miller, Joseph P. Mason and Marilyn J. Morvent, Michael R. Ferrell and Bryanna E. McFarland, Joseph M. Powell and Fanci L. Thompson, Van J. Smith and Debra K. Wilburn, Carl D. Graham and Bonnie M. Meehan.

Casey is a long haired dachshund that went missing in West Orange near Western & Westbury. Please help get her home!!! (409) 330-3499 or (409) 330-0331.

West Orange businesswoman Glenda Kinder has passed away at the age of 63. She owned and operated Glenda's Bake-a-Cake for nearly 39 years. Through the years she baked and decorated cakes, cupcakes and cookies for all kinds of occasions from birthdays to weddings, anniversaries and baby showers. She was a self-taught baker and her first shop was a little building next to her house on Austin Street. In 1990, she opened a bakery at 3300 Western Avenue in a professional building behind her residence. The shop has remained at the same address ever since. No arrangements have been announced at this time.

Marriage Licenses Issued By The Office of Brandy Robertson, Orange County Clerk For the Week of January 19, 2015 through January 23, 2015. Jesse L. Gardner and Measie M. Thibodeaux, Jeffrey R. Grant and Sarah E. Miller, Joseph P. Mason and Marilyn J. Morvent, Michael R. Ferrell and Bryanna E. McFarland, Joseph M. Powell and Fanci L. Thompson, Van J. Smith and Debra K. Wilburn, Carl D. Graham and Bonnie M. Meehan.

The West Orange-Cove school board will begin reviewing applications for superintendent on Monday. The meeting will start at 6 p.m. at the Education Service Center, 902 W. Park. The board will go into a closed-door executive session to discuss the applicants. The deadline for applying for the job was January 16. The board's timeline includes naming a lone finalist for the job in early March with the new superintendent to begin at the first of April. Monday's agenda includes a discussion, and possible action, for the contract of interim superintendent Dr. Silvia Martinez. The discussion is allowed in a closed-door session but any action must be made in public.

The January 26th meeting of the West Orange City Council has been cancelled. Their next meeting has been scheduled for Monday, February 9, 2015 beginning at 5:30 p.m. The agenda for this meeting will be posted on Friday prior to the meeting.

Orange firefighters kept an apartment fire contained early Thursday morning to keep the damage minimal. The apartment was vacant and no one had to be evacuated. The fire was reported at 2:20 a.m. at the Autumn Oaks Apartments, 3333 Ridgemont Drive. Deputy Fire Chief Lee Ann Brown said the apartment had previously had a fire and was being remodeled. The Thursday morning fire started in a small hallway closet and firefighters kept most of the damage to the area. Brown said the drywall in the apartment had slight smoke damage.

This weekend, 24 Little Cypress Junior High Choir members attended the Texas Music Educators Association annual Solo and Ensemble contest at Vidor Junior High School. Students prepare and memorize a solo to sing for a single judge who gives them a written comment sheet and a rating. Superior ratings (1st division) also receive a medal that is color coded according to the difficulty of the piece. LCJH had 21 students earn Superior, 1st division ratings and three students received Excellent ratings. For four of the 21, this is the second year to achieve a Superior. Those receiving Superiors include Rachel Belcher, Aidan Croaker, McKenzie Guillory, Haley Votava, Brianna Frenzel, Molly Gericke, Ashten Higginbotham, Reyanna Muse, Maggie Pigg, Julian Purgahn, and Grace Walters – all eighth graders. Superior ratings were also awarded to seventh graders Melanie Cupp, Gianna Gardner, Patti Ibarra, Declan Kendall, Lauren LaCour, AuBree LeJeune, Kayla Lingo, Sydney Peet, Hunter Perkins, and Shelby Smith. The three students who received Excellent ratings for their performance are seventh graders McKenzi Hillin and Zachary Sims and eighth grader Connor Reno. Stephanie Teague is choral director and Michelle Belcher is the accompanist.

The Commissioners Court met Tuesday without County Judge Brint Carlton who was handling Air Force Reserve duties.  The judge’s absence resulted in a true split vote as the commissioners were divided on allowing the Assistant County Auditor to attend training in Lubbock.  County Auditor Mary Johnson requested the unbudgeted training for her assistant so she could be trained in software which only Johnson is adept at using and also for the assistant to learn how to be a report writer.  Commissioners David Dubose and Barry Burton voted to allow the travel costs which amounted to about $700.  Commissioners John Banken and Jody Crump were against it.  Assistant County Attorney Doug Manning was asked what the result is if a vote is split.  Manning replied, “If it’s a tie vote, it does not pass.”  The commissioners did approve travel for County Judge Carlton and for Risk Management Coordinator Missy Pillsbury to attend training conferences which were both budgeted items.  Commissioners approved the Sheriff’s Office to purchase a new EKG Machine and a rapid response Urinalysis Analyzer, both valued at over $500.  Sheriff Keith Merritt did request that the purchase of three heavy duty chairs be removed from his list of capital outlay purchases.  Merritt will request the purchase of three less expensive chairs which are under $500 each the capital outlay minimum at next week’s Commissioners Court meeting.
Reading tax statements are seldom fun.  Not getting a tax statement for over a decade and then getting one can really be a pain.  Vidor businessman Gary Biehslich has been charged over $800 in penalties, interest, and attorney’s fees associated with property that he did not get a tax statement from 1998 to 2013.  Biehslich says he does not mind paying the tax on the property and is only asking the Commissioners Court to waive the penalty and interest he is being charged since the Appraisal District has admitted it was their fault he did not get a statement.  Attorney Steve Bird with the Orange County Taxing Jurisdictions says the tax laws read the tax payer is responsible for keeping up with their property and the maximum time that could be waived is up to 181 days.  Commissioner John Banken requested the court table the decision at least until next week.  Banken admitted he was confused by the situation, was not comfortable making a decision until hearing more from the county’s attorney, and for fairness to the citizen asked for further study on the matter.  The commissioners unanimously approved tabling the item until their next meeting.

Orange Fire Chief David Frenzel said the two employees at the city's animal shelter have been disciplined for not following the city's policy regarding keeping stray animals for at least 72 hours. On December 23, the city picked up a mother dog and 11 puppies after a property owner had complained about them being under a building, he said. The employees at the animal shelter made a joint decision to euthanize the mother and litter about two hours after they were picked up. The owners came looking for the dogs about four hours after they were picked up. Frenzel, who supervises the animal shelter, said he has been over the animal shelter for 20 years and this is the first time something like this has happened. He said the two animal shelter workers are compassionate for animals and they made a joint decision for the mother and pups. The two employees still have their jobs but were disciplined with a record of the incident in their personnel records.

Bridge City High School Honor Roll for third six weeks

Alex Borel, a member of the LCM Battlin’ Bear Band will perform with the Texas All-State Band in San Antonio, Saturday, February 14, 2015 at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center as part of the 2015 Texas Music Educators Association Clinic/Convention. He was chosen for this prestigious honor through a competitive process held this year across the state at District, Region, and Area levels. Alex is a student of Michael Prejean and plays at school under the direction of Steve Schoppert who is a member of the Texas Music Educators Association, an 11,000+ member organization headquartered in Austin. This is Alex’s first time to perform as a member of a TMEA All-State organization. Alex is the son of Ron and Kelley Borel. High school students selected to perform in the All-State concerts have competed through several levels of auditions beginning in the fall of 2014 to qualify at the state level. All-State is the highest honor a Texas music student can receive. Over 1,600 students are selected through a process that begins with over 60,000 students from around the state vying for this honor to perform in one of 15 ensembles (bands, orchestras, and choirs).

The Bridge City Chamber of Commerce has named Julie Agee, Registrar/PEIMS Secretary at Orangefield High School, as the Employee of the Month for January 2015. Julie is married to Jerry Agee and they have 3 daughters and 1 son-in-law; Savannah, Jeri, Shelby Storment and USMC Sgt. Daniel Storment. She is a graduate of St. Mary Catholic School and West Orange – Stark High School with a Bachelor of Science in Corporate Communication from Lamar University. As a member of St. Helen Catholic Church, Julie serves as a facilitator for 11th/ 12th grade religious education. Julie said, “I enjoy service opportunities and supporting our local businesses and communities. As far as my job, I never planned to work in the field of education. However, I’m not surprised this is where my path led. My values were most influenced, not only by my parents, but by strong and passionate teachers throughout my educational career. My hope is to carry on their legacy of helping others achieve success through hard work and integrity.”

The Bridge City Chamber of Commerce announced the Students of the Month for January at their Monthly Networking Coffee on January 13th at Orangefield Cormier Museum hosted by Orangefield ISD. Bree Newsom was chosen as the Bridge City High School Student of the Month and Kristen Blanke was chosen as the Orangefield High School Student of the Month. Newsom is the daughter of Daniel and Renee Newsom. Bree is ranked 11 of 187 with a GPA of 4.37. Bree’s awards and honors include Presidential Honor Roll; Honors Chemistry, Physics and Algebra II; AP English III and IV and United States History; Rotary Youth Leadership Award; and All Region Choir Member. When asked about her future plans, Bree said “I plan to attend Texas A&M University in the fall of 2015 to pursue and education as a communications major. With this degree, I hope to one day become a human resource manager for a company of some kind so I can put my various problem solving skill sets to good use.” Blanke, is the daughter of John and Marla Blanke. She is ranked number 1 out of 136 with a 4.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale. Kristen’s clubs and organizations include: President of the National Honor Society; Vice President of the Texas Association of Future Educators; Class president; and Participates in Volleyball and Track. After graduation, Kristen will attend Texas A&M University and study business.

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