JB Arrington, 97, was honored by Orange County Commissioners Court for serving up barbecue for 50 years. J. B.’s BBQ is located at 5750 Old Highway 90 in Orange.
Arrington, known for having a great sense of humor as well as mouthwatering barbecue, established himself as the BBQ King of Orange County according to a proclamation read during Tuesdays Commissioners Court meeting.
“Friendships have grown and business deals sealed over a plate of smoked meats in his local restaurant,” Orange County Judge John Gothia read from the proclamation.
Arrington has served the community in other ways as well. He was a shipyard welder, Commissioner on the Drainage District, help build Riverside, served in the Navy during WWII.
A sign at J. B.’s BBQ shows the establishment is currently closed for renovations and is expected to reopen on June 21.
In other court business, funds were moved from one Emergency Management Department
Account to another to cover the cost of fuel for the remainder of the fiscal year. The county, as well as residents are feeling the impact of the rising fuel prices.
“We will see a lot of that moving forward,” Gothia said. “We did not budget for the fuel prices we are seeing today.”
Emergency Management Coordinator Joel Ardoin updated the court on the latest COVID numbers.
“There are 48 new cases,” Ardoin said. “Of those, 42 are confirmed and six are probable.”
Ardoin said confirmed cases are lab tested confirmations. Probable cases are ones reported through home testing or not tested for confirmation.
“There are several strands now,” Ardoin said.
There are zero hospitalizations due to COVID at this time.
Also discussed during the meeting was making Amendment 2 to the Master Service Agreement between Global Tel*Link Corporation dba ViaPath Technologies and Orange County for providing additional products and services at no cost to the county. The changes would allow tablet services to inmates which would make it easier for them to stay in contact with a family, have access to the law library and also study for a GED.
According to the United States Department of Justice, is not necessarily having a law library, but rather providing reasonable access to legal materials and the courts.
The cost for phone calls would still have to be paid for by the inmates through their accounts.
“This is not providing internet services to them,” Chief Deputy Mark Dubois said. “They would have access to games and such within the tablet.”
This would also help decrease the cost of paper as any requests for the nurse or to file a complaint would be done through the tablets. The inmate would have a 15 minute time allotment with the tablet before it would have to be returned to the banking station for the next inmate to use. It would also serve as a way for the inmate to receive mail as letters from family and friends would be scanned in by the company and sent to the inmates electronically. All activity would also be monitored by staff.
-Dawn Burleigh, KOGT-
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