A homeowner who saw a man stealing his lawnmower early Monday morning grabbed his pants, his cellphone and his handgun to stop the crook. Orange police arrested a 27-year-old with two previous theft convictions about a block away from the house. Officer M.T. Roush reported the homeowner, who lives on Inwood Circle A off 16th Street went to the bathroom about 2:43 a.m. He could see a figure of a man outside the window taking a lawnmower from the backyard carport. The homeowner put on his pants, called 911, got his handgun and followed the thief, who tied the lawnmower on the back of … [Read more...] about Man Stops Thief

The Orange County Road and Bridge Department is making sand and bags available at three of its maintenance barns for citizens who want to fill their own sandbags.  Citizens do need to bring their own shovels to the Precinct 1 barn on Highway 87 North, the Precinct 3 barn on West Roundbunch Road, and the Precinct 4 barn on Claiborne Street.  Commissioner Barry Burton said there will be sand and bags available by Wednesday afternoon at his office located on Highway 62 in Mauriceville across from the Market Basket.  Citizens need to use their shovels to fill the sand in the bags. Larry … [Read more...] about Residents Taking Precaution

  The Commissioners Court approved Tuesday Janelle Dischler, the director of the Transportation Department, to proceed with the purchase of a new Ford Transit 350 bus for her department.  The bus will replace another bus that was totaled in a wreck back in December.  The county will pay only $11,450 of the total cost of $42,250 with the South East Texas Regional Planning Commission providing the remainder.  Ownership of the bus will be with the Regional Planning Commission, but Orange County will get fulltime use of the bus while paying the insurance and providing the maintenance for … [Read more...] about Co. Commissioners Meet Tuesday

As of 10 am, Tropical Storm Cindy has weakened slightly, down to sustained winds of 50 mph. Landfall projections still show a Texas-Louisiana state line location, sometime after midnight tonight, as a weak tropical storm.   We are still expecting 3 to 5 inches of rain, with the possibility of 10 inches if a slow moving rain band moves across your area. For people along and south of the I-10 corridor, this rain could easily cause flooding of streets due to the poor drainage conditions with the tides running so high.   For the tides, the danger is increasing for communities near the … [Read more...] about Cindy Weakens Slightly

Satellite imagery, aircraft data, and surface observations indicate that the low pressure system in the central Gulf of Mexico has acquired a well-defined center, and is now Tropical Storm Cindy, the third tropical storm of 2017. At 1 PM, the center of Tropical Storm Cindy was centered near latitude 25.9 North, longitude 90.5 West. Cindy has been stationary for the past few hours, but the system is expected to resume a motion toward the northwest at around 10 mph later today, and this motion is expected to continue through Wednesday night. A turn toward the north-northwest is forecast early … [Read more...] about Cindy, Third Tropical Storm of 2017