A 14-year old boy Joshua Murray drowned Sunday afternoon while swimming in the lake at Boomtown in Rose City. The Orange County Sheriff’s Office responded to the call around 2:55 PM Sunday. Several juvenile boys were swimming in the lake when two of the boys noticed Murray was struggling in the water. They tried to reach him, but were unable to grab Murray before he went under the water and never resurfaced. Divers with the Beaumont Fire Department arrived on the scene and were able to locate the boy’s body. Justice of the Peace Derry Dunn has ordered an autopsy, and the body was transported … [Read more...] about 14 Year Old Drowns Sunday

  After six weeks without an assistant and now in the midst of hurricane season, Orange County Emergency Management Coordinator Ryan Peabody has a new Deputy Coordinator. Peabody this week hired Brian Shajari who comes to Orange County after 14 years with the Coast Guard where he served in Southeast Texas for several years and worked during seven hurricanes. Shajari’s duties with the Coast Guard included contingency planning, law enforcement, getting assets where they needed to be in a timely fashion, and making sure everybody in the region was taken care of when they needed help. Shajari … [Read more...] about County Hires Shajari

Robbie Rider of Gilbeaux's Towing shows his hooking skills Sunday after the owner of this truck lost control and put it in the canal off of FM 1130 near Dunn's Loop.  The driver was not injured. … [Read more...] about Truck Driver Ends Up In Canal

The Bessie Heights marsh area outside of Bridge City will be getting designs and plans for restoration of grasses thanks to a competitive grant coming from the money connected to the British Petroleum oil spill. The Nelda Stark Unit of the Lower Neches Wildlife Management Area is one of three wetland projects under Texas Parks and Wildlife Department that will share $960,000. The unit has 7,998 acres in Orange County. The other projects will be the J.D. Murphree Wildlife Management Area of 25,000 acres in Jefferson County and a wetland in Galveston County. The grants come through the Gulf … [Read more...] about Bessie Heights marsh gets BP restoration grant

At approximately 1:02 pm Saturday, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call from a boater on Sabine Lake of a possible drowning. The caller gave a location of 1.5 Miles Southeast of Stutes Island. Deputies with the Jefferson County Marine Division and Port Arthur Fire Department were immediately dispatched. Witnesses advised that they were in a group of fisherman participating in a Redfish Tournament when they noticed one of their boats were unoccupied. The boaters began searching the area and found the occupant floating face down about 100 yards from the boat. The boaters … [Read more...] about Sabine Lake Drowning

At approximately 1:00pm Saturday, there was a two vehicle crash on Highway 73 near Taylor's Bayou in Jefferson County. A 2009 Ford pickup truck was traveling eastbound in the outside lane on Highway 73.  It appears that the driver of the Ford pickup truck fell asleep at the wheel and rear-ended a 2010 Dodge pick up truck.  The impact of the collision caused both vehicles to drive off the roadway and rollover.  The driver of the Dodge pickup truck had to be extracted from the vehicle. The driver of the Ford, Reid Guidry, 28, of Port Neches, was wearing his seat belt and did not sustain any … [Read more...] about Orange Man Dies in Jeff Co. Accident