The year 2018 featured carry-overs from the previous year plus some changes and new faces.
Orange County continued to rebuild after Harvey flooded thousands of buildings on August 30, 2017. People attended meetings about government programs to buyout properties or lift houses. The programs will continue.
And in some aspects, it was like the rain continued. Rain and gray skies stayed for long periods. Sometimes the rain would be misty, other times it would pour, but not like the 60 inches that fell in two days during Harvey.
Flooding in the Sabine River from rain led to the Bassmasters Sabine River Elite Tournament being moved from April to June. Orange’s Art in the Park also moved to coordinate with the tournament. A thunderstorm still came during the tournament and festival, but not enough to cancel entertainer John Michael Montgomery in the evening.
Rain also led to the Orange Kiwanis Club Christmas Parade and the Bridge City Christmas parade being moved to different dates in December. Orangefield’s parade and Christmas festival was canceled because of the rain.
More rain was in the forecast for December 31, meaning 2018 will be one of the wettest years on record. Rain is also forecast for the first couple of days of the new year.
Probably the most exciting news for the greater Orange area, especially if you go by social media, was the news in November that Chick-fil-A will be building a store on 16th Street at Interstate 10. The fast food chain coming to Orange has been a rumor for several years so the official announcement dominated water cooler talk for several days.
The city of Pinehurst has been battling rumors that the new HEB store planned for MacArthur Drive, is not coming. HEB put the project on hold after Harvey. A year and a half later and nothing has been started but Pinehurst city officials say they have been in contact with HEB and the store is still planned.
Faces in high places changed across the county during the year.
Voters, led by county retirees and county employees, “retired” all three of the incumbents on Commissioners Court. Precinct 2 Commissioner Barry Burton, Precinct 4 Commissioner Jody Crump, and Orange County Judge Brint Carlton lost their races in the Republican primary.
Carlton, who is a lawyer and a major in the Air Force Reserve, promptly found a job as executive director of the Texas Medical Board and resigned. Dean Crooks, who beat Carlton in the primary race, promptly took office as county judge. Burton and Crump held their seats until January 1, when Theresa Adams Beauchamp and Robert Viator are set to replace them.
Orange City Councilor Larry Spears Jr. became mayor with no opposition after incumbent Jimmy Sims decided not to run again. Spears immediately brought a new spirit and enthusiasm to the council and led a campaign to clean up Sixteenth Street. He also had an idea to fill in the pool at the Orange Natatorium and rebuild it for a recreation center. The council agreed to used bond money to make the transition.
Dr. Shawn Oubre, who had served as Orange city manager for 13 years, turned in his resignation after being hired as city manager in Woodway, Texas. The council appointed City Planning Director Kelvin Knauf as interim director and hired a consulting firm to search for a new manager. Knauf said he will not seek the job permanently.
The Little Cypress-Mauriceville CISD is also starting the new year with a new face. Dr. Pauline Hargrove, who served as superintendent for more than 18 years, announced her retirement. The school board hired longtime administrator Stacey Brister as new superintendent. Brister officially takes over in the job in the Spring 2019 semester.
260th State District Judge Buddie Hahn, who had held the position for more than 30 years, retired. Lawyer Steven Parkhurst ran unopposed for the seat. Parkhurst took the oath of office as the new judge in December.
Precinct 2 Constable David Cagle died suddenly in September. Tributes to the longtime law officer came from across the state. Commissioners Court appointed Mark Jones to the vacant position.
At Lamar State College-Orange in downtown, Dr. Michael Shahan retired after almost 25 years in the position. The Texas State University board selected Dr. Thomas Johnson, a native of Port Arthur, to fill the position. A new events center on the LSCO campus was named after Shahan and his wife, Bridget.
And speaking of new buildings, voters in the West Orange-Cove CISD approved $25.75 million in bonds for a variety of improvements including a new gym-events center at the high school. The high school football stadium will also get artificial turf.
The Boardwalk Grille opened in downtown Orange in the old Southern Printers Building across the street from the city’s riverwalk. The City Council approved an Economic Development Corporation grant of up to $200,000 for infrastructure to build a new restaurant along the Sabine River on the riverwalk. Construction had not started by the new year.
DuPont Sabine River Works, a local institution since 1946, is still there, but has a new name. A merger with Dow Chemical has the company named DowDuPont.
The Orangefield school board approved adding school marshals to security plans. Marshals are school employees who undergo law enforcement training and certification to handle firearms. The armed marshals began the new school year, but their identity is not public. They will be armed on campuses if needed.
U.S. Senator John Cornyn announced the final approval allocating $1.93 billion to build about 26 miles of levees and seawalls across Orange County as part of the “coastal spine” storm protection project. Port Arthur and Freeport are the other places getting the first part of the protection system that is supposed to eventually protect the Gulf Coast of Texas.
Former Congressman Steve Stockman, who represented the 36th District and Orange County from 2013-15 spent most of his year in jail. A Houston federal jury in April found him guilty of 23 counts of fraud, mainly involving a $1.25 million contribution from a conservative foundation. The judge ruled him a flight risk and ordered him to be kept in custody until the sentencing. In November, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Small town news came in September when the Carnival AirShip blimp (128 feet long, compared to the Goodyear blimp at 200 feet long), landed at the Orange County Airport. The promotional blimp was on a tour and traveling along Interstate 10 when weather caused the crew to land at the airport along Highway 87 South. The rare blimp sighting turned into one of our most shared stories of the year on social media.
A helicopter on the other side of Texas made national news and deeply affected Orange County. Bailee Ackerman Byler, an Orangefield High graduate and student at Sam Houston State University, died in the crash with her new husband and the pilot.
She and Will Byler were married November 4 at his family’s ranch in Uvalde County. After the wedding and reception, the two left in the Byler family helicopter for their honeymoon. The helicopter crashed into a mountain a few minutes later, killing the newlyweds and the pilot.
Armed robberies slowed some during the year, perhaps because a clerk shot and killed a would-be robber in June. The armed robber was at the Crawdad’s convenience store off Interstate 10 at Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. The clerk had a gun and struggled with the robber. The 55-year-old robber was found dead outside the store with gunshot wounds.
A burglar at Northway Shopping Center was never caught, but he added a bit of laughter to police detectives. Surveillance videos caught an image of the thief wearing a dinosaur head looking like a T-Rex stealing phone cases.
KOGT wishes everyone a better year in 2019.
-Margaret Toal, KOGT-
The post 2018: A Look Back appeared first on KOGT.
