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DOWN LIFE’S HIGHWAY

ORANGE COUNTY

Roy Dunn- Columnist Page 7 Section A

Capt. Dickie Colburn Page 2 Section B

FISHING

SPORTS

Commentary Kaz’s Korner Joe Kazmar Page 2 Section B

RELIGION & LOCAL CHURCH GUIDE Page 6B

County Record TheRecordLive.com

Vol. 58 No. 128

Week of Wednesday, October 24, 2018

The Community Newspaper of Orange, Texas

Orange County OKs Sheriff buying SWAT robot thing,” Sheriff Keith Merritt said. “It’s out there. You’ve got to pay for it.” Merritt did not have a photo of the robot available Tuesday but an Internet search for Transcend Tactical’s Vantage F3 Robot

showed a machine much smaller than the six-foot tall space robot of black and white TV days. It looked like an oversize Roomba but this one can climb stairs. It also carries a camera and good-sized car-

goes. It is operated remotely by an operator, like a drone. “We’re pretty excited about this piece of equipment, to utilize in SWAT operations,” the sheriff said. “There’s actually other operations than SWAT that you

could utilize it if you just didn’t want to send a person into some area to check things out. “But mainly it’s for SWAT operations, to protect someCOUNTY BUSINESS Page 3A

Orangefield crowns 2018 Homecoming Queen

Steve Bird of the Linebarger Law Firm updates the Orange County Commissioners’ Court Tuesday about delinquent tax collection activities. RECORD PHOTO: Dave Rogers

Dave Rogers

For The Record

Danger, Will Robinson. More than 50 years after “Lost In Space” introduced robots to many earthlings, Orange County is going into the robot business. On a day that saw the county government agree to terms on a short-term $8 million loan, and get good

news on delinquent tax accounts, county commissioners voted 5-0 at Tuesday’s weekly meeting to OK a purchase of a $19,000 tactical robot for use by the Sheriff’s Office SWAT team. The money to pay for it is not coming out of county coffers, but rather from the Sheriff’s Office Drug Forfeiture Fund. “Technology’s a wonderful

Cities try to put brakes on illegal dumping David Ball

For The Record

Dumped tires are not only an eyesore, but they’re also a health hazard that serve as breeding grounds for mosquitoes. The cities of Pinehurst and Orange, likewise, are trying to get a handle on people illegally dumping tires in their city limits. Harry Vine, code enforcement officer for Pinehurst, said tire dumping was a problem earlier this month until numbers started to lower. “A tire shop in town, Lone Star Tire, graciously picked up the tires and disposed of them properly and solved the problem,” Vine said. “Hope-

fully whoever is dumping we’ll catch them in the act and write the citation.” Though the code enforcement department isn’t exactly sure where the tires are coming from, Vine has his suspicions that either a used tire shop was getting rid of them or a shop going out of business was dumping them. “We have a pretty good idea which vehicle is doing the dumping,” he said. “With all the rain we’ve been having they collect water and mosquitoes breed in them. Tires are cut into quarters to properly dispose of them. Some shops have a hydraulic machine that chops them

Jeff Lummus stands at midfield as his daughter, Emmi Lummus, a senior at Orangefield High School is crowned 2018 Homecoming Queen on Friday. Lummus had the honor of escorting his daughter on and off the field during homecoming festivities at F.L. McClain Stadium. Miss Lummus is being crowned by Orangefield High School principal Zach Quinn. RECORD PHOTO: Darren Hoyland

ILLEGAL DUMPING Page 3A

Early voters flock to polling booths across Orange County Dave Rogers

For The Record

How badly do Orange Countians want to vote in next month’s General Election for federal, state and county legislators and officials? Well, more than 2,200 mail-in ballots had arrived at the County Elections office by last Friday, compared to 850 for the last mid-term election, in 2014. A total of 2,400 people voted in person Monday, the first day of early voting, at one of the county’s four early voting locations. The number or registered voters in Orange County, Elections Administrator Tina Barrow said, was 53,381 for this election. In 2014, be-

Candidates’ signs line the walkway to the Orange Public Library, host to early voting for the Nov. 6 general election. RECORD PHOTO: Dave Rogers

fore Tropical Storm Harvey dislocated some Orange County residents for the third or fourth time, Orange County had 50,553 registered voters. “We’ve had a ton of people come and register,” she said. “And we’ve had a lot of people find out recently about the mail-in ballots, plus we’ve had a lot of people turn 65.” Orange and Vidor led the way in Monday’s voting with 773 voters marking their ballots at the Orange Public Library and 748 marking theirs at the Raymond Gould Community Center in Vidor. Bridge City (572) and Mauriceville (302) were the other sites. Tuesday, the early voting sites were open late, as they

will be next Tuesday, Oct. 30. Tuesday voting totals weren’t available at press time. Only 9,000 people voted in Orange County’s March Republican and Democratic primary elections. But 17,431 voted here in November 2014 when Republican Senator John Cornyn, Republican Congressman Brian Babin and Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott all received 77 percent of the vote in Orange County. If you’re scoring, Republican Senator Ted Cruz, who is up for re-election this year, received 73 percent of the Orange County vote when he first ran in 2012. Locally, a total of seven county-wide races feature EARLY VOTERS Page 3A

SOUTHEAST TEXAS REGIONAL ALERTING & INFORMATION NETWORK

VISIT US AT:

www.setexasrain.org CMYK


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