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THE COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER OF BRIDGE CITY & ORANGEFIELD

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The       Record TheRecordLive.com

Vol. 58 No. 127

Distributed FREE To The Citizens of Bridge City and Orangefield

Week of Wednesday, October 17, 2018

New BC city secretary sworn in at council meeting city took over the water district in 1986. She rose through the ranks as a customer service supervisor, then the warrants clerk, and planning and development coordinator where she issued permits and supervised code enforcement. She added that

working in planning and development was a big help for the city secretary position because she learned about the ordinances and where to find them. Tisdale, furthermore, is no newcomer to Bridge City. Her parents had deep roots in Bridge City and in Or-

angefield and they also were involved in public service. Her mother was also the city secretary and her father served on the Bridge City ISD Board of Trustees. Her mother was also the secretary for the Bridge City Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber didn’t have a build-

ing yet and her mother placed a typewriter on the dining room table for Chamber work. Additionally, the Chamber’s phone number was their home number. McDowell said she has 27 years of experience with the BRIDGE CITY Page 3A

Orangefield Court all set for Homecoming

Mayor David Rutledge presents a proclamation declaring June 9, 2018 as Alexus Henry Day in the city, to her brother, John Smart on Tuesday night. Alexus was communicating via cell phone at the meeting. Henry is a Bridge City native and an outstanding student-athlete currently enrolled at the University of Texas-Arlington. RECORD PHOTO: David Ball

David Ball

For The Record

Jeanie McDowell took the reins as the new Bridge City city secretary Tuesday night. McDowell took the oath of office from Sherry Tisdale, who is retiring, at the regular meeting of the Bridge City City Council. Tisdale was

named city secretary in 2003. She has a two-year degree from Lamar University in office administration. She started working for the city part-time in 1984. Prior to that she worked at Texaco Refinery in Port Arthur. In 1987, she started working more than 40 hours a week in utilities billing after the

Coach Litton’s RX: love, humor, band-aids Dave Rogers

For The Record

Charlie Miller taught biology for nearly two decades across the hall from Moe Litton’s biology classroom at Bridge City High School. “He not only was intelligent, but he was one of the funniest people I’ve ever known,” Miller said of Litton. “He taught with humor. But he always was extremely firm. The kids knew when it was time to go to work.” Herman N. “Moe” Litton, 91, died over the weekend, on Sunday, Oct. 14, 2018. A rosary will be said at 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 18, followed by visitation from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Claybar Funeral Home in Bridge City. A funeral service will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 20, at St. Henry’s Catholic Church in Bridge City. His wife of 61 years, Helene, the longtime librarian for Bridge City High School,

Litton

died in 2009. Besides biology, Litton also taught driver’s ed at Bridge City High School, where he worked from

1965 to 1988. But he was “Coach Litton” to all. He was the first certified trainer at the high school level in Southeast Texas. He was inducted into the Southeast Texas Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1999. “He was the trainer for all of the sports. Any time the kids had a problem, he took care of them,” said Troy Woodall, who coached at BC beginning in 1964 and ending in 2004. “The kids loved him. “He was gruff in a way, but he loved kids and they knew it. There will never be another Moe Litton. Everybody COACH LITTON Page 3A

The Orangefield High School will hold it’s Homecoming game this Friday against Hardin Friday night. The Homecoming Court members were announced at the Community Pep Rally Monday night. They include: Football Beau - Jonah Landry, Football Sweetheart - Karlye Bramblett, Freshman Duchess - Kenadie DuBois, Sophomore Duchess - Codie Sorge, Junior Duchess - Linh Tsan, Senior Queen Candidate - Ally Overman, Senior Queen Candidate - Abby Overman, Senior Queen Candidate - Emmi Lummus, Senior Queen Candidate - Jayme Deutsch, Band Sweetheart - Nicole Woods and Band Beau - Porter Welch.

LSCO welcomes a new skipper at the helm David Ball

For The Record

Tom is home. Thomas Johnson, a Port Arthur native, was installed as president of the Lamar State College-Orange Tuesday afternoon in a ceremony at the Shahan Events Center on campus. Johnson was joined onstage by regents of the Texas State University System and other college presidents. Family, friends and mentors were also in attendance in the audience to support Johnson. Regents, staff and students addressed the audience too. Brian McCall, chancellor of the TSUS, gave the charge to Johnson as president. Johnson spoke on his back-

ground and how he got to where he is today. He thanked the regents, faculty,

staff, friends and family, and former LSCO president Michael Shahan for laying a

Tom Johnson, left, was installed as the new president of LSCO on Tuesday afternoon at the Shahan Events Center. Here, he’s pictured with his father, Otis Johnson, and Lonnie Howard, president of Lamar Institute of Technology. RECORD PHOTO: David Ball

good foundation of growth. For instance, he was born on 42nd Street in Port Arthur 56 years ago. It was while he was working in a sawmill in east Texas that he decided he wanted a better life and attend college though he didn’t know if he could attend. Though he wasn’t a stellar student, his teacher at Angelina College, Ruth Bass, encouraged him through college. He even joined Phi Beta Kappa honor society. Johnson worked for U.S. Rep. Charlie Wilson too. He said that experience opened doors for him and made him he want to do better. JOHNSON Page 3A

TxDOT projects in Orange County hindered by the rainfall David Ball

For The Record

Mother Nature is to blame. Weather is holding up some of the three major Texas Department of Transportation — repaving Texas Avenue in Bridge City, completing the swing bridge over Cow Bayou on East Roundbunch Road and widening Interstate 10. Sarah Dupre, public information officer for TxDOT, said crews are working around the rain. “On Texas Avenue, crews should begin paving by the end of October. The wet

Workers are repaving Texas Avenue in Bridge City at night this summer. TxDOT gave an update of this project and others around Orange County. RECORD PHOTO: David Ball

weather has held up operations,” she said. “We’re currently looking at the first of the year before work will be seen on East Roundbunch Road at Cow Bayou. The motor and electrical units are still being worked on.” Construction begun on Texas Avenue in Bridge City a little more than a year ago in July —a month before Tropical Storm Harvey hit. Work, however, continued throughout the year with a completion date targeted for the winter, according to Dupre. She said three months ago crews were repairing the

base overlaying the roadway with asphalt for the $5.6 million project. Funding for the project is from TxDOT. Old Castle Materials of Beaumont is the contractor. Crews were doing the work at night. “It’s 65 percent complete (in July 2018). It will be completed by the end of the year,” she said. “They started in July 2017 and they have not used up all of their days. They’re assigned so many days under contract.” However, the project may now be behind schedule. Thus far, Texas Avenue has been paved from Ferry Drive,

eastward to Roundbunch Road. From there, the road should be paved to FM 62. The other big project, reconstructing and widening Interstate 10, is scheduled to start in 2020. The roadway will be widened from FM 1442 to FM 3247 (MLK Drive) to three lanes eastbound and westbound. The next phase will be from FM 3247 to the state line with Louisiana. “We’re waiting on work to be done on the westbound side,” Dupre said. “The last section will start in 2021 to TXDOT PROJECTS Page 3A

SOUTHEAST TEXAS REGIONAL ALERTING & INFORMATION NETWORK

VISIT US AT:

www.setexasrain.org CMYK


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