Numbers Point to Virus Letup in County
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Outdoors KAZ’S ORANGE RELIGION HUNTING & KORNER COUNTY & LOCAL FISHING SPORTS FISHING COMMENTARY CHURCH GUIDE Capt. Chuck Uzzle Capt. Dickie Colburn Page 6B Page 2 Section B Page 1 Section B Page 1 Section B TheRecordLive.com County Record Vol. 60 No. 49 The Community Newspaper of Orange, Texas Week of Wednesday, May 13, 2020 Numbers point to virus letup in county DAVE ROGERS Commission- Orange had no active cases, or the county -- is ready to go continue to social distance, announced “Federal Covid For The Record ers’ Court in a according to the numbers back to pre-Covid-19 “nor- to continue to follow the Response” grants “fairly discussion of posted on the Orange Coun- mal.” guidelines as these business- quickly” and told Kurt Ding dong, the Covid’s the coming ty Emergency Management Hardly. es and restaurants reopen. Guidry, county maintenance dead. shutdown of Facebook page. “This is a wonderful report “This is not something to director, to spend it in a hur- One can hope. the six-county Zero. Zilch. Nada. we received [Monday] but play with.” ry to ward off a second wave. Orange County Judge John Southeast Bridge City also had no ac- this is far from over,” Spears To prove it, Gothia an- Gothia said $454,000, the Gothia reported some big Gothia Texas Region- tive cases. said. nounced the county is ex- news Tuesday on the back of al authority Neither Orange -- the city “We are going to ask you to pecting $2.2 million in just- NUMBERS POINT Page 3A a similar announcement by formed in mid-March to re- Orange Mayor Larry Spears, spond to the coronavirus Jr. pandemic. Seniors still waiting to have their “night” And Bridge City could, At a city council meeting too. held earlier Tuesday via the “This is our fifth day of no GoToMeeting app, Spears new cases at all,” Gothia told pointed out that the City of Governor’s rules allow real-time graduations person graduations. DAVE ROGERS For The Record After June 1, in-person outdoors graduations are al- In a year when tradition lowed. Graduates and their has taken a turn upside permitted guests will be down, Orangefield schools seated using social distanc- are still trying to decide ing rules, so attendance will when they’ll hold high school be limited by the size of the graduation. stadium. Truthfully, every school “We’re looking at the dates district is. the weekends of June 5-6 and But in the Age of Covid-19 June 12-13,” McAlpin said. everything is tentative. “Our football stadium isn’t “We had scheduled ours large enough, so we’re look- for May 22, but we can’t do it ing for a pavilion [like Ford then. That’s not in the gover- Park], so we can have some- nor’s window,” Shaun McAl- thing covered in case of pin, Orangefield superinten- rain.” dent, said. West Orange-Stark High Last Tuesday, May 5, Texas School has its graduation set Gov. Greg Abbott issued for June 5 at Mustang Stadi- guidelines for how high um. Both Bridge City have schools can hold actual in- their graduations set for June 20 at their football stadiums. Roderick and Brandy Robertson put on the appropriate Senior Night apparel. Unfortunately, the Robertsons didn’t get to wear their Senior Night T-shirts to son Nic’s West Orange-Stark baseball Senior Night celebration. It was canceled like everything else to do with school gatherings by COVID-19 social distancing restrictions. Nic will attend Lamar State College on an Ambassadors scholar- ship before moving to Lamar University to study mechanical engineering. The Robertsons have been fundraising for Project Safe Graduation to fund a senior trip to a Baton Rouge water park. Like graduation, that event is in limbo. RECORD PHOTO: Dave Rogers Nurse returns from Covid battlefront DAVE ROGERS view Monday. For The Record Her commitment also in- cluded a two-week quaran- Sierra Roberts ended her tine at her home after re- final day on the job the way turning to Texas. she began her first. Roberts was in the Big Ap- She was holding up a cell ple from April 14 through John Montagne, Jr., left, and Walter Mullins III take their oath of phone so a family could say service as Orange port commissioners from board attorney Scot May 5. During her three Sheldon. RECORD PHOTO: Dave Rogers their final goodbyes to a dy- weeks there, New York City ing patient. saw as many as 8,000 new Roberts, a Bridge City cases per day and a total of Port board swears High School grad and Regis- about 8,000 deaths. tered Nurse for Beaumont’s “I’ve been a nurse for three Baptist Hospital, just re- years, two in the emergency in 2 new members turned to Texas after spend- room, and it was scary for ing 21 straight days working me,” Roberts said. DAVE ROGERS That election was post- 12-hour shifts at New York poned for many because of “When I got there, I tried For The Record City’s Coney Island Hospital. to picture the worst-case the Covid-19 pandemic. It New York City has been The Orange County Navi- scenario. What I saw far sur- was canceled for the Port be- the nation’s No. 1 hotspot for gation and Port District passed that. cause of a lack of contested the coronavirus and the swore in two new board races. “Every open unit they had members Monday and they deadly Covid-19 disease it in the hospital was basically Mullins takes over the spot carries. weren’t exactly rookies. previously held by Barbara an ICU [intensive care unit]. Through Monday, May 11, Walter Mullins III, was a Winfree, who has retired. Almost every patient was New York City had seen four-term port commission- Kevin Singleton was elect- vented [on a ventilator], su- 185,337 total reported cases er toward the end of the ed board president, with per, super sick. and 20,056 deaths due to Co- 20th century and John Mon- John Montagne as vice presi- “The week before I got vid-19. tagne, Jr. joined the board a dent and Keith Wallace, there was probably the worst “I made the commitment couple of years ago, to fill an fifth-term member, secre- they had. That’s when people unexpired vacancy. tary-treasurer. when I became a nurse to go were coming in at a super- Both filed to run unop- The board, which oversees in head-first in these kinds of Sierra Roberts, a Bridge City native who is a registered nurse at alarming rate and they were posed for seats on the five- situations, and I’ve got to Baptist Hospital Beaumont, just returned from a three-week duty a $2 million per year budget at a hospital in New York City, the nation’s No. 1 hot spot for the person board in May’s elec- stick to that commitment,” PORT BOARD Page 3A coronavirus and the deadly disease Covid-19. SIERRA ROBERTS Page 3A tion. she said in a telephone inter- CMYK 2A • The Record • Week of Wednesday, May 13, 2020 CORONAVIRUS IN TEXAS Global price war, coronavirus pandemic hampering state’s economy Cassandra Pollock process could be. we keep them?” she said. The Texas Tribune “This is going to be pain- Craddick also said “it’s go- ful. ... How do you get de- ing to be a challenge” for the Texas Railroad Commis- mand back up where people agency to ensure stability in sioner Christi Craddick dou- are comfortable driving, the industry as the recovery bled down Tuesday on the comfortable flying, still process gets underway and agency’s recent decision not moving forward, and how do noted that Comptroller- to cut oil production and we continue to make sure Glenn Hegar’s revised fore- provided more detail on we’re doing the smart thing cast of state finances in July what discussions looked like so business has an ability to would provide a better idea in the weeks leading up to come back? I think consis- of where things stand from that high-profile vote, when tency is going to be really im- an economic standpoint and the price of a barrel of oil portant,” Craddick said. how extensive state budget sank into the negatives be- She also pointed out how cuts end up being. fore climbing back up into unemployment in the indus- “We’ve been through this the double digits. try equates to a loss of talent- before as an agency,” she “I think we’ve clearly made ed workers — some of whom said. “We look at where non- the right decision in my may never return because essentials are as far as travel. mind,” Craddick said during they need immediate pay- We look at do we need to buy a live interview with The checks. Craddick described equipment, do we need to Texas Tribune. “Look at that as a typical challenge continue to hire people — it’s where we are and what has during downturns. all things like you’d run a happened just in the last “How do we maintain business, that’s how you run couple of weeks. And it’s some talent, and where can this agency.” Texas Railroad Commissioner Christi Craddick, center, attends a hearing at the Capitol. even more important to back PHOTO: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune up a few weeks before we took the vote of what was be- Craddick and Railroad producer in the country, fi- about curbing oil production ginning to happen within the Commission Chairman nancially reeling since its the day Gov.