Local Roundup - page 56

The Orange County Courthouse, 801 W Division, will open back up to the public on Thursday, October 1, 2020. Orange County’s main priority is the health, safety and wellbeing of the citizens and employees. The accommodations for the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic will continue throughout the building.

To enter into the courthouse, the back door is the only open entry at this time.

Due to damages sustained by Hurricane Laura some offices may be relocated at this time and/or may have some construction continuing during the operating hours of 8 am to 5 pm. Citizens are urged to contact the offices by phone or email to verify the protocol of entry to the specific office. These numbers and email addresses can be found on their website, https://www.co.orange.tx.us/.

Sgt. Darrin Mooney of the Orange Couty Sheriff’s Office has been assigned to the U.S. Marshal Service Fugitive Apprehension Task Force.

The U.S. Marshal task forces combine the efforts of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to locate and arrest the most dangerous fugitives.

Eight Congressionally-funded regional fugitive task forces are located in the New York/ New Jersey, Pacific Southwest, Great Lakes, Capital Area, Southeast, Gulf Coast, Florida Caribbean, and Carolinas regions.

Fifty-six local task forces are dedicated to reducing violent crime by locating and apprehending wanted criminals. They also serve as the central point for agencies to share information on fugitive matters.

Task force officers are state and local Police Officers who receive special deputations with the Marshals. While on a task force, these Officers can exercise U.S. Marshal authorities, such as crossing jurisdictional lines.

The agency also leads ad-hoc fugitive task forces in special cases, e.g., when an inmate escapes from prison.

WOCCISD: Due to the storms that may impact our area, all WOCCISD schools will be closed for the week of August 24 through the 28th. Please stay tuned for potential updates related to this weather situation. Football and Volleyball games have been canceled for the week of August 24-28th.

OISD: Out of an abundance of caution and due to the forecasted storms in the Gulf of Mexico, Orangefield ISD will close all schools, onsite and virtual, for the week of Monday, August 24th through Friday, August 28th. Continue to monitor our district website, social media, and the Remind feed for further information.

LCMCISD: Out of an abundance of caution, due to the threat of severe weather from storms Marco and Laura, LCMCISD will be closed from Monday, August 24 through Friday,  August 28. Because of the uncertainty of the storms reaching landfall and the possibilities of rain and high winds from the storms, we feel this closure is in the best interest of our students and staff and their families. Superintendents of Orange County have been following storm reports and agree that this is the best course of action. All sporting events and games from all LCM campuses will be canceled this week, August 24-28. This will include any activities scheduled for Saturday, August 29. All gyms and facilities will also be closed.

BCISD: Out of an abundance of caution due to upcoming weather events, Bridge City ISD schools will be closed Monday, August 24 through Friday, August 28.

VISD: At this time we are canceling school for this week August 24-28. There is great uncertainty at this time with the weather conditions. Therefore, it is in the best interest of everyone that we suspend school for the week. We will not be offering virtual education during this time.

MAG Christian Academy is a new private Christian school that has just opened in Mauriceville, TX, for Pre-K through 8th grade. They are located on the MAG Church campus at 11477 Hwy 12 Orange, TX 77632. Their goal is to foster rock-solid Biblical teaching with educational excellence in a small class group environment.

Heather Armstrong, the administrator of MAG Christian Academy, is a mother to five kids, ages 17-27. She is married to J.R. Armstrong, Pastor of MAG Church. Heather has a bachelor’s degree in education and is also a credentialed minister with the Assemblies of God. She has worked with and ministered to children of all ages for over 20 years, and has several years of teaching experience in both Arkansas and Texas schools.

For additional information, visit their website, their Facebook page, or call them at (409) 745-3403.

Keep Texas Beautiful (KTB) has named Keep Orange County Beautiful (KOCB) as their August affiliate of the month and will highlight their story on their website, social media, and newsletter. The Affiliate of the Month Campaign highlights the stories of their affiliates; hard-working, boots on the ground organizations, who are committed to keeping their communities clean and beautiful. Orange County was one of many affiliates affected by COVID-19. They were able to pivot and continue to be a resource to their community in these uncertain times.

Keep Texas Beautiful noted that the following KOCB programs were the impetus for the award:

Hometown Beautification Heroes

When quarantine happened, KOCB’s normal mode of operation abruptly came to a halt. No more face-to-face and group meetings.

KTB looked first to our natural environment and began bringing attention to our natural resources. Keep Orange County Beautiful highlighted opened parks and nature trails with beautification awards and reminded people that spending time outdoors has a replenishing effect on emotions, memory, and well-being while reducing blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension, and stress.

KOCB also highlighted individuals caught doing random acts of “beautification kindness” in public spaces and called them our “Hometown Beautification Heroes.”

Trashy Ladies

After participating in trash-offs for decades, a fellow board member warmly started referring to us as “Trashy Ladies!”

Another gifted board member quickly designed a “Trashy Ladies” logo. This logo promoting recycling has become a highly recognizable and very effective tool in spreading the recycling word. It has garnered over 5000 likes on the Keep Orange County Beautiful Face book page.

Recycling and Beyond

Waste Management abruptly closed Orange County’s only recycling collection site last August. This was devastating to devoted recyclers!

KOCB’s Directors immediately researched and located RECYCLOPS, a recycling company from Utah that caters to small and rural communities. An initial 300 household signups of $10 a month brought Recyclops to Orange County. This was quickly accomplished through Facebook, and by October 2019 we had curbside pick up twice a month.

Keep Orange County Beautiful was first to recruit Recyclops to Texas. Their success here is spreading to other communities. It is now our intention to increase our recycling household numbers throughout the county and BEYOND.

Our Recycling success story has allowed our community to transition from a “drive to drop off” site to “curbside pick up” within 3 months.

1000 Abandoned

One thousand abandoned tires were collected in one day and 10,000 pounds of scrap metal removed for recycling. Keep Orange County Beautiful, and city municipalities, together with funding through Southeast Texas Resource Conservation and Development (SETX RC&D) working together made that happen.

Building community partnerships is what KOCB is all about. We are a small board of five (5) directors each with our own unique skill set and passion. Drainage ditches, roadways, waterways, frontage roads, and backyards all benefit from the leadership exhibited by KOCB.

Trajectory Changed

Wonderful news in February! Keep Orange County Beautiful was selected by Keep America Beautiful to implement a generous grant funded by an American multinational chemical corporation with operations here in Orange County Texas. The grant is to be used specifically for recycling.

The original grant was to be implemented with educational recycling programs in a Symposium style group setting. Then COVID happened and we were forced to change our trajectory on all fronts by the pandemic. Perhaps a blessing in disguise, the pandemic has allowed us additional processing time.  In re-focusing, we discovered an overabundance of opportunities in the recycling realm.

A New Mindset

Research brought Keep Orange County Beautiful to the potential for bringing professional certification courses for Recycling and Sustainable Materials Management to Southeast Texas and perhaps the entire State of Texas.

Circular Economy, a business/environmental movement has been around for five years and has quietly been embraced by industry, most especially the Process Industry that dominates this part of the United States. Keep Orange County Beautiful expects to have some announcements on this new mindset before the end of Q3-2020.

Please visit the Keep Texas Beautiful website for the full story.