Today's newspapers say the Orange County Commissioners' Court decided to put the champs building on hold for a year. Time to build an updated version of the original Old Timers Pavilion at its original location! The $600k they wasted on an 'engineering study' could have built a very nice meeting hall there.
Article in the Orange Leader on August 10 says the county will hand out $600,000 to an unnamed group to estimate the cost of building the structure. Why isn't the group named? And why pay any money for an estimate, when companies that want your business will work with you to design what you want and come up with an estimate for free? Something is rotten in Denmark. Almost as disturbing is the news that there is a deadline for a grant from the Texas Department of Rural Affairs, which is the $9.86 million the county has already received. (Getting interest on that money too, of course.) The deadline for COMPLETING the building is May 1, 2012, which Orange County maintenance director says can't be done. The new total cost of the 'multipurpose structure' is now $19 million. At least they trimmed it down from $22.8 million. And now the county has to come up with $11 million, an increase of a half-million.
The county doesn't have a set of plans, doesn't have all the money to build it, and can't possibly build it before the deadline. Peachy.
No one seems to have considered going back to the original location on Old Timers Lane and building a slightly updated version of the original Pavilion, and call it a day. That won't make the CHUMPS happy but it will certainly bring great joy to the normal everyday folks of the county who happily enjoyed the original Pavilion for so many years.
Article in the County Record this week says: The facility will be henceforth named "Orange County Expo and Rural Life Center". Orange County Emergency Management received 9.86 million from the Texas Department of Rural Affairs. Full cost of the center being looked at is $22.8 million. With $12.3 million listed as insurance reimbursements from FEMA or disaster-related grants the county expects in the future, remaining monies needes are listed at $10.5 million. Bobby Fillyaw of Orange County Economic Development Corporation said "...CHAMPS expects to contact businesses, families, foundations and individuals from throughout Southeast Texas to raise the money needed in a phased development program based on priorities and input received during the feasibility study ... The amount needed .. will not be added to the debt load of Orange County."
Let's hope the last part is true.
Back on March 31, 2009 it was reported that the total cost for the "multipurpose structure" would be $12 million. That was way too much back then, and now the estimate is bloated to $22.8 million. This puts the standard Washington "pork barrel" scenario to shame. We've got 23 shiploads of pork! Now the question is, who's getting all that pork?
Who is "CHAMPS"? The article says "CHAMPS is a joint effort between concerned residents (including Master Gardeners and Orange County Chapter of Senior Citizens), Orange County Commissioners, the Orange County Office of Emergency Management and EDC, as well as other local and civic leaders.
Just wondering, do any of these people have any common sense? All the people of Orange County wanted was to have the original Old Timers Pavilion repaired and available fo community gatherings. Certainly not a Disneyland.
At least the writer of the Record article of April 28, 2010 got it right when he wrote "... the Hurricane Rita-damaged Old Timers Pavilion." It wasn't destroyed, or evenly seriously damaged. Four different contractors said they could repair it for less than the $15k available in insurance money right after the storm. It was a criminal act of negligence to refuse to repair the Pavilion and then knock it down a year later.
Here they go again, dragging out the obvious lie that 'the Pavilion was destroyed by Rita'. Hogwash!
Now the 'chumps' have given some land to the county, according to an article in the County Record on April 7, 2010 It doesn't say how many acres of land or how much it is worth. It is suspicious that it says "Eventually there will be a land-use agreement between CHAMPS and the county, said County Judge Carl Thibodeaux." Will money change hands? Who will get it? How did the 'chumps' get the land that was donated? At the end of the article it says 'CHAMPS plans a major fundraiser in the future, Thibodeaux said.' What for?
If the Commissioners court had simply repaired the Old Timers' Pavilion right after the storm, when at least four contractors offered to repair it for less than the $15k the insurance on the building provided, the citizens could have been using that sturdy structure all this time. Nearly FIVE YEARS LATER, there is no community building. Nothing but lies, deceit, and under-the-table dealings.
Don't be surprised if there is never any 'multipurpose structure' built.
-- Edited by CharlesRay on Wednesday 21st of April 2010 08:08:15 PM
Another update on the saga of the mistakenly-demolished Old Timers Pavilion in Orange. A story appearing the the County Record on August 19, 2009 says "CHAMP Gets Big Boost". After reading the story, the facts say the headline should have read "CHUMPS get another drop in the bucket". The old tired lie of "the Old Timers Pavilion was destroyed by Hurricane Rita in 2005" is dragged out again. That has been proved wrong over and over. The Pavilion was only slightly damaged and could have easily been completely repaired for less that the $15,000 the insurance provided. The Orange County Hotel Occupancy Tax Committee will appear in the Commissioners' Court this Friday to present their fund allocations. Total funds -- $162,244.00 Out of that, $7,500 goes to the Orange Chamber of Commerce, $12,500 goes to the Heritage House, $5,000 goes to the Leaf and Petal Club, $1,500 goes to the Lutcher Theater, $6,000 goes to the Orange County Economic Development Corp. Much ado is made in the article about how the remainder will go to the replacement for the Pavilion, but when you do the math, that sum is a mere $129,756.00 Since the total funds needed to build a "multi-purpose structure", as reported in the March 31 story in the Leader is about $12 million, this so-called 'big boost' is really nothing but a drop in the bucket. Blame it on the CHUMPS! It's their fault the original Pavilion was mistakenly knocked down. Four years since Rita, and there's still no replacement for the Pavilion. They should have repaired it so everyone could be using it right now, and they wouldn't look like idiots now. The article also says the land now available totals 11 acres. In June 2006 they said they had 17 acres and were going to buy 7 more acres. What changed? Something's fishy.
-- Edited by CharlesRay on Thursday 20th of August 2009 01:36:39 PM
-- Edited by CharlesRay on Thursday 20th of August 2009 01:37:27 PM
-- Edited by CharlesRay on Thursday 20th of August 2009 07:19:38 PM
update: Orange County Commissioners are looking for $12 MILLION in government grants to build the 'multi-purpose structure', and if the funds aren't found the sturcture will not be built. Orange Leader, March 31, 2009
What a change from the original plan in which the CHUMPS promised the Court that if they would tear down the Old Timers' Pavillion, a new structure would be built on 1442 within a year. CHUMPS lied.
We could be using the original Old Timers' Pavillion today if the CHUMPS hadn't lied. For less than the $15k in available insurance money the Pavillion could have been repaired and reopened. The original location didn't flood during Ike.
Three and a half years after the Old Timers Pavillion was slightly damaged by Hurricane Rita, a tiny bit of progress is made on the Orange County Commissioners Court toward replacing the structure. (Read the previous posts to refresh the memory).
Feb. 2 -- "Commissioners approved the spending of $10,000 to hire Jeff Ward to apply for grant funds for the facility, which is slated to comprise office space, a rodeo arena, and a 600-seat meeting area. The new multi-purpose structure will cost anywhere from $7 million to $10 million, according to Thibodeaux."
The estimate keeps going up and up. Ten thousand dollars to pay someone to apply for a grant? Don't we have people to do that already? That sum will have to come out of the insurance money that was received for the Pavillion. Remember, for the original fifteen thousand dollars of insurance money, several contractors offered to repair the Pavillion and have money left over! We could have been using the pavillion all this time! It was booked nearly every day, year after year. Who knows if we'll get a grant? Who knows if another Pavillion will ever be built? It would be better to forget all about this boondoggle. Jeers to the Court, and double jeers to the 'champs', who are really chumps.
The land on which this new complex is supposed to be built is still vacant after nearly three years. What happened to the money provided by the Orange County Commissioners? Where are the buildings? Now there is a plan to put a Vocational Skills Training facility on the same property, to train students from all the high schools in Orange County. Funny thing is, there was a big Skills Center in Orange back in the 70s that had half-day classes in welding, auto body repair, machine shop, drafting, computer operations, cosmetology and more. The facility closed several years ago and now the buildings are owned by the Port Of Orange. Why did the Skills Center close? Why is there now a need for another Skills Center? And WHY is it planned for the same location as the entertainment complex that has yet to be built? This is a lot of planning with no action, and a lot of money being thrown around. Someone needs to provide answers to the public, and we want to know where all the money went. It was a waste to close the old facility and even more of a waste to plan it out on 1442 on land that has supposedly all been taken with other plans.
How much will it cost someone to rent the new meeting hall? Will it be a deposit like the old Pavilion? There are several shooting ranges in the county, a couple of rodeo arenas, a nice public park (Claiborne West) that has several gazebos, so why do they want to build more of thse facilities that we already have? Sounds like they just want to line someone's pockets. All we need is a duplicate of the original Old Timers Pavilion on its same location. A big raspberry to that champs group, they are really chumps.
The much-loved and much-used Old Timers Pavilion in Orange was in uses nearly every day, as the sign-up books show. It had a basic kitchen, two bathrooms, air conditioning, lights and lots of space inside and outside. That's all the people needed for family gatherings, receptions, birthday parties, meetings and the Labor Day Picnic. The covered barbeque pit was great for cooking tasty meals for big crowds. And it didn't cost much, a deposit that as returned when the place was cleaned after use. It's gone now, thanks to the neglect and greed of the folks who were supposed to take care of the building -- the County Commissioners Court and the Old Timers Association. The current president of the Asssociation, Pam Crew, gets most of the blame for the loss of the Pavilion. She says the Pavilion was 'destroyed by Rita' but that is a boldface lie. As of August 2006 the building was still standing tall and straight; the only damage Rita did was one broken window, some of the metal roof was blown off (the original shingle roof underneath was intact), the electrical box was pulled off the outside wall and a small bit of roof deck was opened by the winds and that part was easily covered by a small tarp. According to county officials, the insurance supposedly would pay $15k for the damage. At least four contractors offered to repair the Pavilion for that amount and have some money left over. It could have easily been repaired and the people could have been using it for the past two years. Shame on the Commissioners and the Association for falling down on this important job! When they finally knocked down this strong building, it was found that its main structural members were telephone poles! It was very hard to knock it down with the big machine. In June of 2006 there was an article in the County Record about the proposed plans for a new 'multi-purpose building on 1442' on 17 acres of land the county owns and they wanted to buy seven more acres nearby. Wonder who owns those 7 acres? More importantly, why is this so far out in the sticks? That's not where most people in the county live! At least this article correctly said the Pavilion was 'damaged'; it certainly wasn't 'destroyed'. The article also said the county would maintain the new building like it has the Old Timers Pavilion. If that is true, this new building won't last ten years. They didn't take care of the old Pavilion, so why should they do any better with the new one? Another article in the County Record on August 16, 2006 says the county received $30k from their insurance for damage to the Pavilion. How did that increase from the $15k they said they would get right after the storm in 2005? Figures of three to six million have been thrown out for the total cost of the new 'complex', which is their version of a Taj Mahal. Let the County and the Old Timers Association pay the full cost, since this boondoggle is all their fault.
