Orlando Brown visits magnet school

Photos by Mark M. Hancock / © The Beaumont Enterprise

Disney television star Orlando Brown of "That's So Raven" talks with Smith Middle School principal Carol Batiste at the school in Beaumont on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2007.


Disney television star Orlando Brown laughs with students at Smith Middle School. Brown visited the school during their winter ball to help celebrate the school's new status as the Science and medical Technology Magnet middle school of the BISD.
 

Children's Pow Wow

Shiloh Battise, 6, of the Alabama-Coushatta tribe dances during the 9th annual Alabama-Coushatta Children's Pow Wow at the Alabama-Coushatta Multi-Purpose Center in Livingston on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2007.

Photos by Mark M. Hancock / © The Beaumont Enterprise



Lyndon Langley, 16, of the Coushatta tribe from Louisiana (left) dances along with Cheyenne Bayles, 14, of the Alabama-Coushatta tribe (right) as she holds her niece Autumn Rich, 2 months, during Children's Pow Wow.




(Above) Members of the Coushatta tribe of Louisiana drum during the Children's Pow Wow.

(right) Nikki Baker, 15, of the Mandan-Hidatsa tribe dances during the Children's Pow Wow.




(Above)Competition dancers of numerous tribes pray together during the Children's Pow Wow.

(Right) Gabe Bullock, Head Man of the 9th annual Alabama-Coushatta Children's Pow Wow, dances during the pow wow.

Making a return

Psychiatrist Rajen B. Desai plays tennis at the Beaumont Municipal Athletic Complex in Beaumont on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2007. Recent rains are expected to return on Saturday.

Mark M. Hancock / © The Beaumont Enterprise

Chili for Charity

Mark M. Hancock / © The Beaumont Enterprise

Dennis May with Smokin' N The Dark Bar-B-Q of Silsbee checks his chili during the "Chili for Charity" cookoff and tailgate party at Ford Park in Beaumont on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2007. Teams competed for charity before Friday's Wildcatters game.

Decisions, decisions

Mark M. Hancock / © The Beaumont Enterprise

Texas Wildcatters' Matt Yeats (No. 1, left) keeps an eye on the puck as South Carolina's Josh Anderson (No. 7, right) chooses a target during an ECHL hockey game at Ford Arena in Beaumont on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2007.

Lamar rebounds

Lamar's Lamar Sanders (No. 33, right) tries to recover a rebound away from Central Arkansas' LeMar Phillips (No. 1, left) during a Southland Conference college basketball game at Lamar University in Beaumont on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2007.


Mark M. Hancock / © The Beaumont Enterprise
 

Jet refraction

An Air Force F/RF-101 Voodoo jet display refracts through a raindrop at Babe D. Zaharias Park in Beaumont on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2007. The next two days are expected to be sunny and in the low 60s.

Mark M. Hancock / © The Beaumont Enterprise

 

Beaumont Boat Show

Photos by Mark M. Hancock / © The Beaumont Enterprise

Skeeter Boats representative David Brown, left, talks with Gerald Wilburn of Orange, right, during the 2007 Beaumont Boat Show at Parkdale Mall in Beaumont on Saturday, Jan. 13, 2007.


Boats are on display in Parkdale Mall as part of the boat show sponsored by The Beaumont Enterprise. The show continues through Jan. 15 and on-the-spot financing is available.


(Left) Matt Parr with Dawson Marine, left, talks to a potential customer during the boat show.

(Below) Boats are on display in Parkdale Mall as part of the boat show.





(Right) Chanda Gilliam of Beaumont, right, helps her son Gage Gilliam, 3, fish in a Kidfish pool during Beaumont Boat Show at Parkdale Mall.

(Below) Children fish in a Kidfish pool during the 2007 Beaumont Boat Show.




J.P. Brazeal with Kidfish, left, lets Brandon Wheeler, 5, of Fannett feel the whiskers of the catfish he caught.

I already planned to get a kayak this summer. It's not as cool as some of these boats, but closer to my budget ... and the gators.
 

Cash cow

Mark M. Hancock / © The Beaumont Enterprise

Calves graze near the Southeast Texas Regional Airport in Nederland on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2007. According to an auditor, the airport financially broke even last year and saved tax dollars for area residents.
 

Coastal cold

Mark M. Hancock / © The Beaumont Enterprise

Randall "D.A." Allen, right, and Don Boatner, left, wait in the cold for a bus at the Beaumont Transit Center in Beaumont on Monday, Jan. 15, 2007. A cold front has started to come into Southeast Texas with freezing rain expected tonight.

Like I've said before, cold is relative here. However, it was enough to kill more mosquitoes. :-)
 

Ground attack

Mark M. Hancock / © The Beaumont Enterprise

Ozen's Fred Merchant (No. 15, right) and Central's Jaaron Edwards (No. 5, left) scramble for a loose ball during a high school basketball game in Beaumont on Friday, Jan. 12, 2007.
 

Soldier and scholars

Photos by Mark M. Hancock / © The Beaumont Enterprise

Sgt. Mario Rodriguez, top, snarls with Victoria Herpin, bottom, as he visits students at St. Catherine of Siena School in Port Arthur on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2007.


A display for Sgt. Mario Rodriguez was created by students at St. Catherine of Siena School. The school has adopted Sgt. Rodriguez, who is with E Company of the 1/149th Attack Reconnaissance Battalion in Iraq, as one of the school's heros.



Sgt. Mario Rodriguez, right, visits with Jonathan Buhler, a student whose father is in the same company as Rodriguez, at St. Catherine of Siena School.


Sgt. Mario Rodriguez, right, and his wife Veronica Rodriguez, left, laugh during a 8th-grade class play as they visit with students at St. Catherine of Siena School in Port Arthur.
 

Teen keeps bullet in head

Photos by Mark M. Hancock / © The Beaumont Enterprise

Joshua Bush, 18, points to the bullet that remains in his skull at his home in Port Arthur on Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2007. Police officials want to have the bullet removed while Bush wants control over how and when it's removed. Police claim the slug is evidence of criminal activity. Bush claims another person shot him with a different calibre handgun than the police seek.


Joshua Bush, left, talks about the bullet that remains in his skull, as his sister Lakisha Bush, right, listens at the Bush home in Port Arthur. Bush plans to have the bullet removed after an upcoming trial and said the bullet slug will exonerate him.

Please read, "Teen says bullet in his head will exonerate him" by Ryan Myers.

UPDATE 13 May 2008: Please also read "Groves teen with bullet in head pleads guilty" by Ryan Myers.
 

Ozen blocks

Ozen's Jacoby Joseph (No. 24, right) tries to block the shot of Central's De'Mond Chambers (No. 22, left) during a high school basketball game in Beaumont on Friday, Jan. 12, 2007.

Mark M. Hancock / © The Beaumont Enterprise
 

MLK March prayer

Mark M. Hancock / © The Beaumont Enterprise

Ruby Richard (from left to right), Velenta Mathews-Hunter, Cody Florence, the Rev. Raymond Young and Ronald Davis pray on the steps of the Orange County Court House after the Martin Luther King Jr. March in Orange on Monday, Jan. 15, 2007. The NAACP-sponsored march concluded with a program inside the Orange County Court House.

 

Beaumont Community Players

Photos by Mark M. Hancock / © The Beaumont Enterprise

Randle Patrick McMurphy (played by Isaiah Good, center) pours alcoholic drinks from an enema bag during a dress rehearsal for "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" at the Beaumont Community Players Playhouse in Beaumont on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2007.


Nurse Ratched (played by Roxane Gray, center) pulls Candy (played by Shay Logan, lower right) from Billy Bibitt (played by Bradley Neel, left) as Randle Patrick McMurphy (played by Isaiah Good, right) catches during a dress rehearsal at the playhouse.


Randle Patrick McMurphy (played by Isaiah Good, right) chokes Nurse Ratched (played by Roxane Gray, left) during a dress rehearsal for "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" at the Beaumont Community Players Playhouse. The play opens on Friday, Jan. 12 and runs through Jan. 27.

What the Duck?

Aaron Johnson of What the Duck? fame sent me a note about his "Citizen photojournalism" comic (WTD 130). I told him I like "Money Talks" (WTD 126) better.

I should have brought up the comic long before now. I'm a fan. So, I've added his site to the sidebar under "Blogs of interest" and included his Photo Contest #2 in the contest calendar (the deadline falls between the Pulitzer Prize and Best of Photojournalism).

If you've never seen it, What the Duck? is about the trials and tribulations of a pro photographer, who happens to be a duck. Since Aaron is a pro shooter himself, there's an authenticity to the comic strips.

BTW, he does take suggestions. However, he prefers the concept to be complete and adapted to his three-panel format. So, if you need a break from contest season, or you simply needed another contest to make your life complete, What the Duck? could help.

Enough for now,
 

Gettin' 8

Photos by Mark M. Hancock / © The Beaumont Enterprise


(Above) Chris McClure of Mt. Vernon, Texas rides Beach Baby during the Professional Bull Riders Beaumont Invitational at Ford Park Arena on Saturday, Jan. 13, 2007.

(Left) Casey Bowman of Lamesa, Texas rides Little John during the Professional Bull Riders Beaumont Invitational.

 

Longleaf pine reintroduction

Photos by Mark M. Hancock / © The Beaumont Enterprise

Ricardo Guerero, left, and Juan Guerero, right, with Valencia Forestry of Silsbee return for additional longleaf pine seedings (Pinus palustris) in newly acquired land of The Big Thicket National Park in Kountze on Friday, Jan. 12, 2007. The project intends to re-introduce native species of plants to the protected forest.


Workers with Valencia Forestry of Silsbee plant longleaf pine seedlings in newly acquired land of The Big Thicket National Park.


A freshly-planted longleaf pine seedling tries to take root in The Big Thicket National Park.


The Big Thicket's fire ecologist Deanna Boensch, from left to right, fuel specialist D.W. Ivans and lead fire effects monitor Iola Hallock oversee the planting of longleaf pine seedlings at The Big Thicket National Park.


Ricardo Guerero with Valencia Forestry of Silsbee plants longleaf pine seedlings at The Big Thicket National Park.

Please read, "Big Thicket stems from one tree at a time" by Jennifer Avilla.
 

Outpatienct clinic construction

Construction has started for a $10 million clinic at the corner of Broadway and 11th streets in Beaumont on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2007. When complete, the two-story, 11,000 square-feet Altus Beaumont Surgery Center will cater to elective-surgery patients and employ more than 40 specialists and other personnel.
Mark M. Hancock / © The Beaumont Enterprise

Please read "Beaumont ready to welcome $10 million outpatient clinic" by Mike D. Smith.
 

Loose ball levitation

Lamar's Darren Hopkins (No. 21) dives for a loose ball during the first regular season Southland Conference college basketball game against SFA at Lamar University in Beaumont on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2007.

Mark M. Hancock / © The Beaumont Enterprise

 

Scampering

© Mark M. Hancock / The Houston Chronicle

Westfield High School's Dwayne Stewart (No. 26, center) steps past several West Brook High School tackle attempts during a football game at Durley Stadium in Beaumont on Friday, Sept. 15, 2006.
 

Wildcatters torched by Inferno

Photos by Mark M. Hancock / © The Beaumont Enterprise

Texas Wildcatters' Mike Madill (No. 7, right) continues toward the goal after passing the puck to himself between the legs of Columbia Inferno's Jeff Miles (No. 9, left) during an ECHL hockey game at Ford Park in Beaumont on Saturday, Jan. 6, 2007.


Texas Wildcatters' Jonathan Paiement (No. 94, right) jumps away from a check attempt by Columbia Inferno's Steve McJannet (No. 18, left) during a ECHL hockey game at Ford Park. Columbia won the game, however the Wildcatters remain the top team in the league.




Texas Wildcatters' Keith McWilliams (No. 2, left) and Columbia Inferno's Tyson Marsh (No. 22, right) exchange punches during a ECHL hockey game at Ford Park.


Columbia Inferno's Anthony Battaglia (No. 26, left) pursues Texas Wildcatters' Mike Madill (No. 7, right) during a ECHL hockey game at Ford Park.


Texas Wildcatters' goalie Matt Yeats (No. 1, center) dives for a lose puck during a ECHL hockey game against the Columbia Inferno at Ford Park.
 

Hoops match

Mark M. Hancock / © The Beaumont Enterprise

Memorial's Treasure Eddie (No. 24, right) tries to find a way around Channel View's Jessica Curry (No. 5, left) during a high school basketball game at Memorial in Port Arthur on Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2006.