ORCA hands out paper checks

ORCA staged a media event at the Alabama- Coushatta Indian Reservation special events center in Livingston Nov. 29 to present oversized paper checks to 51 grant recipients for more than $15.8 million.

Jasper County by far had the lion's share with the biggest check for $2,270,188, and Tyler County was close behind with $1,918,920 for damages resulting from Hurricane Rita.

Jasper County received a second "check" for $350,000 for damages from the rain and floods of Oct. 2006, as did the City of Jasper.

Some people might conclude that ORCA has actually distributed more than $15 million in funds in the last two years, but the giant paper checks cannot be endorsed or cashed without fulfilling all of the complex terms and red tape required by the grants.

Jasper County has actually received about 90 percent of the $2.2 million, but only after County Auditor Dru Miller submitted boxes of documentation more than once. Then she and County Judge Mark Allen, Randy Blanks from grant-writer David Waxman's office, and Precinct 1 Commissioner Charles Shofner met in an all-day session with ORCA officials Feb. 21 before actual reimbursement arrived in Jasper.

Most of the grants require counties to pay for projects upfront, as the county has done with the TDHCA housing grants, and then seek reimbursement from the state.

Other recipients of paper checks in the Jasper area were Christus Jasper Memorial Hospital, $9,157; Dickerson Memorial Hospital, $9,157; City of Jasper, $747,133 and $350,000; City of Kirbyville, $250,000 and $188,890.

Newton, Sabine, Tyler, Angelina, Nacogdoches, San Augustine, Shelby, Trinity and Polk all received checks for their counties, some cities and for health care facilities.