We'd Like Some Information On Beaumont (Houston, Port Arthur: motel, job, health)

[BobTex]

Well jread, all I can say is different strokes for different folks. I'm just trying to convey the message that this negativity spewed forth by some of the responders is not an opinion held universally by people in the know. You and I are in the know......Deeptrance isn't.

I will be the first to say I'm ignorant of racist attitudes in Orange.......Vidor's rep is known but is caused by a distinct minority. Here in Tyler County we have less than 15% black population but have elected a black County Sheriff. Don't think that would happen in a racist society.....do you? To brand a whole community as racist because of one or a few anecdotal incidents is not really fair to a whole lot of people. I will grant you there are racist attitudes here which IMO is very sad........but........there are racist attiudes everywhere.

Now on the cancer thing......yep.......especially leukemias. One of the reasons I live as far north of the area as I do but I don't know what the heck you're talking about re: having to wear socks in Port Neches......I lived there from age 3 until 15 and I never had those issues or ever heard of them. And I went barefooted all summer.

Yeah....that money is good and all! I've got the larger house and 50 acres and all the redneck boy toys a guy could want. Got my kids in private school too. So you go ahead and keep Austin and your lower standard of living and enjoy it while I'm enjoying these beautiful piney woods......30 minutes to Sam Rayburn.......1.5 hours to downtown Houston or the coast. I've got great outdoor opurtunities, high paying job, quiet and serenity, kids in a high quality school at an extremely reasonable cost. I grow my own foods, beef, and poultry (with the help of that ample rainfall).

I've lived from Maine to Alaska......and look where I ended up.....although I almost chose E. Tenn. And if you notice I tried to steer Labrat16 north of Beaumont where aestheically things are a bit nicer (IMO) and there is some separation from the immediate industrial fallout. So, if one uses his smarts one can optimize his quality of life here in SE Texas.

And on the "progressive" vs conservative thing..........guess I'll take conservative everytime (I like the side with the stronger moral base).

[LABRAT16]

Thanks everyone for the insight and especially BOBTEX. We were looking into the Lumberton area. We both work in a hospital setting, specifically the lab. I'm a tech and my wife is a phleb. Been in the business a few years and have been trying to also get info on area hospitals there. Any and all info gladly accepted. I know wages are a little lower there than here but the benifits are generally better.

[BobTex]

I do appreciate the less than defensive reply (which I cannot give myself credit for)! I have over the last 6 months from time to time felt compelled to defend my region of Texas from other Texans bashing it. It's almost like they don't realize that our original independence was won VERY near here........not in Austin, or Abilene, San Angelo or Ft. Worth! Like we're not part of "their" Texas. I get somewhat defensive over "my" part of Texas getting run down by others. Believe me.......we are "Texas proud" here too!

Labrat16..........2 major hospitals are in Beaumont with another 180-200 bed facility planned. Lumberton is a 10-15 minute drive in to Beaumont. I work at Christus St. Elizabeth. It is a 400+ bed facility....Level II trauma center! Memorial Herman system has a 300+ bed facility. If you want more shoot me an email. Have a good one!

[deeptrance]

Originally Posted by BobTex

...To brand a whole community as racist because of one or a few anecdotal incidents is not really fair to a whole lot of people. I will grant you there are racist attitudes here which IMO is very sad........but........there are racist attiudes everywhere.

Amen to that! "Racist" has become a hate word just like dropping n-bombs and other labels. Lump a bunch of people together and call them something that has an extremely negative meaning --- it's all the same to me, whether you're labelling people based on their race or based on assumptions about their stupidity or ignorance or the fact that they voted for "the other guy." I'm ashamed of many of my so-called liberal compatriots who spew hatred towards anyone who disagrees with them, I hear it from my own friends. I vote the way they do (though more libertarian) but I will NOT call Republicans "idiots" or "evil" the way some of my friends do.

Thanks for the thanks, by the way. I appreciate that. Hey, it's just "Texas friendly", ya know? I'll buy the BBQ if you're ever in town.

Oh, one more thing about racism, have you noticed that the people who are most likely to call southerners racist are people who live in extremely white regions or neighborhoods? Oops, now I'm guilty of doing the same thing, judging a group of people. All I'm saying is that people who live in monoracial communities have no business talking about others being racist if they're not willing to live next door to someone of a different race. Aww, heck, I'm garbling my words. Must be all the turkey I ate. Or what I washed it down with .

GOD BLESS TEXAS! From Beaumont to Amarillo, El Paso to Texarkana, Brownsville to Wichita Falls, and from Left to Right on the political spectrum.

[txbuilder]

I grew up in Port Neches and went to high school in the '60's. Graduates did have a high rate of cancer at that time. I have no data for now. I also had a very asthmatic child we had to move from the area to Jasper.

Funny, now at 32 she lives again in Beaumont in a darling 50's style cottage house in a lovely neighborhood alone. She does not have an alarm system and is not afraid to live there. She paid only 79K for her property. We are builders and my husband had to 'pass the house' for condition as he didn't want to work on it. She does not have any breathing problems. Did she grow out of it? Or did they clean up the air?

Beaumont is not a 'hellhole' to me but like Bobtex I do not want to live in a large population.

Bobtx's 50 mile commute takes less time than my Houston daughter's 15 mile commute.

The point of all of this is there are really nice areas in Beaumont with houses from millions to modest. The rural areas have better value to offer. And, you do need to look north instead of south. Silsbee,Lumberton,Jasper,Newton,Buna and more all have decent schools. Our 4 children were valedictorians and salutatorians from Newton schools. They graduated from UT,A &M and UNT with no problems and have very good jobs so the public schools can do a good job if the students and parents want the same thing.

No one has mentioned Elina's Mexican Restaurant on College for a 50 year old Mexican Family recipe food experience. Excellent.

Gail

[LABRAT16]

All sounds good to me. I prefer the smaller rural towns for living and the bigger places for work.Thanks for the info. My wife and I are headed down this summer and want all the info we can get. We want out of the SNOW/ICE. KC area has just got hit again ice for one storm and then snow right after. It wouldn't be so bad if people would just slow down and pay attention. Instead they think, "Oh the road has no cars, I can do 70-80 with no problem." They don't realize the reason they don't see any cars is because the others thought as he did and are now off the road and in the trees. "Sunshine........take me away!!!!

[smiles w/eyes]

My husband grew up here in Beaumont, went to UT and then moved to Pagosa Springs, CO where we met and lived for several years (I'm originally from Minnesota). When circumstances changed and we realized we needed to move, we decided to move to Beaumont. All our friends who fled Texas to Colorado said "why?!!!" My husband is a fine art nature photographer and for those of you who have been to Colorado and to Beaumont, you may be asking the same thing. There is a definite answer and it is this: The Big Thicket National Preserve.

I've noticed that the majority of people from the area never actually step foot into the Thicket, but those who do find themselves enthralled with its mystery, diversity, vastness and beauty. It's not "Colorado landscape beauty" rather, it's something that you have to investigate in a different way. Check out the Big Thicket Association's website, but even better, stop by outside of Kountze at their Visitors' Center and chat with the Rangers: they are informative, passionate and eager to share their wealth of love and appreciation for the Big Thicket. I highly recommend taking walks in this under-visited, but magnificent and unique place.

I've heard people say that Beaumont is behind 50 years, but I've also been hearing that a lot has been changing lately. More people who fled the area when they were young are coming back to take care of their aging parents, and Hurricane Rita has caused a lot of change for a lot of people and brought in folks from all over the country. This definitely has an affect on the economy, as well as the sociology.

As far as the kinds of people you'd like to meet, or things you'd like to do: the worst thing to do about Beaumont, I've found, is to assume that you can't find it here. This is probably true about any place....

I do miss recycling, and I have a hard time when, on certain nights, the stink of pollution is stronger than others and when I ask "what is that smell?" my neighbors say: "what smell?" Pt. Arthur has the worst cancer rates of the area, as well as the neighborhoods directly around the chemical plant(s). It is my optimistic viewpoint, however, that the local universities, engineers and corporations will utilize a lot of their centralized talent to begin the revolution towards renewable energy, making Beaumont a highly attractive location for the future....it just may not smell, I mean seem, like that now.

Best wishes on your search, but I really do believe it's a matter of perspective!!

[orbius]

I wouldnt live there again if you paid me. I understand some people make it work, they must be hardier than me.
If I was forced to live there because of a job, I would live near the coast and endure the commute everyday, at least then you can breathe.

The climate is as bad as people say, its a different kind of humid. If you've been somewhere tropical that is humid Beaumont is different, tropical humidity feels just extremely hot. In Beaumont the climate is adversely effected by all the pollution, its not tropical heat, it feels prickly. Its torture.

If you have kids dont think of raising them there, its a hard enough place to endure for grown adults.

[Turk]

I'm not digging deep into this, SE texas has been defended well, better than I could of. I recently came on here, but I have noticed the shunning of SE texas by the Houston forum. People ask where to go its Cypress, Katy, Fort bend or Brazoria Counties. Little interest in East Mont County, Liberty or Chambers County. Granted there is nobody on this forum that apparently lives here and is willing to point out its qualities.

Anyway, I think another alternative without going so far north, Kountze I think is decent. Further west, Moss Hill in liberty county, maybe even Hardin? I also think Winnie is nice, other than the whole flooding issue...

[louparris]

Originally Posted by deeptrance

My impression of Beaumont is that it's one of the worst places in the USA. But it's just an impression. I've driven through a couple times and that doesn't give me much perspective, but I base my impression of it on the people I know who are FROM there. They're the most backward of any people I've met in Texas. It seems extremely deep South, full of drug problems, high crime rate for its size, horrible climate, polluted from heavy industry ---- but I'm only speaking as an outsider and welcome any views that contradict mine.

Well, I just couldn't let these go by without saying something to refute them. I was born and raised in Beaumont (though I now live in Houston). I would not have liked to grow up in Beaumont (if I had not been born and raised there) as Beaumont was somewhat cliqueish and it was hard to break in. However, the people FROM there are NOT backward. I know lawyers, ministers, teachers, volunteer workers (at museums), educators, journalists, etc. from there. I don't know any "backward" people.
I expect Beaumont is like other cities with some kind of heavy industry. There are good spots and bad spots. I think you may have tarred the entire city with one brush.