City Council - Regular Meeting

Can you all hear me okay in the back? I think we had some audio problems, so I'm going to speak loud in case you cannot hear me.

Virtue, are you all able to hear okay back there? Okay.

Well, I'll just speak loud because I don't think this is working. Welcome to the City of Beaumont Proclamation presentation. Today's date is Tuesday, July 7, 2026. And if we would... Silence your cell phone and please stand and remain standing for the pledge and for our prayer. Let us pray. Loving God, we give you thanks for this day that you made and for all these organizations and people that are being recognized today. Because, Lord, this is an incredible city where people are doing incredible things, and we like to acknowledge that. We give you thanks for everyone here. We ask that you bless them and bless this time, bless this city. And we ask all this in the precious name of Jesus. And let us now do the amen. All right, today we have four proclamations. Please come forward and receive your proclamation, and you'll take pictures at that time. And at that point, then you can go to the podium, and you're going to need to speak loudly again. I apologize, but we had a power surge, and it took out our sound system this morning. Turning it on and turning it back off, maybe. I don't know what else you can do to it. First, we have a proclamation recognizing the month of July as the Gift of Life Men's Health Month. Accepting will be Mrs. Norma Sampson, Executive Director of the Gift of Life, as well as those that came with her today. Thank you.

thank you yes ma'am thank you all right

All righty, y'all. Let's try to center up a little bit. Everybody take a little step to your right. All right, everybody look right here. And one, two, and three. Sounds like the sound system's working. All right, we got a good picture. Y'all go ahead and come on back.

Thank you, Mayor and Council, for the opportunity to once again be here on behalf of the gift of life and share the important life-saving services. During June and July, this has been our men's health recognition about taking care of your health. Our motto has been, be a man, get screened. And really the underbelly of what we've tried to do now is that It's connecting one life to lifesaving services. So we know that it's about our city and certainly what you've represented that has advanced the health and wellness of men in Beaumont. And so we thank you for supporting our program, allowing us to have this opportunity to talk about what these services mean. So we conducted four screenings. Two have been in Lumberton and Port Arthur. We're going to be in Orange this Saturday. And then we'll be in Beaumont on July 25. So we've included these little packets of information. And what's important is there are about $500 worth of free lab screenings that are done. And so the men are able to go through these screenings with a lot of compassion and care. And then, which is remarkable, is that we have physicians that donate their time, and they're actually on site. When we were in Port Arthur last week, we had eight physicians, along with our medical director, Dr. Gwendolyn Lavallee, who then, once these men have some point of care and are seen through our medical stations that we have, the doctors actually spent 15 to 20 minutes going over their lab reports and, importantly, talking about and answering any of their questions so that they'll make the right decisions for a healthy lifestyle. And for many of us, fortunately, it's generally not prostate cancer, although one in eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime. But early detection is key. So whether that's prostate cancer, whether it's a cardiovascular disease or diabetes, which Dr. Lavallee can tell you, we're seeing so many people with hypertension and pre-diabetic. This platform, with your help as champions, is about really letting men know about their scores and making the right lifestyle changes so they can be here for the ones that love them. So as always, we try to have a lot of compassion and love. So not only do you get the screenings, you see a doctor, you also get a $25 Jason's Deli gift card. You get lunch, giveaways, and as a special treat, like the mayor, when you'll have your lead 43, we've got an ice cream truck. I know you're having food trucks, and we have a healthy Italian ice cream truck. The men get produce from the Southeast Texas Food Bank in addition to a lot of love. And so another really special part of our screenings is that it doesn't end there. It's a continuum of care. So Dr. Lavallee, with another nurse practitioner, will be calling all of the men, giving them the reports, and then telling them the next step. So if they don't have a provider, she navigates them to someone. And importantly, if they have elevated PSAs for the prostate cancer, and they meet our criteria, gift of life, then they become part of our family. We pay for the next step of care, which is seeing a urologist, pathology, and then pretty remarkably, we pay for cancer treatment. And so with me today is this wonderful group of champions, many of whom are our staff, Dr. Lavallee, Ingrid Holmes, importantly, Dora Nisby. I know most of you know her as basically our advocate and our champion as well, who's our officer, and Chief Earl White, who as a prostate cancer survivor has been there and has advocated for us and really encouraging the men to come to our screenings. And a special guest that we have is Mr. John Manuel. He is one of our prostate cancer clients, and he is someone who has been through the program and been through the screenings for more than 10 years. And so if I could have a moment, could I ask Mr. Manuel to share his remarks? Oh, he's excited. You can tell.

This is my first time doing something like this. In 2017, I was October 2017, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. In 2003, I was diagnosed with enlarged prostate. And in November of 2018, November 19, I went through 48 treatments of radiation. I beat that demon. I beat him. You know, anybody is... Everybody think it's a man thing, the finger. It's not. It's life. It's life. If a man don't go, he being selfish. You know, you got loved ones. I got seven grandbabies. That's my world. That's my world. Excuse me, I ride Fort Knox with a .22-1 bullet in it for them because they're my babies. You know, I'll do anything to make them happy. And me being here, just seeing them smile when they see me, that's more than enough. I'm the second person in my family with prostate cancer. My brother, he's not here. He was one of my inspirations because he didn't know about it. You know, he took a different route from me. You know, I took time at Dr. Saka. Excuse me, I'm getting emotional. And I don't do this. I don't. Dr. Saka. I love that man. You know, he saved my life. And then a couple of years later, before my mom passed, he was her doctor. And when I seen it was him, I was okay. You know what I'm saying? Because I know he's good at what he do. And he saved my mom's life. He saved my life. You know. It's okay.

It's okay. Thank you for sharing. Amen.

No, if it wasn't for Julie Rogers, I wouldn't be here. You know, they say you can live 20 years with a prostate cancer. I want to live longer than 20 years. You know, my dad lived to be 94. I said, I want to be 104. I'm going to do him by 10, you know. And that's my intention. As long as it's in remission, I'm good. You know, I know I could call on them. And they'll beat up on me. And every man should, you know. I speak to my friends about it. And I tell them, man, life is life. It's all about life. If you don't want to be here, don't do it. You know. But it's selfish. You got kids, wife, grandkids. Beat up for them.

And

If it wasn't for these ladies, and the ladies at Altus, well, they also, well, they work with you. They were patient with me, you know. And they system, you know, this should continue. I hope they do it for the next 150 years, 200 years, you know, because it's for a good cause. Because we as men, we don't think about our health. I don't think we're thinking about going to work. You know, taking care of home, making home good, you know. And we can't do it. You know, we don't take care of ourselves. We have to take care of us.

Thank you.

I'd just like to, as a three-year prostate cancer survivor myself, I just want to thank the gift of life for everything that you do. If it wasn't for early detection, you know, getting my PSA test done every year, you know, telling if I would have even ever been on council. So early detection works. Thank you all for all you do.

And since Regina Rogers got here late, we'll take another picture.

Oh, yeah. Oh, thank you. She was caught in traffic.

No, on that intersection trying to get on the freeway.

Oh, wow. Yeah, yeah.

Well, thank you. We'll take another photograph. And thank you. The other thing, the last thing we'll ask everyone here is we have opening screening slots in Beaumont. We have more than 50. So if you would, please share this life-saving message and encourage people to register. It's simple by calling us or going online. So thank you. And thank you, John, for sharing your heartfelt message. I know this is very difficult and not something he's done before. So thank you, sweetheart. And we'll take another photograph.

And I want to thank you all so much. She mentioned my mother's name. I'm sure that she and my father are up there with great pride and gratification. But it's all these people here and you all and everyone around us in this community that have supported this program so strongly and believe in what we're doing. Because without you, we would have nothing. And I mean that from the bottom of my heart. And Norma has led this program. initiative with such passion and compassion and everyone here dora nesby 94 years old and she was probably here at seven this morning am i right almost almost we love you

Alrighty, y'all look right here in one, two, and three. We're good. Thank you, guys.

Thank y'all.

And Mayor, since I'm so old, I'm going to take a privilege.

Yes, ma'am.

I just want to say I'm just so pleased to be a part of this program. And I talk about it everywhere I go. And it helps. And I feel so good when I talk to young men and tell them they need to get screening. And when they come back and tell me about the good service that they received from the gift of life, it just makes my day. So I'm just glad to be here. I hope I'll be here 94 more years. Yes.

Of course, always with a memory of dear Cleveland as being our hearts. What an extraordinary man and a great citizen for our community.

Thank you. Next, we have a proclamation recognizing August 6, 2026, as Industrial Women Wearing Hats Day. And accepting will be Mrs. Adolph, pioneering women's member and proclamation chair, along with all the members that are present today. So please come forward.

It's always good to see you.

All right. All right. Y'all look right here. And one, two, and three. Okay.

My turn, ladies. Okay. Everyone looks awesome. One, two, three. All right. Thank you.

Mayor Roy Rest and all council here this morning, the Pioneering Women of Beaumont, Texas, Jefferson County, thanks you. I am Dori Adolph, a member of Pioneering Women, and I have with me other members of the organization as well as our honorees that we'll be celebrating this year. We are committed to uplifting and encouraging women to better themselves. We celebrate women and girls according to the 19th Amendment. And so we are grateful that you have recognized us. We thank you for the proclamation. And we look forward to seeing your beautiful faces in August at our annual scholarship luncheon, which is the first Thursday in August. I believe it's August 6th this year. And we have some of our honorees with us this morning. So thank you very much for the time and for the proclamation.

Thank you. Next, we have a proclamation recognizing July 30th, 2026 is World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. Accepting will be Ms. Brittany De La Garza, Education Coordinator for Embracing Freedom. And we've got your...

Thank you.

yeah we'll go and do pictures first all right y'all look right here and one two three y'all hold on one second i'll get one on this phone all right y'all one two and three we got it thank you

Thank you so much city council members for having us today. This is such an important task for us to remind the community about what Embracing Freedom is doing and also about the trafficking issue we have in our community. One of the things that we are so excited to announce in case we haven't heard about it already is that the Brandeis Drop-In Center is now open as of this year. So this is a drop-in center where youth can come in They can get basic necessities and services, food, and have non-judgmental space where they can also access counseling. We are here. We're open. And we just wanted to let the community know information can be found on our social media and our website. One of the reasons why this is so important is because within 48 hours of a young person leaving their home and being on the streets or homeless, a trafficker will approach them. And so this is just the reality of what we're facing. And we wanted to let the community know this is what we're doing to help. And we appreciate your attention to this Matters Day. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

And now we have a proclamation recognizing my friend's 20-year anniversary of the Jim King of the Road TV show. And accepting will be Mr. Jim King of King of the Road and owner of King Country. And certainly you can bring anybody up that you'd like as well.

Thank you. Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much.

You can go and step right back up here. We'll get your picture. All righty, y'all. One, two, and three. You get one with this one. All right. One, two, and three. We got it.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Thank you, City Council. I came here in 1999 to do a 10-year stint on Kicker 95.1 radio station. And we know what's happened to radio in the recent years. They've kind of eliminated local personalities. So I'm proud of the fact that I launched my own platform to keep doing what I love. I got to thank my wife, Suzanne Simmons. I got married for the first time at 66 last year. I'm a late bloomer. Also, Jack Piper, he's a radio legend for all of his encouragement and lunches that we had together. He's always been in my corner, and I really appreciate that. Appreciate you guys, too. Here's to the next 20 years. Stay tuned.

All right. And thank you all for coming. And our next proclamation recognition will be August 4th at 10.30 a.m. And also at 11.30 this morning I'm going to be doing a presentation to P.J. Locke as well for the key to the city that he received for having his football camp here. Current NFL player, Dallas Cowboys. So thank you all for being here. Meeting is adjourned.