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The Questions Four. The line-up for these responses was determined by a coin toss. Each candidate responded to four questions posed by the Lightning. Click comments under each name to read their answers. No registraion required.
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The Questions Four
1.Why do you qualify for Justice of the Peace?
One of the things I have learned over the last eight years is that most folks do not know what a Justice of the Peace does. The Justice of the Peace Court handles many thousands of cases each year involving civil and small claims actions, misdemeanor cases, traffic violations, evictions—and critical to our community—truancy and juvenile disorderly conduct cases. A Justice of the Peace also magistrates felony cases, conducts administrative hearings, issues warrants, and performs weddings.
On a day-to-day basis, we must deal with and understand Chapters 27 and 28 of the Government Code, know when the Rules of Evidence apply, and be familiar with Justice Court Rules of Procedure.
We must also have a working knowledge of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, the Property Code, the Education Code, the Alcoholic Beverage Code, the Health and Safety Code, the Family Code, the Transportation Code and the Penal Code.
Even when presiding over Small Claims Court, a Justice of the Peace must ensure that all matters are handled in accordance with the applicable law so that all are treated equally, with dignity. A Justice of the Peace touches more lives on a day-to-day basis than any other court and must, therefore, have the knowledge and experience to successfully handle the many challenges that arise.
I earned my BA degree and lifetime teacher’s certificate summa cum laude, followed by a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree, from St. Mary’s University. I served over 26 years as an attorney for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, becoming familiar with the many aspects of real estate law and administrative law. For the last 13 years of my career, I served as Chief Counsel, giving me the necessary supervisory experience needed to handle a court with 22 employees.
Since my election to this office in the year 2000, I have presided over more than 20,000 truancy and juvenile disorderly conduct cases and over 11,000 civil cases. We are the only court in the county that presides over TABC hearings involving wine and beer licenses.
Of the approximately 4000 inmates in the Bexar County Jail at any one time, as many as 99% started out as truants. I believe that with early intervention such as counseling, mentoring, and meaningful community –not incarceration—young lives can be turned around.
Therefore, whenever I have a juvenile docket, counseling agencies are in my courtroom ready to sign up children and their parents for appropriate mentoring or counseling.
I have testimonials from parents, from officials from three school districts and counseling agencies that the programs we have initiated have, in fact, reduced truancy and the dropouts in the affected schools. Not only will these young folks have opportunities for a better life, but, hopefully, there will also be less crime in our neighborhoods.
With thirty-seven years of legal experience, including the past seven years of judicial service, and with the experience and common sense that comes from being a teacher, a wife, a mother, a grandmother, and great-grandmother, I feel qualified and blessed to serve Precinct 2 as a Justice of the Peace.
2. The Court is called Justice of the Peace. Define your concept of “Justice” and “Peace.”
Established by Article 5 of the Texas Constitution, the Justice of the Peace Court originally handled disputes involving water, land, and cattle.
Miscreants also experienced the justice meted out by the court, sometimes without benefit of anything approaching civil rights. But because folks believed that a fair and impartial judge could resolve their disputes, cases came before the Justice of the Peace rather than being resolved by the parties through force.
Thus “peace” prevailed. This is still true in many small rural counties. The court became known as the “Peoples’ Court” because litigants came without attorneys.
Today a Justice of the Peace must still be fair and impartial so that all parties feel that they have been treated equally under the law. Many folks who come before a Justice of the Peace still represent themselves, sometimes finding that counsel represents the other side. In other cases attorneys represent both sides.
Today the jurisdictional limits in both Justice Court and Small Claims Court have been raised to $10,000, ensuring that many cases formerly filed in County Courts are being filed in JP Court. In large counties, there is a tremendous number and variety of cases to be decided. Although the litigating parties can come before the judge without knowing the law, for Justice to prevail the judge must surely know the law, that all will have the peace of mind of knowing they have been treated fairly under the same law that governs all.
3. So do you have any further political aspirations besides JP?
No. I have run for only one office in my life and do not intend to run for any others.
4. Finally, how can you help the community from beyond the bench?
I believe that we are put on this earth to make the world a better place, any way that we can. As a girl, I was a member of the Honor Service Society and was recognized for service to my school. In college I was a founder of the ”Belles of St. Mary’s,” which at that time was a service organization, helping girls adjust to what was previously an all-male campus. As HUD Chief Counsel of the San Antonio Office, I received certificates of Appreciation from the Federal Women’s Committee and the San Antonio Council of Federal Women’s Program Coordinators for elevating federal women’s careers and for significant contributions to the advancement of equal opportunity. I helped to establish the HUD Mentor Program at Burnett Elementary School, which was adjacent to the Victoria Courts, and served as a HUD Mentor for the last five years of my career with the Department.
After retiring from HUD, I volunteered at the Legal Awareness and Benefits office of the Texas Area on Aging, giving legal advice to the elderly. On a regular basis, I visited folks in Golden Manor Nursing Home who needed company and volunteered as an instructor in the Senior Comp Program of Alamo P.C., helping to instruct elderly people in basic computer skills.
As the daughter of a World War I veteran, who was gassed while serving in France; the wife of a veteran of the Korean War; and the mother-in-law of a veteran of the Vietnam War, I have always been concerned with Veterans’ issues, joining as a member the VFW Auxiliary and as Vice President of the Alamo Unit #2 of the American Legion Auxiliary to further veterans’ rights.
An active volunteer and leader in community services, I have been Vice-President of the National Association of Retired Federal Employees, Leon Valley-Helotes Chapter #1602 and am currently on the Board of AARP, Summit Oaks Chapter, and the Harp and Shamrock Society of Texas. I serve on the Bexar County Bail Bond Board and was appointed to serve on the Committee for Judicial Conduct for the State of Texas and the Judges Diversionary Committee. I have agreed to assist the Committee for Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities and in the formation of a county-wide Truancy Council.
I am a frequent speaker at schools and neighborhood meetings and have spoken to sections of the San Antonio Bar Association as to the laws relating to Justice Court and Small Claims Court. I am a Fellow of the San Antonio Bar Foundation and the Texas Bar Foundation and have been recognized for “outstanding professional service and notable contributions to the administration of justice and the people of Texas.”
I have been honored with the Amistad Award from the Milagrito Organization and by the Business and Professional Woman of San Antonio in 2003. and also by the Business and Professional Women of Texas as a Texas woman to watch in 2004. In 2006 I was named Woman of the Year by the American Business Women’s Association of San Antonio.
I will continue to serve from the bench and beyond to the best of my ability simply because I believe that our mission in life is to help make things better by simply being here.
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