When he first became Justice of the Peace for Precinct 4 in Taylor County, Frank Cleveland, 72, found some aspect of his new job a little more difficult than he expected.
It wasn’t the duties.
It was the termites.
And no, this is not a metaphor for parasitic pests eating it up. It’s about actual, matter-of-fact, wood-eating bugs.
Cleveland, who is retiring, did all of his court clerk duties in his first 13 years in his JP position. His office was a used, portable building with no courtroom.
He used a nearby community center for court hearings.
District 4 commissioner Chuck Statler recalled that Cleveland, who had only been in office for a few weeks, called in 1999 to ask him to come to Lawn, where Cleveland had his office.
Statler wanted to know why.
“He said, ‘Well, I don’t have a termite problem anymore,’” recalled Statler.
Statler told Cleveland it was good provided it was so.
“Yes, the fire ants got them,” the judge allegedly said in response.
“I went down and looked at it and found that the building the JP was working in was pretty infested and in need of demolition,” said Statler.
The judge’s subsequent excavations had few errors in the system.
These were located in a small part of the unheated, non-air-conditioned community library.
Cleveland stayed there for 13 months while a new building was built.
Now the location of the court on Main Street is an “important asset for our community and for Taylor County,” he said.
And, remarked Statler, it’s all made of metal.
Eat this termites.
Man for the job
There are five JPs in the county who all have roughly the same responsibilities, Cleveland said.
“We do criminal work with anything that is a fine for a crime,” he said. “Drunk in public or disorderly behavior, petty theft. We do juvenile criminal matters. We have civil lawsuits – anything under $ 20,000 will be filed in the JP court. We all conduct unsupervised death investigations. “
Most people don’t realize that there is so much “diversity” in work, Cleveland said.
“But it’s pretty involved,” he said. “And I enjoyed it.”
Cleveland brought an extensive background in law enforcement to the judge’s office.
He served for 25 years as an officer in the Abilene Police Department, which was responsible for trucks, narcotics and the organized crime department.
For 10 years he was in command of the West Central Texas Interlocal Crime Task Force and was under the governor’s office.
This facility spanned 15 counties with a focus on illegal drugs and violent crime.
In September 1997, he was awarded the Exceptional Medal of Service by the Governor’s Office of the Governor’s Criminal Justice Division for his service to the Texas Narcotics Control Program.
Change of plan
A “bad heart attack” caused him to step out of law enforcement just as the previous Precinct 4 JP was retiring.
“So I applied for this position and got it,” said Cleveland.
It was certainly different from drug labs and smugglers.
Working in the narcotics industry is challenging every day, even though it’s “not like being on TV,” he said.
“But it was a challenge every day, and it is because every case is different,” said Cleveland.
One of the first challenges in his job as JP, he said, was suppressing part of his “police mentality”.
“My theory was yes, he is guilty, otherwise I would not have arrested him,” he said. “But you have to separate that mindset now because you are a neutral body and you have to give preference to the defendant when in doubt until this evidence proves guilt.”
From dangerous dog cases to more frequent eating, there isn’t nearly as much direct investigation.
“I’m having (law enforcement) the investigation and bringing it to me now,” Cleveland said.
But his career has helped him “tremendously”, he said, when it comes to the background of a judge, especially when it comes to probable causes and other aspects of how things work on the street.
“It puts me in a better position to know, first of all, whether this officer had a likely reason based on what they are telling me,” he said.
Likewise, something as simple as working on the patrol helps him understand issues like traffic violations and how radar works.
He has the tools
All of that knowledge gives him tools that he can then translate directly into understanding the courtroom, Cleveland said.
“I think I’m probably more critical as a judge,” he said. “I don’t mean it badly, but I can criticize a police officer’s approach because I know what to do. The police have rules of the game. The criminals don’t. “
He joked that he would likely make a great judge on defense in a lawsuit because he “knows what to look for, if anything”.
Fortunately, Cleveland said he had only encountered two officers in his entire working life who were “problems.”
“They were removed very quickly,” he said. “We have many great officers in this district and it has been a pleasure to work with each of them at every level that I have worked at. They are good people. We don’t have a relationship problem that many big cities have. “
Cleveland is looking forward to retirement and said it plans to do a lot of work on its 40 acre property, which is about seven miles from Lawn.
He also hopes to be able to fish the coast along with a cruise and other trips.
Deserved respect
Aside from the termite troubles, Cleveland did an excellent job, Statler said.
“I have a lot of respect for him,” he said. “His room during his retirement was filled with peace officers from almost every level.”
And among its JP colleagues, Cleveland bears the unofficial title of “Chief Justice,” said Statler.
“This goes to senior JP,” he said, a title Cleveland earned when former District 1 Judge, 2nd Place, AL Deatherage announced his resignation.
His tenure and his accumulated understanding made him very popular, said Statler – and probably earned him this award.
“With his wisdom and experience, Frank deserves every award, whether with a wink or respect, because he has done his job well,” he said.
Brian Bethel reports on the city, county and general news for Abilene Reporter News. If you value local news, you can get local journalists with one digital subscription to ReporterNews.com.
