Precinct 3 Justice of the Peace Janice Menard wants to continue in a third term and will run in the March primaries on the Democratic ballot. 

“I love working with people and serving the community that I’m in,” she said.

Menard, 69, has been with the office for 27 years, 20 of those as court clerk under Flo Edgerly, who retired in 2002. 

She says Edgerly was her role model and very little has changed procedure-wise since those days, however, the office location certainly has. 

Menard and her staff were moved to a small mobile home at the Orange County Airport after Hurricane Ike’s waters flooded the old office on Roundbunch Road on the outskirts of Bridge City. The county plans to build a new office at the airport.

“They want to leave us here because, one, it’s high ground that didn’t flood during Ike, and two; it’s better visibility for us,” she says. “We’re right in the middle of the precinct, so to speak.”

In the past six years, Menard says she’s seen some 20,000 traffic cases, 941 civil court cases and 433 warrants.

“The worst part of my job is the inquests, which all justices of the peace will tell you is the worst,” she says. She’s done 614 of those.

Justices are authorized to order autopsies.

A native of Garden City, La., Menard graduated from St. Mary High School in Orange and was married to Bobby Menard, who passed away in 1999. The couple had six children. Menard took office for her first term in 2003 and again in 2007. JP’s serve four-year terms.

Menard is a member of the Bridge City/Orangefield Rotary Club and the Bridge City Chamber of Commerce, St. Henry Catholic Church and the St. Henry Altar Society.

In 2005, she was named 2005 Citizen of the Year by the Bridge City chamber. She says constituents can call her with questions or comments at 735-3601. She welcomes all callers, she says.

According to the Orange County Web site, JPs preside over criminal cases classified by the Texas Transportation Code and Texas Penal Code as Class C misdemeanors, misdemeanors punishable by fine only, and misdemeanor offenses punishable by anything other than imprisonment. The justice presides over small claims and justice court suits where the amount in controversy does not exceed $5,000. 

The court exercises special jurisdiction when hearing cases involving forcible detainer and forcible entry and detailer and when conduction hearings to determine proper ownership of property seized by law enforcement officials. The justice reviews probable cause, issues arrest and search warrants, and administers statutory warnings to defendants accused of felony crimes as well as to defendants arrested on warrants issued in other counties. 

The justice is a fee officer and collects fines and fees for various civil and criminal cases. JPs can also perform marriage ceremonies and serves as local registrar for the precinct.