By Gilbert Hoffman
This year’s general election, set for November 6, will see a change in the Justice of the Peace in Baytown’s Pct. 3 Position 2. This is the position currently held by Judge Don Coffey.
Marketing Executive Lucia Bates, a life-long resident of the North Shore area, will become the next JP in that jurisdiction, since she is running with no opponent on the Republican ticket.
Bates spoke about her life and qualifications at a recent luncheon held by the Highlands Rotary Club. Rotary has had a special relationship with all the JP’s in recent years, Tony Polumbo, Mike Parrott, Don Coffey, and Joe Stephens. It was only natural that they wanted to meet and greet the next JP, Lucia Bates.
She spoke having been born in the Carribean island of St. Lucia, and moving to the U.S. as a child. She originally worked for GTE in Baytown, so she knows the area well. After that, she moved into advertising and marketing, first for the Houston Chronicle, and later for Houston Community Newspapers. She currently has her own business, LB Marketing Solutions. In many of these positions, she has won awards for outstanding performance.
Bates said her motivation to be a judge came from her passion to give back to the community. Her resume is full of public service positions, as a Rotary director, Chair of the North Channel Chamber, president of her HOA, and former board members of the YMCA, Pilot Club, Top Ladies of Distinction, Advisory Panel to LyondellEquistar, and much more.
Bates holds degrees from U of H Clear Lake, and the University of Phoenix.
As a JP, she plans to expand community education on new laws, add an evening court session, work with school districts to stop truancy, introduce punishment options that do not include incarceration, restart Teen Court, and work with local businesses to find jobs for persons recently released from jail that otherwise find a hard time getting permanent employment.
She says she will run the “People’s Court” with Integrity, Respect for Everyone, and a Welcoming or Inviting attitude.
Bates noted that becoming a JP is more than winning an election, and she has been studying hard on an internet course meant for first-time Justices of the Peace.
Bates is married, and has two daughters, and lives in the North Shore area.
She plans to bring her love for community to her new job, and her grandmother’s teaching, of Diplomacy and Decorum.