After more than 50 years of serving the citizens of Odessa, Justice of the Peace Terry Lange is saying so long.
Lange served 28 years with the Odessa Police Department before retiring Dec. 31, 1998. He began his 24 years as JP on Jan. 1, 1999.
As the time of his OPD retirement, Lange was a 48-year-old captain and served in just about every unit within the department. He decided it was time for a change and ran for Precinct 1 Justice of the Peace.
“Part of the JP’s duties has to do with some law enforcement, like with approving warrants, search warrants, arrest warrants, dealing with tickets, so I was pretty well-rounded in in that atmosphere, but then we also do civil suits. So there was a learning curve there. But what I’ve come to believe is that as a policeman, you do problem solving and here, we listen to cases and we try to solve problems too. So it was just a matter of learning some new some new laws, some new procedures,” Lange said.
Lange, who graduated from Permian High School in 1969, said he hasn’t seen a great deal of change in people’s attitudes and demeanor over the years.
They just have issues and they want to have a fair day and have their day in court,” Lange said. “They just want to tell their story as best they can and hope they can get it resolved.”
Technology has changed, of course, especially when it comes to computers and during COVID-19, they did a lot of teleconferencing, he said.
It’ll be strange getting used to a whole new routine, but he and his wife are moving to Weatherford to be closer to one of their five sons, a daughter-in-law, two new grandbabies and his brother.
An avid motorcyclist, Lange suspects he’ll be doing more riding as well. He also plans to continue deer hunting with his brother.
Lange won’t miss campaigning every four years, which he described as nerve-wracking and exciting. He will, however, miss his staff and remains grateful to them and the voters who blessed him with their support, Lange said.
“My staff has been very professional and helpful to all who came to our office. I could not have done the job without them,” Lange said. “I also want to thank the commissioners court who gave me the number of clerks needed to perform our duties for the betterment of Ector County.”
The Ector County Commissioner’s Court was scheduled to accept his resignation Tuesday. The court will then appoint his replacement, who will then have to run during the next election cycle.
Justices of the Peace need to have a willingness to do the job, Lange said.
“”They can’t just be a figurehead and just want the title and to be called judge,” Lange said. “I think I’ve been a public servant for 52 years. Some people work in public service. Others are public servants. There’s a difference.”
Asked what he’d like his legacy to be, Lange replied:
“Well, that I treated people fair, that I gave them their day in court. If I could help them, I would be glad to help them. There are certain rules that have to be followed and sometimes even though you want to, you can’t because it doesn’t fit the law,” he said.
