ABOUT US
Current Board of Directors
Training
History of Texas Probation Association
Past Presidents
Current Board of Directors
President: Roxane Marek
Wharton County, CSCD
Vice President: Aris V. Johnson
Gregg County, JPD
Treasurer: Tommy Ellis
Montgomery County, CSCD
Secretary: Cathy Schweitzer
Walker County, CSCD
Parliamentarian: Acie Berry
Williamson County, JPD
At-Large: Tobin Lefler
Concho Valley, CSCD
Adult Discipline: Caroline Rickaway
Brazoria County, CSCD
Juvenile Discipline: Julia Ramirez
Harris County, JPD
At-Large: Michael Fairley
Jefferson County, CSCD
Adult Discipline: Rodney Thompson
Angelina County, CSCD
Juvenile Discipline: Ed Cockrell
Jefferson County, JPD
At Large: Angie (Castillo) Saenz
Cameron County, CSCD
Adult Discipline: John
McGuire
Brazos County, CSCD
Juvenile Discipline: Paul Zuniga
Victoria County, JPD
Secretariat: Robin Dulock, Correctional Mgmt. Institute of
Texas
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Training
The Management Development & Institutional
Corrections Division of the Correctional Management
Institute of Texas would like to announce that our
fiscal year 2008 Training Calendar is now available
on our website at http://www.cmitonline.org.
We will be updating each training and conference with
more information, such as hotel information, brochures,
agenda, and speaker information as it becomes available
- so check back regularly. You can register online
for all of our programs now.
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History
of Texas Probation Association
In 1970, the Texas Corrections Association was created
to address the concerns of corrections professionals
in the field of criminal justice. TCA was chartered
for all disciplines of corrections professionals. In
the mid 1970’s, the need and the drive for a
more structured and better-funded probation system
for both the juvenile and adult systems began to emerge.
It was felt by some probation professionals that the
focus of the Texas Corrections Association, while still
instrumental to the needs of corrections professionals,
was not focused enough on the desperate need of probation
departments around the state. In 1974, the Texas Probation
Association was chartered to address those needs, and
create an association just for probation professionals.
The initial thought of a professional probation association
brought about the importance of networking through
training, and the ability to gather ideas on how we
might better serve our communities and perform the
tasks placed upon us by the courts.
After its inception in 1974, TPA was instrumental
in the pursuit of legislation that eventually led to
the establishment of the Texas Adult Probation Commission
in 1977. Working closely with a young legislator named
Jerry “Nub” Donaldson, and State Senator
B.B. Schwartz, the Texas Probation Association was
instrumental in the passage of legislation creating
the Texas Adult Probation Commission (TAPC). TAPC was
established as a regulatory agency, which sought the
improvement of the probation system, and provided equality
among counties in Texas toward the provision of services
to offenders. With parole costing the taxpayer $1,100.00
per year, and incarceration costing a whopping $3,700
per year, something needed to be done to relieve the
mounting cost. Funding probation at $.097 per day per
offender for felony cases seemed to be the right thing
to do. The passage of Senate Bill 39 began the process
of state involvement in local Adult Probation Departments.
In 1979, with the legislative assistance of the Texas
Probation Association’s first lobbyist and recently
retired legislator, Jerry “Nub” Donaldson,
we again led the fight for the establishment of the
Texas Juvenile Probation Commission by supporting the
passage of HB 1704. Governor Bill Clements had appointed
a committee to look at the delivery of juvenile services
to offenders in the state of Texas. The recommendation
was that Juvenile Probation should have a unified corrections
system, placed under the direction of the Texas Youth
Commission. The argument of TPA and practitioners in
the field was that probation should be a locally administered
alternative, under the direction of the judiciary.
In the end, TJPC was created and designed to assist
local juvenile departments, through state funding,
in their provision of services to juvenile offenders.
The successful venture by the state into funding adult
services had fueled the belief that early intervention,
and local control could work if it was begun earlier
in the lives of offenders.
Thus began the relationship between the legislature
and the community corrections and juvenile justice
systems of the state of Texas. Reality had taken charge,
and the fact that probation was a much cheaper alternative
to incarceration in TYC or TDC was on everyone’s
mind. Placing funds into the front end of the system
to divert people from incarceration just seemed to
make sense and was viewed as the best approach for
saving state dollars.
In each and every legislative session that has transpired
since 1975, TPA has had an unwritten agenda that continues
to fight for the continuation of adequate funding in
the Adult and Juvenile Systems. Even before the very
first TPA Conference, held in Waco, Texas in 1975,
probation has never been a politically popular sentencing
option. To the taxpayer, a hard line stance on crime
means incarceration. This is what the taxpayers of
the state of Texas have traditionally wanted, and probation
has always been viewed as mild punishment. In the political
arena, a hard-line stance on crime gets you reelected.
As such, our association has been so busy defending
our profession from damaging pieces of legislation;
we have had little time to focus on our ideas. The
focus was that we needed to work together to get anything
accomplished. Many voices make a lot more noise than
one voice. Therefore, the creation of an association
to work toward the improvement of our community justice
systems was with a great deal of merit. Probation officers
needed to be viewed as professionals, because they
were responsible for the supervision, the direction
and the future of someone’s life. TPA was to
become that “professional association.”
As in the past, community corrections and juvenile
probation will have to continue fighting for our local
autonomy, which, without the support of TPA, surely
would have been lost long before now. One of the many
benefits of being employed in a system of local government
is the pride of working with the local courts, and
the involvement of the community in which you live.
Questions about TPA’s benefit to the field center
around what TPA has done for probation since the establishment
of the Adult and Juvenile Probation Commissions? First
and foremost, TPA provides the field with the most
unified voice possible. There will always be disagreement
on some issues, but the fact remains that TPA still
acts as a voice for many probation officers statewide.
On occasion, some will argue that TPA did not take
an active enough role in favor or in opposition to
a piece of legislation that was, in their opinion,
damaging or helpful to the field, therefore, it has
done nothing. Alienating a part of our membership base
is not the desire of the association. On those issues
where there is widespread difference of opinion, we
try and remain neutral, although that neutrality is
at times influenced by the direction of the legislature,
or amendments to a particular piece of legislation.
All of us want a better working environment in which
we receive the funds necessary to meet our objectives,
we all want to be recognized for the jobs we do, and
be respected for what we are trying to accomplish.
All of us want to believe we have made a difference.
TPA has “done” a great deal. Many were
busy trying to maintain our funding base and providing
justification for the programs we have. For many years,
we have actively fought the possibility that there
would be a consolidation of probation and parole. We
fought against state control of juvenile probation
services. We were fighting the proposal of taking on
additional responsibilities without any additional
funding, and justifying our mandated right to be a
part of a criminal justice system in which incarceration
receives the lion’s share of attention and funding.
And we were fighting for additional programs, and the
funding necessary to provide cost effective treatment
programs in our communities.
If there is no one to speak for the field and the
offenders we are charged to supervise who will insure
that we remain a part of the state-funding base? TPA
has always been there to hopefully thwart any damaging
legislation, which will impair us from doing our jobs
to the best of our ability. TPA is the primary reason
that probation officers around the state can consider
themselves professionals in the field of corrections.
The Texas Probation Association is important to our
profession. Getting involved helps you to turn your “job” into
a career. And it helps to make a difference.
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Past
Presidents
Persons who have been elected President of the Association
include:
Robert D. Barron, McLennan County
Amador R. Rodriguez, Cameron County
Roy K. Robb, Coryell County
Charles W. Hawkes, Jefferson County
Don Hightower, Wood County
Dan Richard Beto, Brazos County
Steve Robinson, Travis County
Walter Minica, Bell County
Melvin Brown, Jr., Montgomery County
Jim Stott, Jefferson County
Estela P. Medina, Travis County
Roy H. Williams, Sr., Dallas County
James M. Martin, Jr., Jefferson County
Fred Rangel, Angelina County
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