Judge: Court trying to change lives

When Eunice City Court Judge Terry Hoychick says his being a judge is a ‘calling’ and he isn’t talking about a phone call.
“It was a divine call,” he said at the Thursday’s Eunice Kiwanis Club meeting. “God told me to run for city judge. It was to basically make a difference in not only the lives of children, but in the adults here in Eunice.
Lives need to be changed because they are in a vicious cycle in which they really don’t know better, he said.
“You’ve got kids being raised by kids without parents.. without fathers, without the standard family structure that most of us had growing up,” Hoychick said.
“There are never told right from wrong. They are never told the truth about the word of God that we’ve been told,” he said.
“They really don’t know there is a different way to live a life...” he said.
Hoychick has served as city judge since January 2015.
In the nuts and bolts of running a court, Hoychick discontinued Monday night court sessions. And, the court is in the process of working to implement a paperless system for traffic and criminal cases, he said.
Hoychick also implemented a third alternative in sentencing. People who are convicted may go to jail, work on community service teams or opt to a attend the church of their choice, which, he said, is his preference.
Hoychick also teamed up with the Eunice Police Department for school visits and a boot camp, both organized by Sgt. Stephanie Myers, juvenile officer.
The school visits focus on students learning “the police are the good guys and break them of this fear they have this complex about police being bad people.”
Paul Brown of the St. Landry Parish District Attorney’s Office also joins in the visits, he said.
A counseling center is in Hoychick’s plans. The center would offer help with addiction and anger management, he said.