Opinion of the Former President of the Texas Criminal Defen
For Matters Concerning the Court Visit
Background
Larry Fields was raised on the family farm in the Antioch and Old Center Communities. As a teenager, when he was not working on the family farm, on weekends, holidays and summers, he worked for various oil field construction companies and for Dr. Wayne Kyle at the Veterinary Clinic. Larry graduated with Honors from Carthage High School and received his Associate Degree from Panola Junior College. After being elected Panola County Constable of Precinct 4, at the age of 21, he attended the East Texas Police Academy at Kilgore Junior College and became a Certified Peace Officer. He earned a Bachelors Degree in Criminology and Business from Stephen F. Austin State University and a Doctor of Jurisprudence Degree from South Texas College of Law. After graduating from law school, he started his legal career as a Sole Practitioner in his home town of Carthage, Texas. While getting his legal practice established, Larry was an Adjunct Professor at East Texas Baptist University, teaching Paralegal Courses. He is licenced to practice law in all Texas Courts, the U. S. Eastern District of Texas and the U. S. Supreme Court. Larry has more than thirty-three years of experience practicing law and currently serves as the elected Justice of the Peace for Precincts One and Four in Panola County.
Larry is a member of the State Bar of Texas, College of the State Bar of Texas, Panola County Bar Association (Former President), Panola County Chamber of Commerce (Former member of the Board of Directors), National Association of Realtors, Texas Association of Realtors, Carthage Noon Lions Club and the Texas Justice of the Peace and Constable Association. Larry was appointed twice, by the Governor of the State of Texas. to serve on the Texas Optometry Board, the Medical Board that licenses and regulates eye doctors in the state, where he also served as Secretary of the Board for more than 10 years.
Panola County - Our Beginnings
On June 30, 1841, the Fifth Congress of the Republic of Texas created the Panola District for judicial purposes. The First Legislature of the State of Texas created the county of Panola on March 30, 1846, and the county had its organization election July 13, 1846.
Panola comes from an Indian word meaning cotton. Judge John Allison was a Mississippi cotton-grower from a county called Panola in Mississippi. In 1846 when he became a leader in the creation of this new county in Texas, which also had soil conducive to growing cotton, he asked that the county be called Panola. Cotton immediately became Panola County's main cash crop.
In an election held in August 1848 the voters of the county chose Carthage. New county officers were also elected, and Chief Justice Thomas G. Davenport met with his first court session at Carthage on September 12. At that time, Carthage was little more than a location in a virgin forest of short-leaf pine, oak, hickory, and dogwood.
Logging intensified in the area after 1885, when a narrow-gauge log railroad out of Longview built into the county. In 1888 it was upgraded to standard gauge, and its tracks were extended into Carthage. The line eventually became part of the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway. Tying the area to national markets, the railroad also encouraged the development of the area's mineral wealth.
[Excerpted from: Leila B. LaGrone, "PANOLA COUNTY," Handbook of Texas Online; Published by the Texas State Historical Association]
Vote in the Republican Primary
March 1st.
Copyright © 2022 Judge Larry Fields - All Rights Reserved.
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