Jack Batton

Jack Batton (December 16, 1913 – April 8, 1996) was a small businessman who served as the Democratic mayor of the small city of Minden, the seat of Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana, for a single term from 1978–1982. Previously, Batton served on the Minden City Council in the former position of streets and parks commissioner from 1946–1978. He was a brother of former Webster Parish Sheriff John D. Batton (1911–1981), known as J.D. Batton, who served from 1952–1964.

In his first term as street commissioner, Batton and then newly-elected Mayor John T. David moved forward a plan to blacktop eight miles of Minden municipal streets, beginning with Bayou Avenue to the Minden Cemetery. In 1978, after three decades on the council, then under the he city commission format, Batton ran for mayor under the current mayor-council system. The incumbent, Jacob E. "Pat" Patterson, declined to seek a second term. In the jungle primary held on September 16, 1978, Batton won the mayor’s position by an 88-vote margin over his fellow Democrat, the late Orris R. Long, former executive director of the Chamber of Commerce. Batton polled 2,633 votes (50.8 percent) to Long’s 2,545 (49.2 percent).

In the same election, Peggy J. Staples (1933-2009) became the first woman ever elected to the city council. She defeated fellow Democrat Ben Kinel, 733 (67 percent) to 359 (33 percent). Robert T. Tobin similarly became the first African American elected to the council in 1978, having defeated fellow Democrat J.D. Hampton, 519 (69.8 percent) to 225 (30.2 percent). And Republican Felix R. Garrett (1922–1987), formerly the public utilities commissioner, became the first member of his party to fill a single-member district seat on the city council. Batton did not seek reelection in 1982, when the educator, Noel "Gene" Byars, was elected mayor.

As mayor, Batton advocated continued municipal ownership of the light and power plant, first procured by the city during the 1958–1966 administration of Mayor Frank T. Norman. Batton worked to expand low-income housing and continued street paving. Batton operated his Batton’s Grocery Store for some four decades until his retirement in 1991. He was also a member of the Minden Fire Department from 1949–1989.

A cattleman, Batton owned the Minden Auction Barn and provided at no cost the arena used by the Minden Riding Club. He also raised horses. The facility was subsequently renamed the Jack Batton Arena. Batton was a member of the Masonic lodge and the First United Methodist Church.

In 1986, Batton returned to the political fray in a bid to oust Byars. He used the slogan, "Get an Old Pro Off the Bench." Byars boasted of his accomplishments; $830,000 in street improvements, $9 million in new industry, and three hundred new jobs. Byars prevailed, 2,603 votes (53.6 percent) to Batton's 2,252 (46.4 percent). It was Batton's last political race.

Batton, a Minden native, graduated in 1932 from Minden High School, having played football in the fall of 1931. His first wife was the former Dorothy Alice Shurtleff (December 18, 1914–May 14, 1973), the daughter of A.C. Shurtleff (January 15, 1882 - September 16, 1928) and Cora Belle Shurtleff (February 1, 1888–December 16, 1960).

The Battons lived in a house made of brown rock at the intersection of Goodwill and Marshall streets in Minden. The football star David Lee of the former Baltimore Colts grew up in the same block as the Battons. The Battons had three children: Jackie Batton Reeves (born 1938) and husband, Henry Rogers Reeves (born ca. 1937), of Haughton in Bossier Parish; James Howard "Jimmy" Batton (1943–1997), a former Webster Parish sheriff’s deputy, and Dorothy Gale Batton Smith (born 1946) and husband, Harold Eugene Smith (born ca. 1940), of Waynesboro, Virginia. There were also five grandchildren. At the time of his death, Batton was divorced from the former Lucille Z. Jones (1916–2004), the widow of retired United States Army officer Rosamond Jones (1912–1980) of Minden.

Batton is interred in Section C of the Minden Cemetery.