Allen Bares
Encyclopedia
Allen Ray Bares, Sr. was a Lafayette
lawyer
who served as a conservative Democrat
in both houses of the Louisiana State Legislature
between 1972 and 1992. He is particularly remembered for his strong support of the pro-life
cause and the Boy Scouts of America
. He was the State Senate President from 1988 to 1990, during the first half of the administration of former Governor
Buddy Roemer
, a Democrat who turned Republican
in 1991. Senators removed Bres as president in 1990 in an opposition move against Governor Roemer.
, where he played all sports, served as senior class president, and was a member of the chorus and parliamentary teams, both of which secured statewide recognition. He then graduated from Louisiana State University
in Baton Rouge, from which he procured his bachelor of arts
and law
degrees, the latter in 1960. He was a member of Sigma Nu
at LSU and served as the fraternity
president in 1957. He thereafter helped to establish a Sigma Nu chapter at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette
. Bares was commissioned as a second lieutenant
in the Louisiana National Guard
. He served six months of active duty at Fort Jackson, South Carolina
.
Bares began his legal career in Abbeville
, the seat of Vermilion Parish, as an associate of J.E. Kibbee. In 1961, he moved to Lafayette as an associate general counsel with All American Insurance
Company. He organized Val-u Investment Corporation and served as its vice president and general counsel. He practiced law for nearly a half century, most recently with the Oliver and Way firm of Lafayette. He was a lobbyist after he left the Senate.
. He was unopposed in 1975. In 1979, he was elevated to the State Senate
for the District 23 seat (Lafayette and Acadia parishes) vacated by Edgar G. "Sonny" Mouton, Jr., of Lafayette, who instead ran unsuccessfully for governor. In that campaign, under the new nonpartisan blanket primary, Bares defeated Democrat Pat Juneau, 54-46 percent in the general election, popularly called the runoff. Eliminated in the primary was Dud Lastrapes
, who became the mayor
of Lafayette the following year. Bares served in the Senate for twelve years until he was unseated in the 1991 general election
by the Republican J. Lomax Jordan
, also a Lafayette attorney. The seat is now held by the Republican Michael J. Michot
.
Roemer selected Bares as Senate President in 1988 though Sydney B. Nelson
of Shreveport
had actively sought the position and had urged Bares to run for the lesser position of Senate pro-tem. In Louisiana, the Senate president is normally chosen by the governor, but legislators in 1990 returned Nunez to the presidency in a slap at Roemer.
Bares' obituary
describes him as "a passionate leader in the pro-life movement [who] authored historic legislation to protect the precious lives of the unborn in Louisiana." In 1991, Bares authored a measure in the Senate, co-sponsored in the House by Representative Sam Theriot, which would have outlawed most abortions in Louisiana, including impregnations which resulted from incest
. The legislature approved the bill, but it was vetoed by Governor Roemer on the grounds that it went beyond the scope of the United States Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade
. Such feminist groups such as the National Organization for Women
, subsequently headed by the Louisiana native Kim Gandy
, formerly of Bossier City
, successfully targeted Bares and a pro-life House member, fellow Democrat Carl Newton Gunter, Jr., of Rapides Parish, for defeat. The controversy worked to Jordan's advantage though he too took the pro-life position. In the end, Bares and Gunter were defeated in what Louisiana feminists hailed as a great success.
Bares led Jordan in the 1991 primary with 13,409 votes (40 percent) to Jordan's 9,313 ballots (28 percent). Two other Republicans, Carl W. Tritschler (born February 16, 1964) and Max A. Menard received 6,713 (20 percent) and 3,921 (12 percent), respectively. The three Republican candidates, in what was otherwise a heavily Democratic year in Louisiana politics, polled a combined 60 percent in the state Senate primary. In the runoff, technically the general election
on November 16, 1991, Jordan received 22,224 (60 percent) to Bares' 14,730 (again 40 percent). In that same election, Edwin Washington Edwards returned for a fourth nonconsecutive term as governor in the showdown with former Ku Klux Klan
figure David Duke
.
A reformer in the legislature, Bares served as national vice president of the Education Commission of the States from 1985 to 1986. He championed tort reform
and was a lead author of the 1987 Workman's Compensation Reform Act. Bares was president of the Louisiana Chapter of the Association of French Speaking Legislators and a supporter of the interest group, the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana
, or CODOFIL. In 1991, the nation of France
awarded Bares the Medal of Merit to recognize his efforts to preserve the French language
and culture in Louisiana. He grew up speaking French and did not learn English
until he entered elementary school
. On two occasions, Bares, as state senator, accompanied Governor Roemer on trips to France and to Japan
.
, and St. Pius X Catholic
Church. He was the first elected president of Our Lady of Fatima Church. He was president of the Evangeline Area Boy Scouts Council located at 2266 South College Road in Lafayette. He received the Silver Beaver Award from the Scouts in 2000. He was an avid horse
man, hunter, fisherman
, and golf
er.
Bares died of a stroke
in Lafayette. He was survived by his wife of 50+ years, the former Elizabeth "Betty" Jeanne Baquet; eight children, Camille Massie, Jude Bares, M.D., Jeannine Martin, John Bares, Michelle Tober, Jacques Bares, Allen Bares, II, and Elizabeth Mackie; nineteen grandchildren; a sister, Agnes B. Richard, and two brothers, Eno Bares and Emery Bares. A mass of Christian
burial was held on August 18 at St. Pius X Church in Lafayette. Entombment was in the Calvary Cemetery Mausoleum
.
In 2002, Bares was inducted into the "Living Legends" section of the Acadian Museum in Erath.
Lafayette, Louisiana
Lafayette is a city in and the parish seat of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, United States, on the Vermilion River. The population was 120,623 at the 2010 census...
lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
who served as a conservative Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
in both houses of the Louisiana State Legislature
Louisiana State Legislature
The Louisiana State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is bicameral body, comprising the lower house, the Louisiana House of Representatives with 105 representatives, and the upper house, the Louisiana Senate with 39 senators...
between 1972 and 1992. He is particularly remembered for his strong support of the pro-life
Pro-life
Opposition to the legalization of abortion is centered around the pro-life, or anti-abortion, movement, a social and political movement opposing elective abortion on moral grounds and supporting its legal prohibition or restriction...
cause and the Boy Scouts of America
Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over 4.5 million youth members in its age-related divisions...
. He was the State Senate President from 1988 to 1990, during the first half of the administration of former Governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
Buddy Roemer
Buddy Roemer
Charles Elson "Buddy" Roemer III is an American politician who served as the 52nd Governor of Louisiana, from 1988 to 1992. He was elected as a Democrat but switched to the Republican Party on March 11, 1991...
, a Democrat who turned Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
in 1991. Senators removed Bres as president in 1990 in an opposition move against Governor Roemer.
Early years, education, law practice
Born to John and Oneida Bares , Bares was reared in the LeBlanc community in Vermilion Parish. He graduated in 1954 from Erath High School in ErathErath, Louisiana
Erath is a town in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 2,187 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Abbeville Micropolitan Statistical Area.Erath is home of the Acadian Museum....
, where he played all sports, served as senior class president, and was a member of the chorus and parliamentary teams, both of which secured statewide recognition. He then graduated from Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
in Baton Rouge, from which he procured his bachelor of arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
and law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
degrees, the latter in 1960. He was a member of Sigma Nu
Sigma Nu
Sigma Nu is an undergraduate, college fraternity with chapters in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Sigma Nu was founded in 1869 by three cadets at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia...
at LSU and served as the fraternity
Fraternity
A fraternity is a brotherhood, though the term usually connotes a distinct or formal organization. An organization referred to as a fraternity may be a:*Secret society*Chivalric order*Benefit society*Friendly society*Social club*Trade union...
president in 1957. He thereafter helped to establish a Sigma Nu chapter at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette
University of Louisiana at Lafayette
The University of Louisiana at Lafayette, or UL Lafayette, is a coeducational, public research university located in Lafayette, Louisiana, in the heart of Acadiana...
. Bares was commissioned as a second lieutenant
Second Lieutenant
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces.- United Kingdom and Commonwealth :The rank second lieutenant was introduced throughout the British Army in 1871 to replace the rank of ensign , although it had long been used in the Royal Artillery, Royal...
in the Louisiana National Guard
Louisiana National Guard
The Louisiana National Guard consists of the:*Louisiana Army National Guard** includes the U.S. 256th Infantry Brigade*Louisiana Air National Guard-External links:*** compiled by the United States Army Center of Military History...
. He served six months of active duty at Fort Jackson, South Carolina
Fort Jackson, South Carolina
Fort Jackson is a United States Army installation, which TRADOC operates on for Basic Combat Training , and is located in Columbia, South Carolina. This installation is named for Andrew Jackson, a United States Army General and 7th President of the United States.-Overview:Fort Jackson was created...
.
Bares began his legal career in Abbeville
Abbeville, Louisiana
Abbeville is a town in and the parish seat of Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, United States, 150 miles west of New Orleans. The population was 12,257 at the 2010 census...
, the seat of Vermilion Parish, as an associate of J.E. Kibbee. In 1961, he moved to Lafayette as an associate general counsel with All American Insurance
Insurance
In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...
Company. He organized Val-u Investment Corporation and served as its vice president and general counsel. He practiced law for nearly a half century, most recently with the Oliver and Way firm of Lafayette. He was a lobbyist after he left the Senate.
Legislative service
In 1972, Bares was elected to the Louisiana House of RepresentativesLouisiana State Legislature
The Louisiana State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is bicameral body, comprising the lower house, the Louisiana House of Representatives with 105 representatives, and the upper house, the Louisiana Senate with 39 senators...
. He was unopposed in 1975. In 1979, he was elevated to the State Senate
Louisiana State Legislature
The Louisiana State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is bicameral body, comprising the lower house, the Louisiana House of Representatives with 105 representatives, and the upper house, the Louisiana Senate with 39 senators...
for the District 23 seat (Lafayette and Acadia parishes) vacated by Edgar G. "Sonny" Mouton, Jr., of Lafayette, who instead ran unsuccessfully for governor. In that campaign, under the new nonpartisan blanket primary, Bares defeated Democrat Pat Juneau, 54-46 percent in the general election, popularly called the runoff. Eliminated in the primary was Dud Lastrapes
Dud Lastrapes
William Dudley "Dud" Lastrapes, Jr. , is a Lafayette, businessman, who was the first Republican since Reconstruction to have been elected mayor of his city, the fourth largest in Louisiana, according to the 2000 census. Lastrapes was mayor for three terms, having served from 1980-1992. Previously,...
, who became the mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of Lafayette the following year. Bares served in the Senate for twelve years until he was unseated in the 1991 general election
General election
In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...
by the Republican J. Lomax Jordan
J. Lomax Jordan
J. Lomax Jordan, Jr., known as Max Jordan , is a Lafayette attorney who was a Republican member of the Louisiana State Senate from 1992–2000...
, also a Lafayette attorney. The seat is now held by the Republican Michael J. Michot
Michael J. Michot
Michael John "Mike" Michot is the departing senior Republican member of the Louisiana State Senate, having represented District 23 since the year 2000. He is the outgoing hairman of the Senate Finance Committee. Michot was unopposed for his third Senate term in the nonpartisan blanket primary...
.
Roemer selected Bares as Senate President in 1988 though Sydney B. Nelson
Sydney B. Nelson
Sydney Banks Nelson is a retired attorney in Shreveport, Louisiana, who served from 1980 to 1992 as a Democratic member of the Louisiana State Senate, representing District 37 .-Early years:...
of Shreveport
Shreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport is the third largest city in Louisiana. It is the principal city of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana and is the 109th-largest city in the United States....
had actively sought the position and had urged Bares to run for the lesser position of Senate pro-tem. In Louisiana, the Senate president is normally chosen by the governor, but legislators in 1990 returned Nunez to the presidency in a slap at Roemer.
Bares' obituary
Obituary
An obituary is a news article that reports the recent death of a person, typically along with an account of the person's life and information about the upcoming funeral. In large cities and larger newspapers, obituaries are written only for people considered significant...
describes him as "a passionate leader in the pro-life movement [who] authored historic legislation to protect the precious lives of the unborn in Louisiana." In 1991, Bares authored a measure in the Senate, co-sponsored in the House by Representative Sam Theriot, which would have outlawed most abortions in Louisiana, including impregnations which resulted from incest
Incest
Incest is sexual intercourse between close relatives that is usually illegal in the jurisdiction where it takes place and/or is conventionally considered a taboo. The term may apply to sexual activities between: individuals of close "blood relationship"; members of the same household; step...
. The legislature approved the bill, but it was vetoed by Governor Roemer on the grounds that it went beyond the scope of the United States Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade, , was a controversial landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of abortion. The Court decided that a right to privacy under the due process clause in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution extends to a woman's decision to have an abortion,...
. Such feminist groups such as the National Organization for Women
National Organization for Women
The National Organization for Women is the largest feminist organization in the United States. It was founded in 1966 and has a membership of 500,000 contributing members. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S...
, subsequently headed by the Louisiana native Kim Gandy
Kim Gandy
Kim Gandy is an American feminist and was the president of the National Organization for Women from 2001 until 2009. In 2009 Gandy was a Resident Fellow at the Institute of Politics at the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government...
, formerly of Bossier City
Bossier City, Louisiana
Bossier City is a city in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, United States.As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total population of 61,315. Bossier City is closely tied to its larger sister city Shreveport, located on the western bank of the Red River. The Shreveport-Bossier City metropolitan area is the...
, successfully targeted Bares and a pro-life House member, fellow Democrat Carl Newton Gunter, Jr., of Rapides Parish, for defeat. The controversy worked to Jordan's advantage though he too took the pro-life position. In the end, Bares and Gunter were defeated in what Louisiana feminists hailed as a great success.
Bares led Jordan in the 1991 primary with 13,409 votes (40 percent) to Jordan's 9,313 ballots (28 percent). Two other Republicans, Carl W. Tritschler (born February 16, 1964) and Max A. Menard received 6,713 (20 percent) and 3,921 (12 percent), respectively. The three Republican candidates, in what was otherwise a heavily Democratic year in Louisiana politics, polled a combined 60 percent in the state Senate primary. In the runoff, technically the general election
General election
In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...
on November 16, 1991, Jordan received 22,224 (60 percent) to Bares' 14,730 (again 40 percent). In that same election, Edwin Washington Edwards returned for a fourth nonconsecutive term as governor in the showdown with former Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
figure David Duke
David Duke
David Ernest Duke is a former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan an American activist and writer, and former Republican Louisiana State Representative. He was also a former candidate in the Republican presidential primaries in 1992, and in the Democratic presidential primaries in...
.
A reformer in the legislature, Bares served as national vice president of the Education Commission of the States from 1985 to 1986. He championed tort reform
Tort reform
Tort reform refers to proposed changes in common law civil justice systems that would reduce tort litigation or damages. Tort actions are civil common law claims first created in the English commonwealth system as a non-legislative means for compensating wrongs and harm done by one party to...
and was a lead author of the 1987 Workman's Compensation Reform Act. Bares was president of the Louisiana Chapter of the Association of French Speaking Legislators and a supporter of the interest group, the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana
Council for the Development of French in Louisiana
The Council for the Development of French in Louisiana, or CODOFIL — known in French as le Conseil pour le développement du français en Louisiane and Konséy pou Dévelopmen di françé en Lwizyàn in Creole — is a state agency created in 1968 by the Louisiana legislature...
, or CODOFIL. In 1991, the nation of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
awarded Bares the Medal of Merit to recognize his efforts to preserve the French language
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and culture in Louisiana. He grew up speaking French and did not learn English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
until he entered elementary school
Elementary school
An elementary school or primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in some countries, particularly those in North America, where the terms grade school and grammar...
. On two occasions, Bares, as state senator, accompanied Governor Roemer on trips to France and to Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.
Civic leadership
Bares was active in the Kiwanis Club, Lafayette Chamber of CommerceChamber of commerce
A chamber of commerce is a form of business network, e.g., a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to advocate on behalf of the business community...
, and St. Pius X Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
Church. He was the first elected president of Our Lady of Fatima Church. He was president of the Evangeline Area Boy Scouts Council located at 2266 South College Road in Lafayette. He received the Silver Beaver Award from the Scouts in 2000. He was an avid horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
man, hunter, fisherman
Fisherman
A fisherman or fisher is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishermen and fish farmers. The term can also be applied to recreational fishermen and may be used to describe both men...
, and golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
er.
Bares died of a stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
in Lafayette. He was survived by his wife of 50+ years, the former Elizabeth "Betty" Jeanne Baquet; eight children, Camille Massie, Jude Bares, M.D., Jeannine Martin, John Bares, Michelle Tober, Jacques Bares, Allen Bares, II, and Elizabeth Mackie; nineteen grandchildren; a sister, Agnes B. Richard, and two brothers, Eno Bares and Emery Bares. A mass of Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
burial was held on August 18 at St. Pius X Church in Lafayette. Entombment was in the Calvary Cemetery Mausoleum
Mausoleum
A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or persons. A monument without the interment is a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb or the tomb may be considered to be within the...
.
In 2002, Bares was inducted into the "Living Legends" section of the Acadian Museum in Erath.