Allen Bares

Infobox Senator
name= Allen Ray Bares


office=Louisiana State Representative from Lafayette Parish
term_start=1972
term_end=1980
preceded=At-large membership
succeeded=Ronald J. Gomez, Sr.
office2= Louisiana State Senator (District 23)
party=Democratic
term_start2=1980
term_end2= 1992
preceded2=Edgar G. "Sonny" Mouton, Jr.
succeeded2= J. Lomax "Max" Jordan, Jr.
date of birth=birth date and age|1936|9|24
place of birth=Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, USA
date of death=death date and age|2008|8|14|1936|9|24
place of death=Lafayette, Louisiana
law school=Louisiana State University
religion=Roman Catholic
occupation=Attorney
spouse=Elizabeth "Betty" Jeanne Baquet Bares (married 1962-his death)
children=Camille B. Massie
Jude Bares, M.D.
Jeannine B. Martin
John Bares
Michelle B. Tober
Jacques Bares
Allen Bares, II
Elizabeth B. Mackie
footnotes=(1) The National Organization for Women successfully targeted Allen Bares for defeat in 1991 because of his sponsorship of legislation to outlaw most abortions in Louisiana.
(2) Though the NOW contributed to Bares' defeat, he was succeeded in the Louisiana State Senate by a pro-life Republican, J. Lomax Jordan.
(3) In addition to his strongly pro-life position, Bares was a devotee of the Boy Scouts of America, which in the year 2000 awarded him its Silver Eagle Award.
(4) Bares was a legislative advocate of worker's compensation , tort, and educational reform while he served in the Louisiana State Legislature.
(5) Himself a speaker of French, Bares supported efforts to promote French culture and language within Louisiana.

Allen Ray Bares, Sr. (September 24, 1936–August 14, 2008), 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 anti-abortion 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 him as president in an opposition move against Governor Roemer.

Early years, education, law practice

Born to John and Oneida Bares (pronounced BAH REZ), Bares was reared in the LeBlanc community in Vermilion Parish. He graduated in 1954 from Erath High School in Erath, 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.cite web|url=http://www.acadianmuseum.com/legends.php?viewID=33| title=Senator Allen Bares| date=2002-07-27| publisher=The Acadian Museum| accessdate=2008-08-20] 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.cite web| url=http://www.legacy.com/theadvocate/DeathNotices.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonID=115711761| title=ADVOCATE OBITUARIES — Allen Ray Bares| date=2008-08-16| publisher=The Advocate| accessdate=2008-08-20] 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.

Legislative service

In 1972, Bares was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives. 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. [cite web|url=http://www.legis.state.la.us/members/h1880-2008.pdf| title=Membership in the Louisiana House of Representatives, 1880–2008 (p. 84)| publisher=David R. Poynter Legislative Research Library — House Legislative Services — Louisiana House of Representatives| accessdate=2008-08-20] In that campaign, under the new jungle primary, Bares defeated Republican Dud Lastrapes, who became the mayor of Lafayette the following year. Bares served in the Senate for twelve years. 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. 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. [cite news|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE2D61639F933A15755C0A967958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all|title=Louisiana Abortion Law Is Delayed |last=Smothers|first=Ronald|date=1991-06-20|work=The New York Times|accessdate=2008-09-13] 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. [cite web|url=http://www.feminist.org/research/chronicles/fc1991.html| title=The Feminist Chronicles — 1991 — Political| publisher=Feminist Majority Foundation| accessdate=2008-08-20] 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. [http://www.sos.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcpr&rqsdta=10199128] Dead link|date=August 2008 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. [http://www.sos.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcpr&rqsdta=11169128] Dead link|date=August 2008

A reformer in the legislature, Bares served as national vice president of the Education Commission of the States from 1985–1986. 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. [cite web|url=http://www.klfy.com/Global/story.asp?S=8855062| title=Senator Allen Bares Laid To Rest| publisher=KLFY-TV| accessdate=2008-08-20] On two occasions, Bares, as state senator, accompanied Governor Roemer on trips to France and to Japan.

Civic leadership

Bares was active in the Kiwanis Club, Lafayette Chamber of Commerce, 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 horseman, hunter, fisherman, and golfer. Bares died of a stroke in Lafayette. [cite web| url=http://www.katc.com/global/story.asp?s=8861114| title=Allen Bares' Funeral| date=2008-08-18| publisher=KATC| accessdate=2008-08-20] He was survived by his wife of forty-six 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; seventeen 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.

References