Leonard R. "Pop" Hataway

Leonard Ray "Pop" Hataway
Sheriff of Grant Parish, Louisiana
In office 1976–2008
Preceded by	Joe T. Morgan
Succeeded by	Preston H. Mosley (interim) Baxter Welch (full term)
Born	August 5, 1939 Grant Parish, Louisiana
Died	Jun3 22, 2021 (aged 81)
Resting place	Dry Prong (Grant Parish) Cemetery
Nationality	American
Political party	Democrat
Spouse(s)	Sharon H. Hataway
Children	Shana Lynn Delrie Lance Wesley Hataway
Occupation	Law-enforcement officer
Religion	Southern Baptist

Leonard Ray Hataway, known as Pop Hataway (born August 5, 1939 – June 22, 2021),^[1] was a Democrat who served as the sheriff of his native Grant Parish in north central Louisiana from 1976 to 2008. Upon his defeat for a ninth four-year term in 2007, he was appointed by Republican then Governor Bobby Jindal to the influential Louisiana Board of Pardons and Paroles. He left the sheriff's office six months early and was succeeded on an interim basis by Preston H. Mosley.

Hataway was one of ten children of Wesley James Hataway, Sr. (1894-1967), and the former Edith Pearl Simmons (1899-1943). All four brothers and two of the five sisters are deceased. Brother Alton James Hataway, Jr. (1920–2008), was a prisoner of war of the Nazis during World War II who thereafter worked for more than four decades for the United States Forest Service.^[2] Another brother, Russell Alfred Hataway (1924–2005), was a World War II veteran who owned and operated Reed's Typewriter Exchange, Inc., in Alexandria. Russell Hataway was a member of the Grant Parish Police Jury and was an alderman in the community of Dry Prong in eastern Grant Parish.^[3]

The deceased siblings are Melvin, L. C., Lorraine, and Laurad. As of 2008, he had three living sisters, Jewel Hataway Floyd of Center in East Texas, Pauline Hataway Futrell and husband L. G. of Dry Prong, and Iva Jean Hataway Defresco and husband Carmen of Dry Prong. Many of the Hataways are interred at Dry Prong Cemetery.^[3]

Hataway and his wife, Sharon H. Hataway (born 1943), resided in Dry Prong. They had two children, Lance Wesley Hataway (born 1965) and Shana Lynn Delrie.^[1]

Hataway was first elected sheriff at the age of thirty-six in 1975. He had been a deputy to his mentor, Sheriff Joe T. Morgan (1912-1991) of Williana, Louisiana.^[4][5]He won most of his elections thereafter with ease. In 1983, he defeated in the nonpartisan blanket primary three other Democrats to win his third term as sheriff with 56.7 percent of the vote.^[6]

Lew Lasyone, the first Republican to run for sheriff in historically Democratic Grant Parish in the 20th century, lost twice to Hataway by wide margins in 1995 and in 1999. In the 2007 general election runoff contest, however, he was unseated by fellow Democrat Baxter Welch, 3,817 votes (56.7 percent) to 2,914 (43.3 percent).^[7]

Baxter Welch served a single term; he was unseated in the 2011 primary election. In the general election thereafter, the Independent Steven McCain of Colfax prevailed, 57-43 percent, the former chief criminal deputy under Hataway, Preston Mosley.^[8] Mosley again challenged McCain in the primary election held on October 24, 2015.

Hataway is a former president of the Louisiana Sheriff's Association and a former vice president of the Red River Delta Law Enforcement Planning Council in Pineville, Louisiana. He has served on the Louisiana Highway Board, the Drug Control and Violent Crime Policy Board, and the U.S. Penitentiary Community Relations Board. He graduated from the Federal Bureau of Investigation Academy in Quantico, Virginia, the National Sheriff’s Institute in Los Angeles, the Louisiana State University Law Enforcement Institute in Baton Rouge, and the Interrogation School of the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma.^[9]

Jindal balanced his appointment of the Democrat Hataway to the Board of Pardons and Paroles with the selection of Republican Henry "Tank" Powell, a former state representative fromPonchatoula in Tangipahoa Parish. The board meets on regularly scheduled, publicly announced dates to consider applications for pardon, commutation of sentences, and the restoration of civic rights and privileges.^[9] In January 2012, Jindal reappointed Hataway to a second four-year term on the board. Unlike many state boards, the position is salaried in the amount of $3,000 gross per month.^[10]

After he left the sheriff's department, Hataway was cleared of ethics violations by a three-member panel of administrative law judges. He had been accused in an anonymous complaint of having used his authority as sheriff to force the release of two people from the Grant Parish correctional facility without the proper bonds. From the start, Hataway maintained that he had violated no law and hired the attorney Taylor Townsend, a former member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from Natchitoches, as his legal representative. The judges maintain that the Louisiana Ethics Board did not prove its case by "clear and convincing" evidence.^[11]

In 2013, Hataway was among the inductees of the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in nearby Winnfield.^[12]Only four other sheriffs have received this designation, Cat Doucet, Charles Fuselier, Harry Lee, and Jessel Ourso.