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Created page with "{{Infobox officeholder | name= Allen Ray Bares​ |office=Louisiana State Representative for Lafayette Parish​ |term_start=1972​ |term_end=1980​ |prece..."
{{Infobox officeholder
| name= Allen Ray Bares​
|office=[[Louisiana]] State Representative for [[Lafayette|Lafayette Parish]]​
|term_start=1972​
|term_end=1980​
|preceded=At-large membership​
|succeeded=[[Ron Gomez]]​
| office2=Louisiana State Senator for District 23 (Acadia and Lafayette parishes)
| term_start2=1980
| term_end2=1992​
| preceded2=Edgar G. "Sonny" Mouton, Jr.​
| succeeded2=J. Lomax "Max" Jordan, Jr.
| office3=President of the Louisiana State Senate​
| term_start3=1988​
| term_end3=1990​
| preceded3=Samuel B. Nunez, Jr.​
| succeeded3=Samuel B. Nunez, Jr.​
| party=[[Democratic Party|Democrat]]​
| birth_date=September 24, 1936​
| birth_place=Vermilion Parish, Louisiana​
|death_date=August 14, 2008 (aged 71)​
|death_place=Lafayette, Louisiana​
| alma_mater=[[Louisiana State University]]​ School of Law
| religion=[[Roman Catholic]]​
| occupation=[[Attorney]]​
| spouse=Elizabeth "Betty" Jeanne Baquet Bares (married 1962-2008, his death)​
|children=Camille B. Massie<br>​
Jude Bares, M.D.<br>​
Jeannine B. Martin<br>​
John Bares<br>​
Michelle B. Tober<br>​
Jacques Bares<br>​
Allen Bares, II<br>​
Elizabeth B. Mackie​
|footnotes='''Notes''':<br>

(1) The [[National Organization for Women]] successfully targeted Allen Bares for defeat in 1991 because of his sponsorship of legislation to outlaw most [[abortion]]s in [[Louisiana]].​<br>
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(2) Though NOW contributed to Bares' defeat, he was succeeded in the Louisiana State Senate by a [[pro life]] [[Republican Party|Republican]], J. Lomax Jordan, Jr.<br>
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(3) In addition to his strongly pro-life position, Bares was a devotee of the [[Boy Scouts]], which in the year 2000 awarded him its Silver Eagle Award.​<br>
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(4) Bares was a legislative advocate of [[worker's compensation]] , [[tort]], and [[education]]al reform while he served in both houses of the legislature.<br>​
​
(5) A speaker of [[French]], Bares supported efforts to promote French culture and language within Louisiana.​
​
}}​
'''Allen Ray Bares, Sr.''' (September 24, 1936 &ndash; August 14, 2008) was a [[Lafayette]] [[attorney]] who served as a [[Democratic Party (United States)|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]]. 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 Party|Republican]] in 1991. Senators removed Bares as president in 1990 in a rare show of opposition to the governor.​
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==Early years, education, law practice==​
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Born to John and Oneida Bares (pronounced BAH REZ), Bares was reared in the LeBlanc community in Vermilion Parish near Lafayette. He graduated in 1954 from Erath High School in Erath, at which 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.<ref name="am"/> 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]].<ref name="obit"/>​
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Bares began his legal career in Abbeville, the seat of government for Vermilion Parish, as an associate of J. E. Kibbee.<ref name=am/> In 1961, he moved to Lafayette as an associate general counsel with the 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 state Senate.<ref name=obit/>​
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==Legislative service==​
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On February 1, 1972, Bares was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives. He was unopposed in 1975 in the state's first ever nonpartisan blanket primary. 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.webcitation.org/5hLUNchJy| title=Membership in the Louisiana House of Representatives, 1880–2008 (p. 84)|publisher=David R. Poynter Legislative Research Library accessdate=August 20, 2008}}</ref> In that campaign, under the nonpartisan blanket primary, Bares defeated Democrat Pat Juneau, 54-46 percent in the general election,<ref>[[Ron Gomez]], ''My Name Is Ron, And I Am a Recovering Legislator: Memoirs of a Louisiana State Representative,'' ([[Lafayette, Louisiana]]: Zemog Publishers, 2000), p. 37; ISBN 0-9700156-0-7</ref> popularly called the runoff. Eliminated in the primary was [[Dud Lastrapes]], a Republican 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, Jr., also a Lafayette attorney. The seat was subsequently held by the Republicans Michael J. Michot and Page Cortez.​
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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. The resolution to replace Bares with Nunez, authored by later [[U.S. Representative]] [[William J. Jefferson]] of Louisiana's 2nd congressional district, was twenty-eight to twenty-one. Roemer referred to the removal of Bares as an example of "what's wrong with this state."<ref>"Bares ousted as President of Louisiana Senate," ''Minden Press-Herald,'' May 10, 1990, p. 1.</ref>​
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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."<ref name=obit/> In 1991, Bares authored a measure in the Senate, co-sponsored in the House by Representative Sam H. Theriot of Abbeville, which would have outlawed most abortions in Louisiana, including impregnations which resulted from [[incest]].<ref name="Louisiana Abortion Law Is Delayed"/> 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]] opinion, ''[[Roe v. Wade]]''. Such [[feminist]] groups 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. (1938-1999) 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.<ref>''The Feminist Chronicles — 1991 — Political,'' Feminist Majority Foundation, accessed August 20, 2008.</ref>​
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Bares led Jordan in the 1991 primary with 13,409 votes (40 percent) to 9,313 ballots (28 percent). Two other Republicans, Carl W. Tritschler (born 1964) and Max A. Menard received a critical 6,713 (20 percent) and 3,921 votes (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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://staticresults.sos.la.gov/10191991/10191991_Legislative.html|title=Louisiana election results, October 19, 1991|publisher=staticresults.sos.la.gov|accessdate=November 10, 2013}}</ref> 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 Edwards]] returned for a fourth nonconsecutive term as governor in the showdown with former [[Ku Klux Klan]] figure [[David Duke]].<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, General election returns, November 16, 1991.</ref>​
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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 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.<ref name=obit/> He grew up speaking French and did not learn [[English]] until he entered elementary school.<ref name="Senator Allen Bares Laid To Rest"/> On two occasions, Bares, as state senator, accompanied Governor Roemer on trips to France and to [[Japan]].<ref name=am/>​
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==Civic leadership==​
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Bares was active in Kiwanis International, the Lafayette [[Chamber of Commerce]], and St. Pius X [[Roman 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 in Lafayette. He received the Silver Beaver Award from the Scouts in 2000. He was an avid [[horse]]man, [[hunter]], [[fisherman]], and [[golf]]er.<ref name=obit/>​
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Bares died of a [[stroke]] in Lafayette.<ref name="Allen Bares' Funeral"/> 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; 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.<ref name=obit/>​
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In 2002, Bares was inducted into the "Living Legends" section of the Acadian Museum in Erath.<ref name=am/>​
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==References==​
{{reflist}}​
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<ref name="Allen Bares' Funeral">{{cite web| url=http://www.katc.com/global/story.asp?s=8861114| title=Allen Bares' Funeral| date=2008-08-18| publisher=[[KATC (TV)|KATC]]| accessdate=2008-08-20}}</ref>​
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<ref name="Louisiana Abortion Law Is Delayed">{{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}}</ref>​
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<ref name="Senator Allen Bares Laid To Rest">{{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|archiveurl = http://www.webcitation.org/5uHmvmqOb |archivedate = 2010-11-16|deadurl=no}}</ref>​
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<ref name="am">{{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|archiveurl = http://www.webcitation.org/5uHmwUT32 |archivedate = 2010-11-16|deadurl=no}}</ref>​
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bares, Allen}}​
[[Category:Louisiana People]]​
[[Category:Attorneys]]
[[Category:Politicians]]
[[Category:State Senators]]
[[Category:Democrats]]
[[Category:Pro-Life]]​
[[Category:Catholic Politicians]]​
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