William Morris
July 23, 2007
Barracudas make waves at state meet
July 25, 2007
Hunt Downer, the Houma native who was Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1996-2000 and who is the current Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs, will be inducted Saturday, July 28, into the Louisiana Justice Hall of Fame, located outside the front gate of Angola State Prison. The Hall of Fame is part of the Louisiana State Penitentiary Museum.
The formal induction ceremony will be held Saturday night at The Bluffs Country Club and Resort in West Feliciana Parish.
The Justice Hall of Fame was created in 2005 to honor prominent Louisianans who have distinguished themselves in law enforcement, the judiciary, and related fields.
An exhibit case spotlighting Downer’s public career will be unveiled Saturday at the Hall of Fame site.
Downer, who holds a commission with the State Police, is a brigadier general in the Louisiana Army National Guard, serving as the Guard’s assistant adjutant general.
“It’s very humbling,” he said about his induction. “It’s an honor. There are so many worthy individuals.”
The law enforcement portion of Downer’s career began in the 1970s when he joined the Louisiana National Guard as a first lieutenant of the Judge Advocate General Corps.
In 1991, after being activated for Operation Desert Storm, Downer worked as a prosecutor for the U.S. Army at Fort Polk near Leesville, La.
Downer said he handled many law enforcement issues during his terms in the Louisiana House representing Lafourche and Terrebonne Parishes from 1976 to 2004.
“You never know,” he said. “I never paid attention to how all this (his induction) might come together.”
Downer said he has been most busy recently expanding the number of veterans retirement homes in Louisiana in his current position as the first head of the state Dept. of Veterans Affairs (the department gained cabinet-level status for the first time in 2004, though it had been in existence for decades).
He said he pushed hard for the construction of more veteran’s homes in Louisiana while he was a member of the State Legislature as well.
Downer ran unsuccessfully for governor as a Republican in 2003.
He graduated from Terrebonne High School in 1964 and received a bachelor’s degree from Nicholls State University. Downer earned a law degree from Loyola University in New Orleans in 1972.
