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Our state lost a legal titan when former Louisiana Chief Justice Pascal Calogero Jr. died Dec. 20 at the age of 87. He served nearly 36 years on the high court, more than any other justice in Louisiana history, including 18 years as Chief Justice. His legacy will be measured by much more than his impressively long tenure on the court, however.
“I would like to be remembered as an energetic, hard-working, honest and able judge who contributed during his service on the Louisiana Supreme Court to maintaining stability in the law and jurisprudence, while serving the least privileged of our citizens with compassion, integrity and fairness,” Calogero said at his 2008 retirement ceremony.
He was all that and much more. I know this because I had the honor of knowing “the Chief” for nearly 45 years — and the greater honor of serving as one of his law clerks, briefly, in 1994.
Three things have always stood out in my mind about Calogero — the enormity of his intellect, the tirelessness of his work ethic, and the depth of his humility. Any one of those qualities is unusual in a politician; finding all of them in one public servant is extraordinary.
I met him in 1974, when as a cub reporter for The Times-Picayune I covered the first of his three very difficult re-election campaigns. I was struck then by how dignified he remained as his opponents savaged him with exaggerated attacks. He didn’t raise his voice or respond in kind; instead, he spoke of the “rule of law” and every person’s constitutional right to fairness. Those were his values, and that was his style. In fact, in all the years I’ve known him, I never heard the Chief raise his voice, not even to those who criticized him.
In 1993, as a freshly minted lawyer, I ran into him at a bar association function, and he said something that floored me: “I owe you an apology.”
“What for?”
“I failed to take note of your recent graduation from Loyola Law School by offering you a clerkship,” he said.
“Pah,” I answered, “I didn’t ask you for a clerkship. Besides, I already have a job at a law firm.”
Turns out one of his law clerks was about to go on maternity leave, and he needed a pinch hitter. Thus began, in early 1994, my six-week tenure as a clerk at the Louisiana Supreme Court. What I saw during those weeks — and for years afterward — was a man whose devotion to justice and to the judicial system was unflagging, and whose intellect was unsurpassed.
He once called me into his office to assign me an opinion on a matter about which I knew absolutely nothing. Before I could begin to try to mask my ignorance, he began discussing a case that had been decided more than 10 years earlier — citing it by name and year, without benefit of notes (he never did learn to use a computer) — reviewing the facts of that case and analyzing why it was controlling law in the case at hand. I quickly realized he was dictating the opinion that I was supposed to write, so I fumbled around for a pen. When I pulled the old case, it was exactly as he described. He did this as effortlessly as you or I might pick up a newspaper and read the headlines.
And then there was his late afternoon ritual: packing up all the day’s work and stuffing it into a half-dozen boxy briefcases, wheeling them to his car outside, and loading them into his trunk to take home and read at night. When he pulled out of the parking lot, the back end of his car literally sagged from the weight of all the paperwork in his trunk. Each morning, he would unload it all — much of it marked up with his notes from the night before or earlier that morning — and haul it back up to his office.
A former law colleague of mine, Martin Landrieu, told me of the time he and his father, former Mayor Moon Landrieu (who was Calogero’s law partner early in their careers), went duck hunting with the Chief. Martin got up in the middle of the night and noticed one of the vehicles outside the camp had its lights on. When he went out to investigate, he found Calogero in the front seat reading briefs and writ applications.
The Chief worked that way throughout his tenure on the Supreme Court. He never considered working any other way.
He authored more than 1,000 majority opinions and countless concurring and dissenting opinions. More than that, he literally raised the bar for lawyers and judges throughout Louisiana by tightening the Supreme Court’s rules on judges’ and lawyers’ conduct. He also played a leading role in establishing Louisiana’s indigent defender system.
His crowning tangible achievement was returning the Supreme Court to its former home at 400 Royal Street, a historic masterpiece of a building that now also houses the state Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal. It took more than a decade to get the state to restore the building, but when completed it was universally hailed as a triumph.
I hope someday the state will see fit to name the building for Pascal Calogero Jr. His impact on the court, and the law, earned him nothing less.
— This tribute borrows heavily from a 2008 column I wrote upon the retirement of Chief Justice Calogero from the Louisiana Supreme Court.
Clancy DuBos is the political editor of GAMBIT newspaper, a New Orleans weekly, and a board member of the Louisiana Press Association.

After four long years of economic knocks, east St. Mary is getting some good economic news.

A Friday morning event is planned to welcome home Seacor Marine, which left its Railroad Avenue location 12 years ago for Houma and is now moving back to Morgan City.

Seacor's return will bring back 50 jobs, according to Morgan City Mayor Pro Tem Lou Tamporello.

"We're finally competing with Houma," said Morgan City Mayor Frank "Boo" Grizzaffi.

The Coast Guard and Petroleum Helicopter Inc. have consolidated some of their Morgan City-area functions in Houma in recent years.

Another company, Electra, is taking over the old Hudson Dry Dock facility and will bring another 40 jobs repairing craft for parent company Enterprise.
The Electra move represents an investment of more than $1 million in property and renovation.

"That's another good get for us," Grizzaffi said.

Seacor has maintained the Railroad Avenue building near Oceaneering since its departure for Houma. About 20 employees already live in east St. Mary and commuted to Houma, Grizzaffi said

The expiration of Seacor's lease in Houma led to six months of intense negotiation that also involved the H & B Young Founding, resulting in Seacor's decision to move back to Morgan City, Grizzaffii said.

Seacor Marine is a subsidiary of Seacor Holdings Inc. of Houston.

"SEACOR Marine operates a fleet of offshore marine support vessels, serving the offshore oil and gas exploration and production industry," according to the company's website.

"With vessels strategically deployed offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, Latin America, the North Sea, West Africa, Southeast Asia and the Middle East, we provide a broad range of offshore support services coupled with the highest standards of safety, service and technology available in the industry."

Staff Report
A Morgan City woman was named in a warrant accusing her of cruelty to a juvenile after city police detectives learned from a New Orleans health care facility about her 4-year-old step-daughter’s injury, Morgan City Police Chief James F. Blair said.
Eliza Williams, 29, of Mallard Street in Morgan City, was arrested at midnight Wednesday on the warrant for second-degree cruelty to a juvenile. The 4-year-old remains hospitalized with the unspecified injury in serious condition, Blair said.
Morgan City detectives received information from the New Orleans facility about the injury and that the child was in the care of Williams, Blair said. After an investigation, Williams was named in the warrant and agreed to speak to detectives. She admitted to striking the girl, Blair said.
Williams was booked and incarcerated.
St. Mary Parish Sheriff Blaise Smith reported these arrests:
—Katie Adams, 33, of Third Street in Morgan City, was arrested at 9:39 a.m. Wednesday on a theft charge.
A deputy was dis-patched to a residence on Main Street in reference to an active warrant for Adams. The warrant stemmed from an incident in November in which Adams stole money from a business where she worked, Smith said.
Adams was transport-ed to the St. Mary Parish Law Enforcement Center for booking. Adams was released on a $2,000 bond.
—Riley Hall, 47, of Ditch Avenue in Morgan City, was arrested at 1:01 p.m. Wednesday on charges of possession of Schedule II drugs, possession of drug paraphernalia and disturbing the peace by intoxication.
Deputies patrolling Amelia were dispatched to a local business in response to a disturb-ance. During the investigation, the deputies found drugs and drug paraphernalia belonging to Hall, Smith said. Hall was transported to the St. Mary Parish Law En-forcement Center for booking. No bail has been set.
—Tommy Harding Jr., 29, of Friendship Alley in Amelia, was arrested at 2:27 p.m. Wednesday on a theft charge.
A deputy patrolling Amelia was dispatched to a local business in response to a theft. Upon arrival, the deputies made contact with business personnel who said a man had stolen from a patron and had returned to the business.
The deputy made con-tact with the man, identified as Harding. Harding admitted to the theft, Smith said.
Harding was arrested and released on a summons to appear April 4.
—Brennan Hamm, 31, of Charlotte Drive in Patterson, was arrested at 4 p.m. Wednesday on a simple battery charge.
A deputy was dis-patched to a residence in Morgan City in reference to a disturbance. The deputy made contact with a person who said Hamm had grabbed a person in an altercation. The deputy found Hamm at a location on Lake Palourde Road.
Hamm was transport-ed to the St. Mary Parish Law Enforcement Center for booking. Bail was set at $2,500.
—Ulyess Boudreaux Jr., of Kemper Street in Patterson, was arrested at 6:31 p.m. Wednesday on a sexual battery charge.
A deputy was dis-patched to a location on Federal Avenue in Mor-gan City in reference to a sexual battery that occurred Dec. 23. The victim said Boudreaux had touched the victim inappropriately and continued to do so after being told to stop, Smith said.
The deputy also spoke with a witness to the incident who corroborated the victim’s story. The deputy made contact with Boudreaux at the Morgan City Branch Office. Boudreaux was transported to the St. Mary Parish Law En-forcement Center for booking. No bail has been set.
—Brent Dalton, 38, of Sydney Jo Lane in Ber-wick, was arrested at 2:55 a.m. Thursday on a warrant for failure to appear on the charge of possession of Subutex.
A deputy was dis-patched to a location in Morgan City to assist with a Morgan City Police Department investigation. Upon arrival, the deputy made contact with Dalton and was made aware of an active warrant for Dalton’s arrest. Dalton was transported to the St. Mary Parish Law Enforcement Center for booking. No bail has been set.
—Jason Cavalier, 41, of Cremo Lane in Patterson, was arrested at 4:11 p.m. Wednesday on charges for possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, violation of the Con-trolled Dangerous Sub-stance law (drug-free zone) and resisting an officer, and on a warrant for failure to appear on the charge of criminal neglect of family.
Detectives with the Narcotics Section were patrolling the area of Siracusaville when they observed Cavalier, who held an active warrant for his arrest. The detectives made contact with Cavalier and when they began to take him into custody Cavalier forcefully tried to pull away from the detectives, Smith said.
Detectives also found drugs and drug paraphernalia on Cavalier, who was standing within 2,000 feet of the Siracusa Recreational Center and playground. Cavalier was transported to the St. Mary Parish Law Enforcement Center for booking. No bail has been set.
Berwick Police Chief James Richard reported no arrests.
Patterson Police Chief Garrett Grogan reported no arrests.