A lawful lifetime

For nearly the past five decades, the Honorable Judge John D. Saunders, Third Circuit Court of Appeals, has spent his time fighting for his clients as an attorney and his constituents as a senator and then judge while building life long friendships that have benefited the lives of all Louisiana citizens.
But suprisingly, the career that made the Ville Platte native an expert in law and capable of being a good representative for the people is something he gives credit to someone else for starting.
Saunders said, “Judge Larry Vidrine and I went all through grade school and high school together, and we were at LSU together. After I had been there a few semesters I said, ‘Larry, I don’t know what I want to major in because I just can’t find one that I think I want to major in.’ He said, ‘Why don’t you do what I’m going to do. I’m going to law school.’ And, I said, ‘That’s fine.’ It just seemed to fit.”
From that moment, Saunders began to build a legacy that most people can only dream of.
After graduating from Louisiana State University’s seven year law program in 1968, he moved back to the parish and began practicing law with Don Soileau in Mamou.
Saunders said, “We had a good enough practice, and at that time I was coaching my son (Wesley Saunders) in baseball there. I had a fire in my belly though. I wanted to do things. I wanted to expand and move around. I had energy, and I just wanted to do things.”
And, doing things is exaclty what Saunders did.
As an attorney, he had a passion for helping the people, even if all he could offer was a shoulder to cry on.
Saunders said, “I have enjoyed the practice of law. Some cases were unpleasant when people were in hard situations. And, you had to just let them cry on your shoulders if it was one of those instances where you couldn’t make it better.
“But, by in large you tried to take cases where your client had a legitamite issue and you were going to win. Usually if you showed the other lawyer you were going to win then they’d work something out with you. You had the better hand, so you had to show them. I enjoyed doing that. Plus you got to help people. It made it rewarding.”
Saunders saw his first opportunity to move into the arena of politics in 1972 when a Louisiana State Senator seat came open. However, the seat went to candidate John Tassin.
Saunders said, “The first time I ran Dr. John Tassin won. L.O. Fusilier was one of the other candidates, and after the election we all became good friends. Today, it’s a hostile thing.
“We all just wanted to represent the people,.We weren’t mad at anybody, because we all had the same goal.”
His first loss was not a defeat though, as he used the lessons he learned to make his second one successful. That ultimately led him to Baton Rouge to represent the people of Evangeline, Avoyelles and Allen parishes in the Louisiana State Legislature.
Saunders said, “Four years later Dr. Tassin announced that he was not going to run for re-election because he was going to run for public service commissoner. So, I ran. I had a lot to build on because I had met a lot of people in the prior campaign. I had campaigned a long time. It was a lot of territory and there was not a lot of overlap between the parishes.
“You were a step ahead if you had already been through a campaign like that because you knew people in all those areas.”
In this 1976 election Saunders defeated Don Hines, who later became president of the senate, Clyde Fontenot from Ville Platte, Billy Fontenot from Mamou, Ronnie Trout from Marksville, and Bill Fuller. Saunders ended up defeating Fuller in the runoff.
Saunders said, “Most of the other candidates endorsed me in the runoff. We were all friends after. When Don Hines later got elected to the senate, I helped him with some things.
“He actually asked me to go down and swear him in when he was elected president of the senate and I did.
“I liked that we had a good relationship with the various candidates and public officials. We were able to work together and have common goals.”
When Saunders found his way into the legislature, there was a familiar face around that graduated from Sacred Heart School and LSU with him.
Saunders said, “At that time, John Larry Vidrine was the State Representative for Evangeline Parish, so we served together after having been high school and college classmates. It was very very great.
“Our group in school was a close group. Our class graduated 15 boys. Three have served in the legislature (Saunders, Vidrine, and Bernard Lebas) and then Micky Reed served on the school board, and another classmate - Sarah Deville - went to Morgan City and served on the school board. So, we are a pretty political bunch.”
Once he settled into his position as senator, the work began.
Saunders said, “When I was elected, Governor Edwin Edwards was the governor at the time. He was in his second term in office, and everything was pretty much established.
“They had the state in pretty good fiscal posture. They had redone the constitution. There were a few social issues that were highly contested, but the budget wasn’t an issue. It seemed like our job was more to get projects for our community and we did a lot of that.”
The project that stands out the most to Saunders from his time in the legislature was a bridge that they ended up getting, which connected the north and south side of Chicot Park.
Saunders said, “This was a rather expensive construction project, and we did it as an add on to the budget.
“I remember I talked to Governor Edwards and he said, ‘John I might have to veto that. It’s not in the budget and it’s going over. I might have to veto it depending on the revenue.’ I told him, ‘Governor if you have to veto it that’s fine. I will explain it to the people, but I think the budget will be alright.’”
Saunders was right, and they were able to get the bridge for Chicot State Park.
“I always felt fond about that,” said Saunders, “Because it almost didn’t happen.”
While in the legislature, Saunders also had an impact on job expansion in Evangeline Parish by playing a part in acquiring state money to do work at Industrial Park in Ville Platte.
The work that was done enabled a sewing plant to open up shop at Industrial Park, which generated more jobs.
Although that plant has since closed down, its buildings are still being utilized by Cameron Ironworks.
After 17 years in the senate, where he served under Governors Edwards, Dave Treen and Buddy Romer, an opportunity to occupy a new office presented itself to Saunders. The fire in his belly that existed in the beginning of his career was still there, so the senator jumped at the chance to run for the Third Curcuit Court of Appeals.
Since its creation in 1960, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals has always had a judge from Ville Platte serving on it.
After winning the 1992, Saunders kept this tradition going, and is now third in seniority out of the third circuit judges.
The judge said, “Judge Burton Foret had decided not to run again for the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, and it seemed like a natural move for me to make. So, I ran in 1992 and here we are 24 years later.”
One of the biggest appeals that he had to review happened during the time that using cell phone towers to determine the area a phone call was made first began being used as evidence in court.
In this specific appeal, which Saunders wrote the opionion for, the defendant was saying that they were in a different area than where the phone calls from a cellphone were being made.
The judge’s opinion was that the defendant wasn’t where he claimed to have been and the verdict stood.
While his successes have been many, Saunders today is still continuing to build upon his already unbelievable legacy.
He has been the Third Circuit Court of Appeals Judge now for 24 years, and at the age of 73 law still just seems to fit for Judge Saunders.