When I was a freshman in college and just thinking of becoming a lawyer, we had an attorney in Calcasieu Parish named Calvin Steiner, who in his younger days had been an assistant district attorney, and was even a graduate of Princeton Law School. Although he was a successful lawyer earlier in his legal career, in his senior years he became addicted to the bottle and drove an old 1947 Chevrolet convertable. One evening the air-traffic controllers at Chennault A.F.B. in Lake Charles noticed this old 1947 Chevrolet running all up and down the long run-ways at Chennault A.F.B., an active air-field in those days. So out went the M.P.’s in their jeeps to try to stop this 1947 Chevrolet and to get it off the runway before a B-47 bomber came in to land and hit it. When they finally ran this 1947 Chevrolet down and stopped it and ordered the driver out of the car, it was none other than our local lawyer Calvin Steiner, who had had too much Jack Daniel to drink. When one of the M.P’s who happened to be from Lake Charles and knew Calvin asked him, “Calvin, what in the...is going on!”, old Calvin replied, “I just can’t get this thing to go up!” We had a good D.A. named Frank T. Sallter, Jr. in those days, and Salter had much compassion on old Calvin and handled the case so that Calvin did not have to go to jail and he was never prosecuted on the charge. Salter did see, however, that Calvin’s son took the keys to his father’s 1947 Chevrolet and that Calvin would not make the same mistake again, especially since Chennault A.F.B. was one of the busiest Air Force Bases in America at the time. Except for Calvin’s last years, he was a great lawyer; and so was Frank T. Salter, Jr. also a great D.A. Those were the good old days in Calcasieu Parish!
Hardy Parkerson, Atty.
Lake Charles
