Lane Carson

Lane Anderson Carson (born in New Orleans, USA on August 21, 1947) was appointed head of the Louisiana Department of Veterans' Affairs by Governor Bobby Jindal. Carson is also a licensed building contractor and real estate broker,and an attorney in private practice. He is a resident of Covington, the seat of St. Tammany Parish, and was previously chief of the Civil Division of the 22nd Judicial District of the parish.

Life

Carson was a platoon leader in the United States Army in South Vietnam during the Vietnam war . He was wounded and discharged and returned to the USA. He graduated in 1971 with a bachelor's degree from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. In 1974, he received his Juris Doctor degree from Tulane Law School in New Orleans.

He served in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1976 to 1983, representing House District 99 in Orleans Parish first as a Democrat (1976-1977), and thereafter as a member of the Republican Party; Carson was the first Vietnam War veteran to serve in his state's legislature.

During his legislative tenure, Carson served on the Civil Law, House & Governmental, and Health and Welfare Committees and Veterans and Elderly Sub-committees. Carson voted for legislation allowing eyeglass and prescription drug advertising; allowing teachers to search for drugs and weapons; speeding up the capital punishment process; providing restitution to victims of crime, giving police access to juvenile criminal records, and against child pornography.

After more than six years of service Carson resigned his House seat to become Asst. Secretary, Louisiana Department of Health and Human Resources during Governor David Treen's administration. Carson later became an assistant district attorney in St. Tammany Parish, where as chief of the Civil Division for more than twenty years, he was a legal advisor to St. Tammany Parish government and numerous boards and commissions.

In 1985 President Ronald W. Reagan nominated Carson, to the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board for a term which expired on December 3, 1988. In 2003 President George W. Bush appointed him to the board of directors of the National Institute of Building Sciences.

Carson belongs to many veterans organizations and was appointed by Governor Mike Foster to the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs to represent the Military Order of the Purple Heart. He was appointed to the Louisiana Military Hall of Fame Museum Board early in the 21st century.

Carson and his wife, Laura, have two children. A son, Christopher Carson, is a 2004 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, and is currently serving as a surface warfare officer in the United States Navy. A daughter, Rebecca, an architect intern, is married to Nat Parks. Mrs. Carson is a retired assistant principal from the St. Tammany Parish public schools. Carson is Baptist.

External links

*http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1985/121185a.htm
*http://pview.findlaw.com/view/2879092_1?noconfirm=0
*http://www.usna.com/News_Pubs/News/SearchNewsRead.asp?Article=4907
*http://www.rejuvenola.com/
*http://www.senate.gov/comm/banking_housing_and_urban_affairs/general/noms/nibs/carson.htm
*http://www.sos.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcpr&rqsdta=03090452
*http://216.239.51.104/search?q=cache:EO6WECXezQkJ:www.nibs.org/July03.pdf+lane+carson&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=16
*http://www.thenewsstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071206/NEWS01/712060313

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