Clifton Ellis Byrd (December 14, 1859 - February 26, 1926) was among the most prominent educators in Louisiana in the first quarter of the twentieth century. The nationally recognized C.E. Byrd High School (founded 1925) in Shreveport, the "alma mater" of many of that city's civic and political leaders, bears his name. C.E. Byrd is Shreveport's oldest public high school. Byrd was born in Bath County, Virginia (near the West Virginia state line), …

Jimmy N. Dimos (born October 18, 1938) is a state Fourth Judicial District Court judge based in Monroe, Louisiana, in Ouachita Parish. Dimos (pronounced "DEE MOSE") is also a former Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives, having served from 1976-1999. From 1988-1992, he was the Speaker of the House, the recommended choice of then Democratic Governor Charles E. "Buddy" Roemer, III.

James Albert Noe, Sr. (December 21, 1890 - October 18, 1976) of Monroe served for nearly five months as a Democratic Governor of Louisiana after the death of Oscar K. Allen on January 28, 1936. Noe was born in tiny Evans Landing in Harrison County, Indiana, to John M. Noe and the former Belle McRae. He also lived in the area of West Point, Kentucky, as a child. His education was limited to county schools.

Robert William "Bob" Kostelka (born February 18, 1933) is a former district attorney, district judge, and circuit judge, and, currently, a conservative Republican state senator from Monroe, Louisiana, who has represented Ouachita, Lincoln, and Jackson parishes in Senate District 35 since 2004. Kostelka retired from his circuit judgeship in 2003, when he reached the age of seventy, as required by an amendment to the Louisiana Constitution.

William Edwin "Ed" Whetstone (August 29, 1908 -- February 28, 1987) was a Monroe (Ouachita Parish) businessman and civic leader who served as the Fifth Congressional District member of the Louisiana State Board of Education during the 1960s and 1970s. Whetstone was born in the village of Oak Ridge in Morehouse Parish to Will Whetstone, a farmer, and the former Luta Craig (1883-1967). His formal education was limited to the Oak Ridge public school, …

Bernard Scott Leehy (born 1962) became the newest judge on the Louisiana Fourth Judicial District Court bench in Ouachita and Morehouse parishes on January 1, 2007. He was officially sworn in as district judge on December 27, 2006. Leehy had been the Monroe City Court judge since 1997. A Republican, he defeated the Democrat Jay Mitchell in the September 30, 2006, jungle primary for the seat being vacated by the retiring Judge Jimmy Dimos.

Randy Lew Ewing (born February 10, 1944) is a Jackson Parish businessman who, as a Democrat, represented District 35 (Jackson, Lincoln, Union, and part of Ouachita parishes) in the Louisiana State Senate from 1988-2000. He was the State Senate President in his last term from 1996-2000, which corresponded with the first term of Republican Governor Murphy J. "Mike" Foster, Jr. Ewing recalls his humble roots.

Francis Coleman Thompson (born October 29, 1941) is a wealthy developer from Delhi in Richland Parish, Louisiana, USA, and a senior Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives, who has served continuously since 1975. Because of state term limits, he is ineligible to seek a ninth four-year term in the jungle primary pending on October 20, 2007. In addition to his own Richland Parish, Thompson represents all or portions of the parishes of East Carroll, …

Billy Wayne Montgomery (born July 7, 1937) is a former educator who has represented the Bossier City-based District 9 in the Louisiana House of Representatives since 1988. Montgomery has relocated from his previous residence in Haughton in western Bossier Parish to live once again in Bossier City. He was elected as a Democrat, but he switched affiliation to the Republican Party on October 3, 2006.

Linus Arthur Sims (September 22, 1882 - September 15, 1949) was an educator and administrator who was the driving force behind the establishment of Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond. Sims created Hammond Junior College in 1925, which became the former Southeastern Louisiana College in 1928. In 1970, the institution was declared a university. During the 1990s, Southeastern was one of the fastest growing institutions of higher learning in the United States.