Richard G. Neeson

Richard Grady Neeson, Sr. (born November 11, 1946), is a Democratic former member of the Louisiana State Senate who from 1980 to 1992 represented District 38 in Caddo and DeSoto parishes in northwestern Louisiana.^[1]

In 1979, Neeson unseated one-term Democratic Senator Virginia Kilpatrick Shehee, a prominent civic leader and an officer of the Kilpatrick Funeral Home and Life Insurance companies. Neeson was reelected in 1983, when he halted a challenge from former Democratic Senator Cecil K. Carter, Jr., whom Shehee had succeeded in 1975. In 1987, Neeson only narrowly defeated the Republican candidate, Ron Bean of Shreveport, 10,451 (50.2 percent) to 10,373 (49.8 percent).^[2] Four years later in 1991, Bean won the seat when Neeson declined to seek a fourth term, having narrowly defeated fellow Republican Tommy G. Armstrong, who had served fifteen years on the Caddo Parish Commission and a year in the Louisiana House of Representatives. Bean served from 1992 to 2004.

During his Senate tenure, Neeson chaired the Committee on Transportation, Highways and Public Works.^[3]

In 1986, Neeson introduced legislation to raise the drinking age from eighteen to twenty-one^[4] so as not to impair the receipt to the state of up to $30 million in annual federal highway assistance. Neeson's measure lost by a two-vote margin in the state House of Representatives,^[5]but the drinking age was later raised in a special session.

Neeson is married to the former Sandra Scott (born 1948). Their children are Holly Elaine Neeson Cohen, Amy S. Neeson Weatherly, Sarah C. Neeson Sazama, and Richard G. Neeson, Jr.^[6]

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