NOVEMBER 2022

Once In a Lifetime
BY CLIFF PALMER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, LAMATS
Cliff Palmer
Executive Director,
LaMATS
The saying, “once in a lifetime” can be
a bit overstated at times. But for me,
and many long-standing members of
the LMA, serving alongside former
City of Baker Mayor/Councilman Norman
E. “Pete” Heine has been just that
- a true once in a lifetime experience.
Born in December 1928 at the family
home on Ready Street in Baton
Rouge, this would prove to be a real
sign of how he would conduct his
life – always ‘ready’ to serve his fellow
man. Mr. Pete’s early years of service
started in the U.S. Air Force. He served in the historic
post-WWII Berlin Airlift campaign during 1948 and then
later as a fighter
aircraft crew chief
during the Korean
War. He went on
to serve several
terms of elected
and appointed
office in his
much-loved city
of Baker as mayor
and councilman,
and in West Feliciana
Parish as their first Parish Manager. In all his years of
service, Mr. Pete has never betrayed the public’s trust. His
family’s deep pastoral roots provided young Pete with a
strong and principled beginning. That foundation would
quickly become his trademark as he returned home and
transitioned from military service to serving his hometown
in a variety of ways.
As a confident, skilled, and proven leader, he was elected
by his LMA peers to serve as President (1967-1968), and
then a few years later elected as a delegate to the Louisiana
Constitutional Convention of 1973 to represent the
interests of local government. Throughout his many years
as mayor and council
member, Mr. Pete has
always been a reliable
source of counsel for the
LMA leadership and staff.
He has been the face of
the LMA, and always a capable
advocate ‘ready’ to
take on the most difficult
issues in an effort to help
educate and persuade our
federal representatives
in Washington, D.C. and
state officials in Baton
Rouge. In 2017, LMA President
Gonzales Mayor Barney Arceneaux selected Heine
to receive the coveted LMA President’s Award in recognition
of his valued and sustained service calling him, “a
man of his word who deeply cares about people.”
Current LMA President and Ville Platte Mayor Jennifer
Vidrine refers to his years of loyal service to the LMA as,
“idyllic, and a victory for all humanity.”
How do you honor a man
who has, by all accounts,
collected a lifetime of
accolades and achievements?
Mr. Pete was recently
recognized by the LMA
for his more than 60
years of faithful service
to the organization with
the dedication of the
new LMA Executive
Boardroom named on his
behalf. President Vidrine
sponsored the effort to name the new LMA Boardroom
after Mr. Pete, and it wasn’t a hard sell. A man as respected,
revered, and admired as Mr. Pete is a man who comes
along only once in a lifetime. We are honored to know
him, and we are honored to now carry his name with us.
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LMR | NOVEMBER 2022