Judge Jim Wiley spoke to the Kiwanis club Tuesday, December 10. The topic of his talk was “The People I Have Met, Good and Very BAD.”  

He grew up in Jonesville and met his first politician (Earl Long) at a young age across the street from his house at the Wiley Fish Company which belonged to his uncle. He attended Law School at Loyola in New Orleans and worked at the Civil District Court while going to school. Earl Long also graduated from Loyola Law School. Huey Long never graduated from high school or college but studied for a year and got a judge to see that he passed the bar. 

After graduating law school and passing the bar, Wiley started practicing law in Jena. He came to Winnfield 51 years ago at the invitation of Charlie Bice. Mr. Bice was district attorney at the time and he needed someone to help with his private practice. 

Much of Wiley’s talk involved his work in New Orleans and the people he met there, some of whose names were familiar and some were not. He told Kiwanians some stories about Edwin Edwards and other politicians from the 1970’s. Two of the lawyers he really admired in Winnfield were James Womack who was a charter member of the Kiwanis club and Martin S. Sanders. 

Kiwanis thanked Judge Wiley for a very interesting program.