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'''Kaliste Joseph Saloom, Jr.''' (May 15, 1918 – December 2, 2017), was for forty years the [[judge]] of the municipal court in his native [[Lafayette]], [[Louisiana]]. He was such a A highly-regarded local official who obtained national recognition and , Saloom was inducted in 2016 inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame, based in Winnfield in north Louisiana.He was also an historian.<ref name=klfy>{{cite web|url=http://klfy.com/2017/12/04/kaliste-saloom-jr-a-longtime-lafayette-city-judge-and-historian-dies-at-the-age-of-99/|title=Kaliste Saloom Jr., a longtime Lafayette city judge and historian dies at the age of 99|author=Caroline Marcello|publisher=Klfy.com|date=December 4, 2017|accessdate=December 7, 2017}}</ref>
==Background==
Discharged from the Army in 1946, he returned to Lafayette to open his legal practice. In 1948, he was appointed Lafayette city attorney, in which capacity he was instrumental in the development of the municipal utilities system and in the establishment of permanent voter registration for Lafayette Parish. In 1953, he became Lafayette City Court Judge, a post which he filled until 1993. He never sought another political office. A [[Democratic Party|Democrat]], he avoided siding with either the [[Earl Long]] or the anti-Long faction and often drew backing from both sides. One of Saloom's reforms involved the placing of control of traffic tickets under his city court jurisdiction. A four-way traffic ticket system created a multi-layered record that made it much more difficult for officials to "fix" tickets for friends and political supporters. For a time, more tickets in Lafayette Parish had been fixed than tried. <ref name=findagrave/>According to his obituary, Judge Saloom's reforms became a model for other systems in the state and nation. He worked to enhance traffic safety, to protect children, and to improve the overall administration of justice.<ref name=obit/>
Judge Saloom halted the previous practice of docketing cases based on the race of a [[defendant]]. Instead, he called cases by name and docket number with out mention of race. He instituted other measures that protected the rights of the accused. He used lawyers, rather than police officers, to prosecute cases. He worked to obtain legal counsel for indigent defendants. Saloom was the only city judge in Lafayette until 1984, when the court added a second judge.<ref name=findagrave/> He was instrumental in the establishment of the Lafayette Juvenile Detention Home and the Acadiana Safety Council.<ref name=klfy/>
From 1960 to 1964, Saloom served on the Judicial Council of the Louisiana Supreme Court Judicial Council, the first city court judge to have been so designated. He was twice chairman of the state Supreme Court’s Special Committee for Revision of Louisiana Highway Traffic Laws. He worked in the drafting of the uniform traffic code as well as the codes for criminal and civil procedures. He was instrumental in the passage of the Small Claims Court Act and the federal Drunk Driving Prevention Act.<ref name=findagrave/>
