Police Jury and School Board discuss Section 16 hunting permits

   Steps have been taken to put some teeth into the Avoyelles School Board’s requirement for hunting permits on its 16th Section property. 

   Officials from the School Board attended the Police Jury’s meeting on Jan. 12 to ask the parish governing body to  adopt an ordinance supporting the board’s requirement.
   The board’s Building and Lands Committee also discussed the issue at its meeting on Jan. 19.
 
Police Jury action
   School board member James Gauthier presented the board’s request to the Police Jury.
   Gauthier said right now a person caught illegally hunting on Section 16 property can only be charged with trespassing.
   The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has said they cannot enforce stricter rules unless the Police Jury passes an ordinance making the offense a violation of a parish ordinance.
   “We are only looking for enforcement when people are hunting illegally on 16th Section or School Board-owned land,” Gauthier told jurors. “Biking, hiking, and fishing will be permitted without a permit. If you are going through the property with a firearm, it must be unloaded at all times. If the firearm is loaded, the person must have a permit.”
   Gauthier told jurors that each camp owner is given two permits to give to anyone they wish.
   School Board President Darrell Wiley -- husband of newly seated Police Juror Marsha Wiley -- said the people have been poaching, cutting trees and causing other problems on the board property.
   “This would benefit the honest people hunting on the property,” he said. “It’s public land, but the School Board manages the land. We have had a bunch of people purchase permits, but a bunch that didn’t.”
   Assistant District Attorney Norris Greenhouse told jurors the Avoyelles District Attorney’s Office will back an ordinance if the jury adopts it. The DA’s Office will also help draft the ordinance.
   Police Jury President Charles Jones said the jury will have to have a public hearing on the proposed ordinance before it comes before the jury for a final decision.
   Juror Henry Moreau, from Simmesport, said the 16th Section properties are supposed to help the School Board raise revenue for education. He said he would favor the ordinance.
   The motion to draft the ordinance and have a public hearing on it was adopted 8-1, with Juror Trent Clark opposed. A public hearing will be scheduled once the final version of the ordinance is written and presented by the District Attorney’s Office.
 
School Board committee meeting
    At the committee meeting, board member Chris Lacour asked that the School Board develop written rules and regulations concerning the permit policy and send that document to all permit holders.
   He also said the signs posted on board property need to accurately reflect the board’s permit policy.
   School District Maintenance Supervisor Steve Marcotte said that when the permit policy was adopted, the board said that “any recreational purpose would require a permit.”
   “We will have to change that,” Wiley said. “It’s not working out. It is a hunting permit and not a user permit.”
   District Attorney Charles Riddle told board members previously that the permit could only apply to those hunting on board property, and could not be assessed against people who were hiking, visiting a camp or passing through the property.
   It has been pointed out that board-posted signs at boat launches indicate a board-issued permit and decal are required or the user could be charged with trespassing.
   Wiley said the board should put a hold on any further action on the matter until the DA presents the ordinance to the Police Jury.
   He said after that, the board may need to appoint a special committee, including members of the community and “even some neighbors we may have had problems with in the past.”
   Wiley said the special committee could look at the issue and resolve questions.