Police Jury retains Section 16 hunting permit penalties

   There is no need to change the ordinance requiring hunting permits on Avoyelles School Board 16th Section properties in the parish, the Police Jury decided at its June 14 meeting.

   Assistant District Attorney Norris Greenhouse Sr. told jurors that a citizen had questioned the legality of penalties for second and third violations of the “unlawful entry” ordinance. Greenhouse said the citizen was referring to a “general provision” of a statute, which sets the maximum penalty that the Police Jury could set for a violation of one of its ordinances. However, he said there is a “specific statute” that gives the Police Jury the right to impose the statutory penalties for unlawful entry on property, vehicles, boats, etc., within the parish.

   “This ordinance tracks exactly the criminal trespass statute,” Greenhouse said.

  He said the provision of the statute that appears to limit the penalty includes the phrase “except as otherwise provided” in that section of the statute. The criminal trespass/unlawful entry provision, which authorizes a police jury to impose the state penalties, is in that section, so “it is otherwise provided,” he added.

   “You have the luxury of keeping it as is or changing it,” Greenhouse said, “but it does not violate the statute as it is currently written.”

   Jurors were told that the offense for violating the ordinance would not be “trespassing.” District Attorney Charles Riddle informed jurors previously that 16th Sections are public lands and a member of the public cannot trespass on public lands.

  The offense is “unlawful entry.” Greenhouse said this is appropriate because “anyone who enters the property without the required hunting permit with the purpose of hunting is committing an unlawful entry to that property.”

   The ordinance states that “hunting by any person of any animal of any species on public property under the control, management and supervision of the Avoyelles Parish School Board without a permit issued exclusively by the Avoyelles Parish School Board is prohibited.”

   Conviction of a first offense can be punishable by a fine of $250 to $500 and/or 30 days in jail. A second offense conviction carries a fine of $350 to $750 and/or 90 days in jail. If someone has a third offense within seven years, the punishment would be a fine of $500 to $1,000 and/or 60 days to six months in jail and forfeiture to the law enforcement authority of any weapon or firearm seized in connection with the violation. 

   Jurors voted 5-1 to keep the ordinance as is. Trent Clark voted against the measure. Marsha Wiley and Kirby Roy abstained due to their relationship with the School Board -- Roy is a teacher and Wiley is married to School Board President Darrell Wiley. Jury President Charles Jones did not vote.

 

   In another matter, the issue of stop signs on Slim Lemoine Road near Paragon Casino Resort took another turn.

   Large truck operators asked the Police Jury at the committee meeting on June 9 to remove the stop signs for traffic on Slim Lemoine Road, but leave the stop signs for the cross streets intersecting with the road from Tunica-Biloxi Tribe land.

   The truck operators said it is difficult for a fully-loaded truck to come to a full stop for no reason. Visibility is not an issue and traffic volume is not an issue, they said.

Jones said tribal officials claim the Police Jury approved installing the stop signs. He said a review of the jury minutes has found a request was made to place two stop signs on the road while the tribe was doing construction work in that area. 

    Jurors said they were never told that the two signs would be placed so as to make a four-way stop on Slim Lemoine Road at the tribe’s RV park.

   The four-way stop may actually make the intersection more dangerous instead of less dangerous because the large trucks are not stopping, jurors were told.

   While there was some support for pulling those two stop signs immediately, Juror Trent clark asked that a public hearing be held to give all sides an opportunity to present their arguments and evidence. Clark said this would give the tribe an opportunity to prove their claim that the Police Jury authorized creating the four-way stop.

   Jones said the jury usually has a public hearing whenever any significant change is made to a road, and that it would be appropriate to do that in this case. However, he reminded jurors that Slim Lemoine is a parish road and wholly within the jury’s responsibility, “so we can change our minds every month if we want to. It doesn’t matter if we gave them permission before or not.”

   Jurors then voted to conduct the public hearing at 5:30 p.m. on July 12, prior to the jury’s monthly meeting.

   During discussion, however, it was brought out that Tribal Police officers have been writing tickets for vehicles that do not stop at the stop signs.

  Greenhouse told jurors that Tribal Police can write tickets for vehicles that run the stop signs on the cross streets at the intersection with Slim Lemoine. Those streets are completely on tribal land and under the tribe’s jurisdiction. However, he said Tribal Police cannot write tickets for any violation, including speeding or running the stop sign, that occurs on Slim Lemoine Road because it is outside of their jurisdiction.

  “What they can do is observe the infraction and stop the offender and detain him there until an officer with proper jurisdiction arrives on the scene,” Greenhouse said. “Then that officer can write the ticket.”