| "I don't know where this map came from. It has no signature or stamp on it."Bill Campbell, LCG Assistant Public Works Director after seeing the confederate map of Lafayette Parish at the December 16, 2003 Lafayette Council Meeting. An identical certification dated July 15, 2003 was in Mr. Campbell's Public Works file on the Lafayette/Vermilion Boundary. (Click Here to see it) |
| The Final Word ? Continued..3 |
| In phone interviews and conversations with public officials from both parishes, I recognized one common thread. The boundary line had been decided in a meeting held between Police Jurors in Vermilion, some representatives from Lafayette Consolidated Government including Walter Comeaux and Bill Campbell. The meeting, Iwas told was to assure that all parties would agree to the findings of the State Land Office. This meeting was held sometime in the early months of 2000. There were no minutes because there was no quorum according to Hubert Faulk, Police Juror from Vermilion Parish. I was also told, through the years the Sheriff and Assessors in both parishes took liberties or allowed assessments to take place in the parish of choice rather than in the home parish. No doubt, there is plenty of blame to go around. In a phone conversation with Mike Langlinais, Tax Assessor from Vermilion Parish, Mr. Langlinais confided that for years he was told stories of old politicians running for office who would relocate family members into one parish or the other to garner their vote. Mr. Langlinais stated in conversation he had with Mr. Ellis Duplex, then Lafayette Parish Assessor this had been a practice going back generations. What was absent was a public entity willing to research this issue using accepted research standards and practices. There was no attention to the time period of 1844, and the line was decided and accepted under the premise that the line had been established in 1931,and what was going |
| to take place was the re-establishment of that line. What was not mentioned or explained, was just when the boundary was established? I contend tht boundary was indeed established in 1844 but it was not the boundary struck by Merrill Bernard. The Bernard Survey was titled to give the impression that it was establishing the 1844 line. But how did Bernard achieve that? There were no records in Vermilion Parish dating back that far. We know from a working drawing Bernard used the Gueydan Quadrangle map (again, quadrangle maps are not accepted authorities), but there are no other historical references or survey notes. We know Bernard was hired by Vermilion, and Lafayette did not participate in this venture. The records in Vermilion go back to 1885 only. The only written observation Bernard made was he interview with a man who cut down a tree long identified to local residents as the boundary line of the parish. So Bernard made a huge leap in assumption and called the location of the tree (no longer standing) the departure point to the Indian Bayou (Indian Point Coulee) segment. Lafayette Parish has records to prove an 1844 boundary, while Vermilion Parish possesses a sufficient number of early records to establish the names of the natural landmarks, but neither parish saw fit to investigate the records back to 1844 to substantiate the validity of Bernard's findings. The General Land Office surveys were not taken into account. Why? Because it would be contrary to the Bernard line and the Lombard abstract, which takes land from Lafayette Parish and places it in Vermilion Parish and at the same time removes Linda Navarre Duhon from the parish. Was there a Quid Pro Quo? In a conversation with Hubert Faulk, Vermilion Parish Police Juror, (a conversation that is now public record in the case of Broussard v. Duhon, 1999), Faulk was asked how the assessments would be affected. He stated, "I think Lafayette Parish might loose on that line, but they are going to gain a bunch out there between St. Martin and Lafayette Parish," Faulk continued, "I think Lafayette will come out on the better end of the deal. The meeting I attended, and I only attended one of them, and that was the assumption I get there." According to Faulk, the meeting was held approximately one month prior to the June 26. 2000 conversation. According to Bill Campbell in a phone conversation on the day after, Campbell stated, "There is nothing in the making for anything in St. Martin (St. Martin Parish Line)". This is contradictory to what I was told by Hubert Faulk. On or about the same day I spoke with John Evans, Jr. with the State Land Office. He informed me his office would do no work until Lafayette and Vermilion were in agreement and had secured the funding, then his office would provide the surveying to place the line on the ground. Never was there a mention of either the State Land Offices or the parishes involved performing any research into the boundary history and location. We now know that a study by the State Land Office was taking place simultaneously on the eastern boundary line between Lafayette, St. Martin and Vermilion, Iberia parishes. The eastern boundary study conducted was more thorough in the historical research. The State Land Office researched old land grants, surveys and the General Land Office surveys of the referenced Townships and presented evidence of findings to Lafayette, Vermilion, St. Martin and Iberia Parishes in the Spring of 2004. The presentation was attended by Mayor- President Joey Durel, LCG Public Works Director Tom Carroll along with officials from all the parishes involved in the study. The LCG Council was conspicuosly absent. When I inquired why they were not in attendance, I was informed that due to an oversight they had not been invited. The LCG Council to date has not asked to have a presentation made on the subject. I was astonished when camparing the amount of research undertaken on the eastern boundary in comparison with to a lack of attention to the detail on the southern boundary. It was evident that two different standards were applied. What was the difference? The difference was how the work was contracted and the depth of the research. In the case of the eastern boundary the State Land Office did some research, contracted some research and provided the information to the parishes so the parishes would decide how a decision would be made. In the study of the southern boundary, Vermilion and Lafayette Parishes were to do the research, provide the findings to the State Land Office, and the State Land Officewould decide, as a neutral party, but based on the information it was provided by Lafayette and Vermilion. In the absence of in depth historical data, and given only the Bernard Survey and two Police Jury meetings from the period from 1929 to 1934, one could expect it was a foregone conclusion where the boundary would be located. So, the line was predetermined and the research was determined by the line instead of the line being determined by the research. Correspondence between the two parishes and the State Land Office bears this out. (See Below) |
| Exerpt from April 5, 1999 letter from State Land Office to Eugene Sellers, Engineer for Vermilion Parish (Click here to see Letter) "In accordance with your request made at out meeting of March 24, 1999, the State Land Office is pleased to submit this proposal.... Therefore the following assumptions apply to this proposal: 4) The work to be done consists of surveying the Lafayette/Vermilion parish boundary from Sec. 4,T12 S, R 5E (about halfway between Parcpaerdu Bayou and the Village of Parcperdu) in a northwesterly direct line to "the first woods on Dalby's Coulee" in the north- eastern quarter of Sec. 52, T 11S, R 4E and passing through the southwest corner of Sec. 30, T 11S, R 4 E. The letter was signed by A. Darrel Primeaux, PE, PLS (Cheif of Title Surveys & GIS) with copies sent to Charles St. Romain & Bill Campbell (Mr. Primeaux was replaced by John Evans, Jr. is the position of Chief of Title & Surveys) |
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| Exerpt from June 24, 1999 letter from State Land Office to Bill Campbell,LCG Asst. Public Works Director (Click here to see Letter) "In accordance with your request made at out meeting of March 24, 1999, the State Land Office is pleased to submit this proposal.... Therefore the following assumptions apply to this proposal: 4) The work to be done consists of surveying the Lafayette/Vermilion parish boundary from Grange's Coulee (Sec. 2: T 11S,R 3E) Northwesterly to Indian Bayou (Sec 30: T 10S, R 3 E). The letter was signed by Joey Roberts, (Supervisor I Titles & Surveys) |
| (Above) A copy of the certification of the Confederate Map of Lafayette Parish, obtained from the Secretary of State, located in the State Archives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The original copy is located in the National Archives in Washington, D,C, The map was dismissed by Bill Campbell, Assistant Public Works Director for LCG and five of the nine LCG Councilmen; Lenwood Broussard, Chris Williams, Louis Benjamin, Bobby Castille,Bobby Badeauxx. |