Movement on Choupic lawsuit grinds to halt

Legal action to recoup repair costs to the Choupic levee reportedly caused last month by a contractor hauling logs with an 18-wheeler atop the structure hit a snag after the Lafourche Parish Council’s special counsel was unable to attend last week’s meeting.

Attorney Michael Gee was hired by the parish council in April to seek legal action against JKM Logging, the company whose driver allegedly caused the damage. The Public Works Department discovered the destruction April 13, Parish President Charlotte Randolph said.

Gee was hired initially to file a cease-and-desist injunction against the logging company to stop work.

Now, the council is considering additional legal action.

The council is scheduled to meet with Gee in executive session at Tuesday’s parish council meeting.

Council members are also slated to hear Lafourche Parish District Attorney Cam Morvant’s opinion on the parish’s options regarding the blockage of Company Canal.

Gheens residents believe the Company Canal is a public waterway, even though the Louisiana Supreme Court granted Benny Cenac, of Cenac Towing, ownership to the portion of the waterway falling within his property.

Cenac placed gates blocking its passage in 2007, and Gheens boaters have been unable to access that portion of the waterway since.

Randolph postponed her presentation regarding the blockage of Company Canal until next week’s parish council meeting.

The council unanimously agreed at last week’s meeting to sell Thibodaux property intended to be the site of a new public library.

Councilman Joe Fertitta submitted an amendment stating the money spent acquiring the land at the intersection of La. Highway 308 and Rosedown Drive should be returned to the Thibodaux Library Fund.

Both the ordinance and the amendment passed unanimously.

“I wanted to make sure the money went back into the building fund for remodeling the new library,” said Fertitta.

With the parish’s recent purchase of the old Daily Comet building, Fertitta said the parish will remodel that building into a public library rather than build a new one from scratch.

Lafourche Parish’s total cost of land acquisition for the original intended library site was $497,130.

If it is sold for more than that figure, councilman Rodney Doucet said the extra dollars should go to the library fund as well.

However, the council will decide what to do with the surplus dollars at a later meeting if the land is sold for more than the amount for which it was acquired.