Road problem may get a fix

Image
Body

A complaint about gravel and grading on Thompson Lane northwest of Eunice is to be remedied by a St. Landry Parish road crew, Bill Fontenot, parish president, said.
Fontenot was informed about a complaint about the road from Hilton Fontenot, who lives on the road.
“I’ve been out there at least a couple of times and it was because of the complaints of citizens about the trees and the right-of-way,” the parish resident said.
At one point there was a complaint that Hilton Fontenot was using a hose to wet the road and in the process wash away gravel, the president said.
“I think that might have ceased,” Bill Fontenot said.
Hilton Fontenot said while he was working out of state about two or three months ago, a parish work crew removed a row of crape myrtles and knockout roses from the front of his property.
The resident acknowledges the trees and bushes were on a parish right-of-way.
His complaint is that the parish work crew did not properly grade and gravel the road, which has resulted in puddles along the side the road in front of his house and a neighbor’s house.
“There is no sense in the way they left this,” he said.
Hilton Fontenot said he has lived there 33 years and has maintained the parish right-of-way in front of his property the entire time.
“Any time the parish comes around you get ready for a mess up,” he said Tuesday.
Bill Fontenot said, “I will venture to say, I’m 100 percent certain, it wasn’t intentional. So, we need to go back and maybe improve that.”
The request from the resident is credible, he said.
The parish president said there is a history of complaints on the road and among neighbors.
He denied avoiding the resident’s phone calls, but he said sometimes complaints go beyond the talking point and a decision must be made.
That’s how he explained the removal of the trees and bushes.
“Sometime it may get to the point where it is just beyond the talking and we do what we think is right,” the parish president said.
He said something will be done about the side-of-the-road puddles.
“If I remember that road has a pretty good foundation,” he said.
“The upkeep should not be that demanding,” he added.