Farmer Billy Broussard discusses four (4) issues he believes are crucial entailing his 33-acre farm on Duchamp Road in Broussard, Louisiana. In this first installment, he counters St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars’ argument that an ordinance prohibiting the hauling of vegetative materials into St. Martin Parish from outside of the Parish was not targeted specifically at him.
On Friday, July 29, 2022, farmer Billy Broussard called us and stated, “I’ve got a few things I need to get off my chest.” He’d been telling us various observations he’s been making since the point that he sued the Daily Iberian for libel.
He asked if he could come over and “do a Sound Off feature” to state his observations and concerns, particularly as it regards St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars. We told him that was exactly why the blog Sound Off Louisiana was formed in the first place, and we invited him to come right on over. By the time he was done, we realized we’d need to segment all he had to say into four (4) distinct features as he covered a ton of ground.
Today is installment one wherein Broussard directly refutes the claim that Cedars makes that the ordinance prohibiting hauling in vegetative materials into St. Martin Parish was, “not targeted at Mr. Broussard.” He further called for someone with “vision” to run for SMPG Parish President in 2023 in order to free the Parish from the “dictatorship” it’s presently under with Cedars at the helm. Let’s take a look:
Broussard cites the case of SMPG v. Trevis Helaire (for which SMPG sent a C & D letter on 6/18/21, three days after Broussard’s 6/15/21 C & D letter and for which SMPG sued Helaire on 7/28/21, five days PRIOR TO enacting the ordinance, yet for Broussard, suit was not filed until 8/19/21, four days AFTER the ordinance became effective).
In the video, we said we’d reproduce the video which is applicable for the Trevis Helaire property, which Cedars references in the above video. Here it is:
Armond Joseph Road property right next to Poche Bridge in St. Martin Parish. That’s the property on which Trevis Helaire was sued on 7/28/21, which Broussard stresses was BEFORE the ordinance taking effect on 8/15/21.
We want to make it clear that Parish President Cedars indicated that three of the four properties he discussed entailed burning (meaning the fourth property did not). He made that very clear at the July 20, 2021 SMPG Council meeting. Here’s video of him doing so:
July 20, 2021 SMPG Council meeting, during which Parish President Cedars makes it clear that “two of the three” complaints on properties (Armond Joseph Road, Division Road, and Duchamp Road) received during the week of June 15 – June 18, 2021 entailed “burning.” He then indicated that a fourth property was also identified that also entailed burning. NOTE: Cedars SPECIFICALLY identifies the two properties (of the three entailing complaints the week of June 15-18) that were burning!! He specifically states that the properties burning were Armond Joseph Road and Division Road. Hence, it would seem incomprehensible that The Daily Iberian would nevertheless print on FOUR occasions in one article that Broussard was engaging in “burning activities” at his Duchamp Road property.
Now, also in the first video above, we said we’d reproduce the interrogation Cedars made of Broussard entailing his hay operations on his farm. Here’s that material:
Now, since we’ve increased our subscribership substantially since we first began covering Broussard’s 33-acre property, we feel it would be appropriate at this time to replicate a portion of our very first feature on his property since: #1) back then, Broussard had no idea he’d ALREADY been sued as he gave a video tour of the property and, #2) more people have been pulled into direct involvement entailing the property (whether they wanted to or not).
We think it provides an interesting contrast to the Helaire property above and the Division Road property, which was another of the “nuisance” properties (which nobody would even dispute constituted a nuisance) entailing hauling in of old batteries, tires, etc. Here’s the replication of that feature so folk who are so inclined can get an up-close examination of Broussard’s farm:
Let’s take a few minutes to permit Broussard to provide a tour of his farm and describe the encounter his driver had with Lopez on the afternoon of Monday, June 14, 2021:
Farmer Billy Broussard provides a guided tour of his farm and describes the encounter one of his drivers allegedly had with LSP on the afternoon of Monday, June 14, 2021 [Note: The video tour was conducted in late August of 2021, only mere days after he’d been sued via a Temporary Restraining Order by SMPG Parish President Chester Cedars, though Broussard had no knowledge he’d been sued as he gave this video tour of his property.]
….a few relevant pictures and a couple of very brief videos which we believe are beneficial to augment Broussard’s tour video above:
Three-minute aerial drone video of Broussard’s farm.
28-second video of a small duckling in a small wooden house Broussard constructed and which has been used as a safe harbor by small ducklings until they age sufficiently to fend off predators in the ponds on the property.
Aerial map of Broussard’s 33-acre farm.
Several employees on Broussard’s family farm pose for a photo sitting atop hay which is about to be loaded onto an older 18-wheeler for storage.
Broussard’s farm shortly after being freshly mowed.
Cut tree pile shortly after Broussard pushed a pile similar to that featured on the video above off into one of the canyons on the 33-acre farm in preparation of making the farm conducive for mushroom farming.
An alligator snoops around for prey in one of the ponds on Broussard’s farm.
Quite a contrast to the Helaire property above, no? In fact, Broussard told us that he was intrigued to see Wick Communication’s recent tribute to Robert Wick (Broussard recently sued The Daily Iberian, which is controlled by Wick Communications) and his focus on the environment. From the tribute:
Wick lived, flourished and shared his humanity in a number of worlds. Foremost was his commitment and love for family and to nature. Wick’s monumental bronze sculptures, which are featured in exhibits throughout the U.S., are distinctive: living trees and plants placed inside the bronzes to reflect the flora and strength of Earth and their connection with mankind.
In 1984, Wick was part of a group that sought to reduce copper smelter pollution in southeastern Arizona and northern Sonora, Mexico. Groups Against Smelter Pollution (GASP) had a mission of healthy citizenship, preservation of the natural environment and an appreciation of the economic connections between the two countries. There were three smelters in Douglas, Ariz., Cananea, Sonora, and Nacozari, Sonora. Together, the smelters produced the “gray triangle” that blighted the San Pedro Valley and its neighboring communities of Sierra Vista, Bisbee and Douglas. There were many days when the air was stagnant, hazy and residents of those communities couldn’t see the mountains nearby.
Wick planted more than 1,000 seedling trees over a 10-year period on his land in the Mule Mountains near Bisbee.
Broussard indicated to us that, given Robert Wick’s commitment to the environment, he would have thought The Daily Iberian would be supportive of his initiatives to, “go green and repurpose the property” and cultivate conditions most favorable to a prospective mushroom farm and totally eschew any burning activities, which are known to be harmful to the environment.
Broussard found it therefore disheartening that the paper would send out a reporter to, according to Broussard’s litigation, paint a totally false narrative that Broussard engaged in burning activity (activity similar to that of the Helaire above) when the only person even making such a claim at all is the author of the The Daily Iberian article, Dewayne Fatherree.
Finally, Broussard was further disheartened when Fatheree’s editor, Michael Messerly, who’d just arrived in New Iberia from Buffalo, New York at the time of the article’s publication, indicated to Broussard that, “I don’t have time to watch a video,” which Broussard asserted to Messerly would contradict what Fatherree reported in the article.
We can only assume that Wick / Daily Iberian folk will certainly have to invest more than the length of that 38-minute video in dealing with Broussard’s lawsuit now filed against Wick and Fatherree since Messerly didn’t “have time” to watch that video a year ago.
We’ll have installment two of Broussard’s visit with us of last Friday, July 29, 2022, out within a few days or so.
If you would like to be added to our Sound Off Louisiana email list to be notified of future posts, simply go to our home page and scroll to the bottom (mobile devices) or to the top of the right-hand column (desktops). Supply your email address within the subscribe box. You’ll then receive an automated email from Word Press, and all you have to do is click on the blue “confirm follow” bar contained within that email, and you’ll begin receiving great posts such as the preceding one above.