By Megan Ashley Fink
The Natchez Democrat
NATCHEZ —Concordia Parish police jurors voted Tuesday evening to seek an attorney who can help the parish deal with an ongoing battle over a damaged road.
The jury alleges D&D Drilling damaged Deadening Road during a drilling operation, and did not obtain a road bond as required by the parish.
The jury sent a letter to the drilling company at a previous meeting, informing the company the parish would file a lawsuit if the company did not repair the estimated $79,000 in damages to the road.
Juror Willie Dunbar said the jury had reached out to the District Attorney’s office for assistance in the legal matter, but felt the DA was not expedient enough in providing advice.
“Each meeting, (a representative of the district attorney’s office) came telling here saying they would have an answer for us next meeting … it’s been about six months now,” Dunbar said. “We can’t get the (assistant district attorney) to handle this situation.”
Dunbar made a motion to approach outside legal assistance in order to have a formal proposal to adopt at the next meeting. The motion was passed with no jury members in dissent.
Police juror Jimmy Jernigan said the body would talk to Dan Garrett, who represents other police juries in the state.
“We’re going to contact him and see what we need to do from there,” Jernigan said. “(The DA’s office) just keeps postponing it and it’s at the point where we got to do something.”
Jernigan said an assistant district attorney had reported at a previous meeting the office lacked the expertise to handle the Deadening Road case.
“It seems like (the DA’s office) just got a bigger caseload than what he wants to handle with us,” Jernigan said.
Concordia Parish District Attorney Brad Burget said those criticisms are incorrect.
“The case load has nothing to do with it,” Burget said. “I have a conflict within the case.”
Burget said he could not discuss the nature of the conflict because of attorney-client privilege, but the legal conflict precluded him from becoming involved in the case.
Burget said he informed the police jury of the conflict months ago, and advised the jury it would have to seek outside counsel.
“On numerous meetings they have discussed (the Deadening Road issue) but failed to take any action,” Burget said.
The district attorney said no representatives from his office were present at this meeting or the previous one because the jury requested none. “I call them weekly and ask if they need a representative there. If we are told no, we don’t attend.”
Burget said his office was still available to provide advice to the jury, but he could not file a lawsuit on its behalf.