Parish Will Review Trail Ride Ordinance
Organizers Seek Assurance Outings Can
Continue After Security Concerns Force Cancellation
May 26, 2013
by William Johnson
The Daily World
The Kountry Bunnies Trail Ride, originally scheduled for this weekend in Leonville, will be rescheduled.
St. Landry Parish officials had pulled the ride’s permit Wednesday after State Police refused to allow the riders to use La. 31, which is the only way into or out of the Inseparable Federation Benevolent Society Lodge grounds, where the ride was set to take place.
That refusal took both ride organizers and the parish by surprise. The parish’s current trail ride ordinance has been in place since 2011 and it’s the first of dozens of rides since to run into a problem.
It was Sheriff Bobby Guidroz who had urged the cancellation of the Kountry Bunnies’ permit.
Guidroz said he had received reliable reports that another trail ride group was planning to attend this weekend’s event in Leonville to seek revenge for a shooting in Acadia Parish on May 19.
The Acadia Parish Sheriff’s Office will not say that shooting at a convenience store, which left one man dead and two others wounded, was related to a nearby trail ride. But they do say it involved individuals who had been at the ride.
Many of the trail ride organizers called Guidroz’s decision discriminatory, pointing out that past incidents at area fairs and festivals, but nobody asked them to be shut down.
In an emergency called meeting Friday afternoon, St. Landry Parish President Bill Fontenot promised to work with the group. He offered to let them go ahead with their event, but without the ride portion of the weekend.
“We are going to let them use the trail ride permit (to cover the gathering). They have done all the due diligence. We will let it go forward but without the ride,” Fontenot said.
But in the end, the riders chose instead to cancel the event for now.
Geraldine Walker with the Kountry Bunnies said vendors had already backed out, and the scheduled bands had made other plans. In short, there just wasn’t enough time to pull the event back together within a few hours.
Until now, trail rides have had to get advance permission from numerous agencies, including the state Department of Transportation and Development.
Fontenot said he was unaware of the state law that apparently forbids horses from using a state road.
“We assumed that if the DOTD said OK, that included State Police,” Fontenot said.
While there was not a happy ending for the Kountry Bunnies, the meeting left most rider organizers satisfied — at least for now.
“It went very well,” said Clifton Lemelle with the Step-N-Strut ride, one of the dozens of ride organizers in attendance. “I appreciate parish government calling this meeting so we could at least talk about the issues. I’m convinced that trail rides will continue in Louisiana.”
At the request of many of the ride organizers, Fontenot said he would try to schedule another meeting that would also include representatives of State Police and the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Although Fontenot argued that the safety and security of both residents and trail riders has to be a priority, he also expressed support for the rides.
“I appreciate the fun it brings,” said Fontenot, who compared trail rides with tailgating parties at football games.
“All we want is to have fun and we want it to be safe,” Fontenot said. “This is just a bump. We will get past it.”
Organizers Seek Assurance Outings Can
Continue After Security Concerns Force Cancellation
May 26, 2013
by William Johnson
The Daily World
 |
Dave Lemelle, Step -N-Strut Trail Ride organizer, asks questions of St. Landry Parish President Bill Fontenot during a special meeting called Friday to discuss trail rides in St. Landry Parish.
Photo Credit: Freddie Herpin
|
St. Landry Parish officials had pulled the ride’s permit Wednesday after State Police refused to allow the riders to use La. 31, which is the only way into or out of the Inseparable Federation Benevolent Society Lodge grounds, where the ride was set to take place.
That refusal took both ride organizers and the parish by surprise. The parish’s current trail ride ordinance has been in place since 2011 and it’s the first of dozens of rides since to run into a problem.
It was Sheriff Bobby Guidroz who had urged the cancellation of the Kountry Bunnies’ permit.
Guidroz said he had received reliable reports that another trail ride group was planning to attend this weekend’s event in Leonville to seek revenge for a shooting in Acadia Parish on May 19.
The Acadia Parish Sheriff’s Office will not say that shooting at a convenience store, which left one man dead and two others wounded, was related to a nearby trail ride. But they do say it involved individuals who had been at the ride.
Many of the trail ride organizers called Guidroz’s decision discriminatory, pointing out that past incidents at area fairs and festivals, but nobody asked them to be shut down.
In an emergency called meeting Friday afternoon, St. Landry Parish President Bill Fontenot promised to work with the group. He offered to let them go ahead with their event, but without the ride portion of the weekend.
“We are going to let them use the trail ride permit (to cover the gathering). They have done all the due diligence. We will let it go forward but without the ride,” Fontenot said.
But in the end, the riders chose instead to cancel the event for now.
Geraldine Walker with the Kountry Bunnies said vendors had already backed out, and the scheduled bands had made other plans. In short, there just wasn’t enough time to pull the event back together within a few hours.
Until now, trail rides have had to get advance permission from numerous agencies, including the state Department of Transportation and Development.
Fontenot said he was unaware of the state law that apparently forbids horses from using a state road.
“We assumed that if the DOTD said OK, that included State Police,” Fontenot said.
While there was not a happy ending for the Kountry Bunnies, the meeting left most rider organizers satisfied — at least for now.
“It went very well,” said Clifton Lemelle with the Step-N-Strut ride, one of the dozens of ride organizers in attendance. “I appreciate parish government calling this meeting so we could at least talk about the issues. I’m convinced that trail rides will continue in Louisiana.”
At the request of many of the ride organizers, Fontenot said he would try to schedule another meeting that would also include representatives of State Police and the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Although Fontenot argued that the safety and security of both residents and trail riders has to be a priority, he also expressed support for the rides.
“I appreciate the fun it brings,” said Fontenot, who compared trail rides with tailgating parties at football games.
“All we want is to have fun and we want it to be safe,” Fontenot said. “This is just a bump. We will get past it.”
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