July 31, 2001
Dear Mr. DeSantis;

I am writing you in response to your story on the closure of Lake Theriot. Who gave these arrogant politicians the right to give our state away? It’s plain to see who runs this state. You people better get together and stand up for your rights or pretty soon you’ll be leasing the air you need to breathe. My name is Mike Bienvenu, president of the Louisiana Crawfish Producers Association-West. (LCPA-West) We are fighting a similar battle in the Atchafalaya Basin. We need your support and it sounds like you need ours. It’s time for us to stand up and take out state back. About five months ago, these water bottom claimants approached us and told us that we had to pay to fish in the Atchafalaya Basin. Our sheriff and local representatives told us we needed to meet with these people and work something out. With the help of Mr. Harrold Schoeffleur (Sierra Club) we learned about our rights to the navigable servitude of our state water bottoms. The local fishermen (sport and commercial) banned together and we decided that we are going to fight. Our organization is 500 members strong and growing everyday. Our board members meet every Monday night and we are not going to go away. We’ve been putting heat on so called local representatives. It’s time for this charade to come to an end. These people work for us, not for out of state special interests. Last legislative session (LCPA-West) board members attended senate committee hearings and killed bills aimed at infringing on more of our rights. Recently a law suit was filed in 16th Judicial District Court in St. Martin Parish. Plaintiffs are people who navigate, fish, crawfish, hunt, trap, and engage in various other forms of recreational and commercial activities upon the water bottoms of the State of Louisiana. Plaintiffs are all users of various water rights and include: guides, tourists, canoeists, photographers, cultural historians, sport fishermen, hunters, trappers, and crawfishermen, who seek a declaratory judgment that they and others similarly situated have state and federal rights to navigate and use these certain naturally navigable or other wise public areas and waters. These areas have been unlawfully claimed, leased, posted and patrolled, often under color of state authority or law, and threats of and actual criminal and civil trespass prosecutions have occurred, all caused by defendants and civil rights. Plaintiffs claim a right to a boundary being fixed between the land subject to public use below the ordinary high water stage and the land not subject to public use above the ordinary high water stage. We are awaiting a court date. Effective upon statehood, federal law provided that the United States granted to the State of Louisiana in trust all lands, to which the United States then held title, including their mineral and other subsurface resources, subject to the ebb and flow of the tide below the mean high water level -regardless of whether the water courses were commercially navigable at the time, regardless of how insignificant the tidal influence, or how shallow the water, regardless of how far inland and remote from the sea. Similarly granted were the beds and streams of all non-tidal waters which were navigable in fact at the time. These waters and water bottoms came to the state as part of its inherent sovereignty for the people of the state to use freely and never to be claimed private or sold according to federal law. Is Louisiana subject to federal law? Who gave the Louisiana legislature the right to give our state away?

After the Civil War, when Louisiana was under Marshall law, these carpetbagger water bottom claimants came here and stole claim to these waters and water bottoms. They manipulated elections and passed unconstitutional state laws to justify or try to legalize these totally illegal titles to these properties. They hide behind local names such as Vermillion Corps (Exxon Oil), L.L. & E-Birlington Resources (out of state special interest), St. Mary Land, Miami Corps. Etc. Every year they haul buckets of money to Baton Rouge, passing and amending laws to continue the big charade. Millions of dollars in timber, minerals, and oil royalties leave the state every year yet Marsh land is accessed at anywhere from $3 to $5 an per acre, no matter how much money these so-called landowners derive from income. I wonder who put this law in the Louisiana State Constitution. Our state is the richest yet we’re the poorest. We’re last in virtually every category. (education, roads, etc.) Millions of dollars, which should be claimed by the state, leave Louisiana (tax-free) every year. I’m not the only one who knows about these federal laws. Shouldn’t the State Land Office be claiming these royalties or at least be concerned. I wonder who they’re working for. Our state is being run by large out of state land corporations and it’s time for us to stand up and take our state back. All of the federal laws are in our favor. Every other state in the union abides by these federal laws, so why should Louisiana be different. Louisiana Crawfish Producers Association-West (LCPA-West) needs your support and we want to support you. Visit our website. (www.lcpa-west.com)

Thank you,
(LCPA-West) President: Mike Bienvenu
P.S. We’re not going to go away!