The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1893-09-23
HE GAZETTE @|
EMAT ROAD c0NzR4cZ

@a39e95@
THAT ROAD CONTRACT
The contract entered into with
the parish by Mr.. 1. N. Satter6eld
for the repair, grading, draining and
maintenance of forty miles of the
public throughfares of the parish,
after repeated extensions by the
Police jury, appears to he just as
far from fulfllment as it was several
months ago. According to the
terms of the contract the entire
system of roads. included, in it,
should have been delivered in thor
ough order by May I, 1898, but
ut that time owing to difficulties en-
:countered by the contractor and
obstacles thrown in the way of the
Police Jury in securing the right of
way and requisite width to certain
parts of the road, a verbal extension
was accorded the contractor. On
July the grid. the contractor ad-
dressed formal communication to
the jury stating that he had been
retarded by illness, and the extreme
heat, in his efforts to comply with
the terms of his contract, and asking
for q further extension of 90 days.
The Jury adopted resolution grant
ing the time asked, with the proviso
that $500 be forfeited to the parish,
out of the contractors $4,000 salary.
Since the adoption of this resolution
although the contractor has not
officially signifed his intention
either to accept or reject the terms
of the extension, yet he has virtually
declared his acceptance of it by a
very determined but futile effort to
work the roads since which time
nothing has : TRANSFERRED to in
.dicate that any contract exists.
At the recentsmeeting of the Police
Jury, Mr.. Satterield the contractor
was called in, and appeared repre-
sented by legal counsel. In answer
to the question whether he intended
to fulfill the terms Of his contract,
his counsel replied that Mr.. Satter-
field would make no answer to the
question. Other questions relative
to the contract were put but no reply
elicited. As the last extension
granted expires Oct 1st. prox. it
appears very evident from the above
statement of facts that the Police
Jury will be obliged to deal with a
very serious question and one that
may involve the parish in expensive
litigation. While The Gazette has
consistently and strenuously con-
tended that according to the explicit
provisions of the contract it has long
since been, ipso facto null and void,
yet the recent action Of the porochial
authorities in committing themsel-
yes to an alteration of the contract.
under specific conditions may so
romplieat< the situation as to render
thG outcome of any action at law,
extremely doubtful. The motives
which actuated this legislation were
beyond question honest and mean,
j "a xxh4eyye the public welfare. -ye'
f may we'll be feared that the per,
sonal consideration accorded the
s<ontractor 1t various times by tbs
jury viii prove rather disastrous e
she public interest in the end.
While the Jury throughout Ia:
Giealt with the contractor ia nos,
ffendly and it might be said, favor,
AAg manner, they are suddenly
exONGhf to realize that the parish
~ u head strictly to business in
lQEsa sease Of the word.
e y not entertained for . u9omen,
Dist the jury has been gniity 81
SIJNj0al fayeritjsm but the history