Dear Editor:

If you live in the Oak Grove Community of Washington Parish and have recently received a manila envelope from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Vicksburg, Miss., you opened the envelope and learned that Mr. Pierce from the reservoir committee has applied for a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Vicksburg.

The permit is to construct a 3,263-acre reservoir in the Oak Grove Community of Washington Parish.

If they get a permit in the next 6-12 months, are you prepared to move?

Do you have any property at another site? Do you have a house on a trailer at another site?

If you or anyone has read the large letter to the editor that was in the Daily News newspaper last Sunday, Jan. 11, 2015, it was written by Mr. Phillipp Bedwell.

I thank him very much for making all of us aware of what the law clearly states concerning the problem that many of us may face in the future.

I think it’s information that all people that received a manila envelope from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Vicksburg should know about, their future.

I will proceed, Mr. Bedwell.

I would now like to discuss some issues related to the revised law establishing the commission, ACP No. 307 amended. Paragraph 3087 193B (2xBxH) states that if a private residence is taken through expropriation, the district will provide a parcel of land equal in value to the parcel of land where the existing home was located and as near as practicable to its current location as specified by the owner.

I think the only way to read this section is that the displaced homeowner can require the district to take the land of anyone in the parish to meet the requirements of this section.

So does the commission have the right to expropriate the land of anyone in the parish?

How else can they fulfill their responsibility?

– Edward McDonald