By MOLLY DRYMAN

Staff Reporter

LAPLACE — St. John the Baptist Parish has decided to take legal action against Kansas City Southern Railroad and Illinois Central/Canadien National Railroad for not holding up their end of the deal to keep culverts clean.

Councilman Allen St. Pierre said this has been going on too long.

&#8220We have continuously tried to work something out with this company and they are just not holding up their end of the deal,” St. Pierre said. &#8220By not agreeing to meet us half-way, we decided to give our attorneys the go ahead.”

St. Pierre said the problem is that the culverts around the railroad tracks get filled with rocks and other debris, which causes the drainage not to work properly, then in turn causes water to over flow in areas they should be receding.

It was asked of the company to make sure the culverts were frequently checked and cleaned out.

According to St. Pierre, this has not been done, and the culverts continue to cause drainage problems in the parish.