Chuck Parr, president of the Barbee Lakes Property Owners Association, read a prepared statement to about 40 people who attended a meeting early this morning concerning the March 30 killing of mute swans that sparked public outrage:

“The BLPOA is dedicated to maintaining the quality of our lakes and wetlands. We have and will continue to work with the Department of Natural Resources to enhance the public safety, the public health, water quality and the aquatic habitat of our lakes.

“The board of directors understand that the Department of Natural Resources has jurisdiction over lakes and streams in the state of Indiana. Hunters have the right to hunt within the boundaries of the law, therefore it is not right for this board to cast judgement.”

Indiana Conservation Officers Cpl. John Engle and Nick Vander Molen were at this morning’s meeting in North Webster to explain the current status of the investigation and to answer questions. However, as Cpl. Engle stressed several times, the law enforcement division of the DNR is not responsible for issuing swan taking permits, they only serve to enforcement the laws of the permit. Law enforcement officers are also not aware of what, if any, training is necessary for permit holders.

“We are not the right people to ask,” said Cpl. Engle. “Those are questions that need to be addressed with the Fish and Wildlife division.”

The incident that has caused concern among a number of residents of the Barbee Chain of Lakes happened on the afternoon of Saturday, March 30. On that day, Sechrist Lake residents Jack and Rhonda Doyle said they watched in horror as three men on a pontoon shot at least one mute swan then used a boat oar to beat it to death. ICO Cpl. Ashlee Jackson and  Nathan Hooley are investigating the matter, but were not able to attend this morning’s meeting.

During the course of over an hour of discussions, Cpl. Engle did say the investigation determined there were three men on the pontoon and involved in the killings on March 30 and that a violation did occur. That violation, however, does not appear to be with the method of how the swans were taken.

One of the men identified by the DNR as being on that pontoon was George Hiatt. Hiatt is named as an assistant on the permit which clearly requires him to be “under the direct and on-site supervision” of the permit holder, who is Chuck Brinkman. Cpl. Engle noted Brinkman was not present when the swans were taken and therefore he was cited for that violation. He said he believed Brinkman’s permit is no longer valid due to the violation, but could not confirm that.

Cpl. Engle also said he did not believe Hiatt nor the other two men were fined for acting outside the guidelines of the permit. The two as yet unnamed men were said to be out of county residents who do not own property on the Barbee Chain of Lakes. Cpl. Engle said he would inquire with the investigating officers why they were not fined, but said they were likely operating under the assumption they were covered by the permit holder.

While the BLPOA board was asked by those in attendance if they condoned the actions of Hiatt and his accomplices or if there were any indications that Hiatt or Brinkman would be resigning or asked to resign as BLPOA board members, Parr would only respond, “You heard the statement I read.”

Parr later said the BLPOA had no knowledge of the permit and did not give permission for any board member to acquire one.

However, Parr and secretary Gena Hastings seemingly defended Hiatt’s actions of involving two other men in the eradication effort. Parr said, “The reason they were involved is because they are hunters.” Hastings quickly added, “They are better marksmen. Their shooting skills were better … the answer as I know it, it was felt they wanted good marksmen to shoot these swans. This was a judgement to make it better.” Hastings, however, was not able to say whose judgement it was adding, “You’re asking questions I don’t have answers to.”

It was made clear by a handful of lake property owners in the meeting that they would not be financially supporting the BLPOA any longer because of the incident. There are approximately 1,500 residents of the Barbee chain. Treasurer Ron Miller said they currently have 382 paid members. As of December 2012, there were 522 paid members.

Resident Barb Sledge voiced her frustrations with trying to get hold of BLPOA board members, who mostly have unlisted phone numbers, when the swan incident first surfaced. She said those she was able to find numbers for never returned her messages and the BLPOA’s own website offers no way to get hold of the board.

“There are many people who wanted answers,” said Sledge. “I wanted to hear their side but we couldn’t get hold of anybody. If I saw something I thought was wrong I’d call and say this is wrong, but no one got hold of me or (the media).”

Hastings acknowledged that she did receive Sledge’s message but did not respond because she, at that point, had no knowledge of the incident. As for having no way to contact the board, Hastings said they have a new web administrator and are not aware if there is a contact method listed on the site or not. No board member ever offered a phone number or email address.

Those in attendance reiterated that, while they have no problems with addling the swan eggs for population control or even humanely destroying the birds, they strongly disagreed with the manner the Doyles say happened. Mute swans are considered invasive species and, with permits, can be destroyed. The birds are often known to be aggressive and, in large quantities, can be harmful to a lake’s ecosystem.

The Doyles also asked why no other witnesses to the killings were interviewed by the DNR’s investigating officers. “We spoke with a man who was told he was the fourth person to call about the swan incident but no one ever asked for his name or for his contact information,” said Rhonda. “Why is that?”

Cpl. Engle said he would review that claim, but said he would need to know where the witnesses directed their calls. “Was it to the sheriff’s department? Was it to our dispatcher? Without knowing that I can’t answer that.” Cpl. Engle also provided a dispatch number designated just for DNR matters asking residents to write down and keep the following number for future use: 812-837-9536. That number is the DNR’s 24 hour a day dispatch center.

For local complaints, the office number is 574-457-8092 but that phone is only answered from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

In concluding the meeting, Cpl. Engle said permitting issues need to be addressed with the DNR’s Division of Fish and Wildlife. “I’m not going to say there were no problems with this permit,” he added. “If we could prove without a reasonable doubt (the swan was beaten with a boat oar), they would be in jail.”

See related stories:
DNR Swan Killing Investigation Still Incomplete
Brutal Swan Killings Spark Public Outrage
DNR Protocol On Swan Killings Uncertain
DNR: ‘No Violations’ In Swan Killings
DNR: Swan Killings Investigation Continues