ST. FRANCISVILLE -- In West Feliciana, the large cruise boats filled with tourists can be very lucrative to the economy, especially for one bar in particular, according to resident Chuck Spillman.

Spillman, who lost against Kenny Havard in the last parish president election, has been an outspoken critic of him and other local officials.

"There's a lot of crookedness in this parish," Spillman said. 

He alleges Parish President Kenny Havard is directly benefiting from the cruise lines that dock in St. Francisville because the passengers eat at his bar as part of the cruise's itinerary.

"He was making money on the side with feeding them and everything. That's conflict of interest because he's the parish president and he's the owner of the bar."

Havard owns The Oyster Bar with his son, Davis.

At last month's West Feliciana Parish council meeting, in which Havard addressed previous stories done by the WBRZ Investigative Unit, Spillman asked if there was a contract between the cruise lines and The Oyster Bar.

"There is not, and I've went through that with the ethics board already," Havard responded. 

Spillman originally brought it up more than a year before at the September 11, 2023 parish council meeting.

The day after, on September 12, documents show Havard's son created Ferdinand Catering, separate from The Oyster Bar.

"They went down there right quick to the Secretary of State's Office and changed it into his son's name and from there it went to the ethics board. I filed a complaint with the ethics board," Spillman said. That complaint is still being investigated and Havard has been interviewed. 

Though we were not able to find any official contract between Ferdinand Catering and American Cruise Lines, we did obtain several emails between Davis Havard and the ACL president coordinating a 'Cochon de Lait Experience' at The Oyster Bar for passengers.

One of the emails from March 2023, six months before Ferdinand Catering was created, shows their collaboration.

The email showed "a whole hog, boudin and potato salad will cost $115 per person for 35 guests," which for the 100 scheduled dockings for this year, would add up to more than $400,000.

On the phone Thursday, Kenny Havard maintained neither he, nor The Oyster Bar have made any money from the cruise lines.

He says though the pig roasts did take place at The Oyster Bar, they are now done on the boats.

He adds the creation of Ferdinand Catering the day after Spillman questioned his involvement with the cruise lines was just a coincidence.