LUTCHER — Bonfires will burn on the levee on Christmas Eve to signal Papa Noel, and this year St. James Parish will build a nontraditional bonfire representing the United States.

Records obtained by WBRZ include an email from Lauri Roussel, St. James Parish community relations officer, that outlined a conversation she had with Claude Louis, the St. James Parish sheriff. It prompted a response from the sheriff on Oct. 20.

The parish president's office held a meeting to prepare and expected significant crowds and extra security detail.

After that meeting, the sheriff made it clear that his office would not provide help for the America 250 bonfire, and the parish reached out to other departments for help. Louis says he asked that the sheriff star be removed from the flyer because he was never contacted to endorse the program.

"That flagrant usurp of authority will not be tolerated," Louis said. "And I will not be bullied into anything that we were not a part of in the initial planning stages, of this 250 bonfire event that they're trying to go ahead and initiate right here in your backyard of St. James Parish."

He will continue to provide services as he has done in previous years for Christmas Eve festivities, but not for the America 250 bonfire. WBRZ reached out to St. James Parish President Pete Dufresne but did not hear back.