Historical Society heads to court

After failing to resolve issues and determine who is a member, the lawsuit against Le Sueur County Historical Society (LCHS) heads to court on June 4.

Kevin Wetherille, one of the attorneys for the 16 plaintiffs who claim to be members and asked a judge on February 21 to require LCHS to grant them access to financial and governance documents, and for a fair election, said they are still running into barriers.

One of the barriers is the membership list.

“While I believe LCHS’ counsel has tried diligently to find some solutions, we continue to hit a wall when it comes to defining ‘who are the members of LCHS?’ For the first time in years LCHS sent out an annual member application and asked folks to re-apply for membership. This happened after the start of this lawsuit and after their response that most of the plaintiffs were not members,” Wetherille said. “The three claimed board members of LCHS (Jenifer and Donna Morsching and Evelyn Fierst) are then apparently going to decide who is a member and who is not.”

Wetherille and fellow attorneys from Jaspers Moriarty Wetherille, and Wornson Goggins Neisen Morris & Brever, P.C., have expressed grave concerns about the process and it being used unfairly. 

“It has been months and we still have not been provided a list of LCHS members,” he stated. “I have been told that their counsel also does not have a current membership list and it is still being determined. Without knowing who the members are, we are really stuck in neutral.”

The Society’s management issues imploded at its annual meeting on October 7 when some members left the meeting shortly after it started because of what they called "verbal fighting and unprofessional behavior.” At the meeting, the board of three directors made it partly through the Society’s list of future plans before the meeting fell apart and a deputy sheriff dismissed everyone.

See more in the print edition.