Interested observers filled most available seats for the face-to-face confrontation of KGEZ radio host John Stokes, who is acting as his own attorney, and FVCC attorney Dana Christensen before District Court Judge Kitty Curtis.

The hearing centered on arguments over the college's request that Curtis dismiss a lawsuit filed in November by Stokes and George Everett, a state representative. Their action challenged an Oct. 13 meeting in which trustees ratified a settlement of an earlier lawsuit over the college's bond election.

District Court Judge Kitty Curtis set a deadline of March 19 for litigants John Stokes and George Everett to file proposed findings of facts and conclusions of law. They were ordered to notify the court by March 12 if they intend to waive the filing.

Christensen came to the hearings with his findings and conclusions prepared. In those documents, he asks Curtis to find any further claim or attempt to void the bond election barred by a 60-day statutory limit on election challenges.

The judge begins her deliberations on dismissing the case after Stokes either files his findings and conclusions or notifies the court that he waives that right on March 12.

Curtis opened the hearing by saying she had reviewed all of Stokes and Christensen's filings.

"I feel fairly well informed about each of your arguments," Curtis said.

As Christensen stepped to the podium, Stokes asked the judge about a motion he had made challenging Christensen's authority to represent the college.

"It's in default," Stokes said, indicating the attorney never responded.

However, Christensen said he had never seen the document which alleges the college violated its procedures in employing him. He added that he had an oral contract which was ratified by the board.

Curtis declined to delay the hearing over the question, giving Christensen additional time to file an answer to Stokes' challenge.

After introducing trustees seated in the front bench of the courtroom, Christensen described how the college had been "mired in litigation" since voters passed the $15.8 million bond in December 2002 to expand the college.

He reviewed how three other citizens sued the college on the 60th day, the legal deadline for suits over an election. The college then negotiated a settlement with those citizens on Oct. 10 which the trustees ratified in the Oct. 13 meeting.

"The public response to the settlement was overwhelmingly positive," Christensen said.

He added that Stokes issued threats of further litigation before the ink was dry on the settlement in an e-mail sent to a laundry list of college and state officials.

Christensen said the college racked up $310,000 in increased costs along with legal expenses due to the delays. As the attorney listed double-digit growth of enrollments reported in the Inter Lake, Stokes objected.

Stokes complained that the attorney's comments were irrelevant to the issue of whether the college gave legal notice for the Oct. 13 special meeting. However, Curtis said it was to Stokes' benefit if Christensen spent his 30 minutes not addressing those issues.

Shortly thereafter, the attorney turned his attention to chapter and verse of various laws cited by Stokes in his allegation that the college didn't give sufficient public notice of the special meeting.

He made the point that the statutes cited were primarily aimed at ensuring trustees received at least 48 hours of notice. Trustees swore in affidavits that they received the notice by telephone.

Christensen further detailed the press release sent by e-mail and fax to local media and the notice published in a front page story in the Oct. 11 Daily Inter Lake. He pointed out Stokes admitted knowing about the meeting in his Oct. 12 e-mail.

He also pointed out that a member of the public testified at the meeting and that Stokes's concerns in the e-mail were noted and discussed.

"It was an open meeting," Christensen said.

Challenging Stokes' and Everetts' right to file the suit, the attorney said three separate statutes prohibit election challenges after 60 days. He said those statutes were written to keep the losing side from endlessly litigating to frustrate the winning side.

Following Christensen's technical arguments, Stokes promised to sum up his case briefly, leaving his statutory citings for the judge to review.

"There was no lawful election on Dec. 23," Stokes asserted.

He continued that public agencies have to prove that they met the letter of the law in public notices. By Stokes' interpretation of the law, telephone calls, e-mails and faxes don't meet that standard.

Stokes pointed out the e-mails sent Friday evening to weekly newspapers served no purpose for a Monday meeting. He also said that sending the notices to news stations also were useless.

"Crews had gone home for the weekend," he said.

He also took umbrage that KGEZ, the station investigating the election, was left off the list of news media receiving the press release.

Stokes also challenged the telephone calls as legal notice for trustees. He cited laws that called for written notice and indicated the college should have delivered such notice to the residences of trustees.

He claimed that he knew the meeting was Monday but had no knowledge of the place or time which was omitted from the newspaper article. Stokes pointed out that the meeting was over when he called at 8:15 a.m. on Oct. 13.

He claimed the college and trustees deliberately set the meeting early on Columbus Day, a holiday at the college and other places.

"It was 'Let's get this thing over with before the public shows up and gets angry with us,'" Stokes said.

He said the public had a right to participate no matter what the topic under consideration by the public body. Several times, Stokes pointed to the audience to underscore the public's interest in college election questions.

Everett made brief remarks following Stokes, saying he was speaking as a citizen and a taxpayer.

"There is an illegal lien trying to be placed on my properties," Everett said, referring to the bond.

He said many people took a three-day holiday over Columbus Day break and missed their opportunity to protest the lawsuit settlement.

"I was one of them," he said.

In his rebuttal, Christensen called Stokes' claim that the college should have taken notices to trustees residences "in the dark of night" preposterous.

He pointed out Stokes provided no affidavit that he didn't know of the time of the meeting or that he wanted to go.

"This court must deal with the record before it," he said.

He concluded by pointing out that trustees serve at the pleasure of the public for no compensation. Christensen called them good people engaged in service to the community.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com