Decorah Genealogy Association and Winneshiek County Historical Society continue to trade charges and countercharges

They once shared office space, but now they're sharing legal proceedings.  The bitter fight between the Decorah Genealogy Association and the Winneshiek County Historical Society will go another round Monday night.

The dispute started early last year, when both organizations were told they would have to leave their shared office space in the basement of the Decorah Public Library by July of 2017.  The two organizations had shared the space since 1998.

Last November the Decorah Genealogy Association found office space at 808 River Street, behind the Senior Citizen Center.  The move meant the two organizations would no longer share office space.

The Decorah Genealogy Association contends two representatives from the Winneshiek County Historical Society entered the shared office space in the basement of the library during the night of November 10th and took microfilms and ten bound indexes out of the library and into the locked storage area in the former county jail controlled by the WCHS.

The DGA is now suing WCHS over those materials.  WCHS's lawyer is challenging the authority of DGA's board to file a lawsuit, claiming the suit lacks explicit approval of the members of the Decorah Genealogy Association.

That's why a meeting is being held at 7:00 p.m. Monday at the DGA offices at 808 River Street--to take a vote on a by-law amendment which would explicitly give authority to the DGA board to pursue the lawsuit.

Meanwhile, a hearing on the lawsuit is scheduled in Winneshiek County Circuit Court Tuesday afternoon.