The Bizarre Legal Battle for the Benton County Courthouse
A sprawling court fight over the construction contract has pulled in an army of attorneys, stalling the project and complicating the county's civic future.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The court house fight had another inning in Judge Truax' court in Prosser Wednesday, and as a result, the controversy is just a little more complicated than ever in that Benton county is made a party to the suit of Nelson Rich against County Auditor J. C. Syfford, and the case of H. A. Bier against the commissioners and the auditor. The first named case was a mandamus proceeding brought against the auditor to compel him to issue a warrant in payment for the court house site which the old board voted to buy. The county, through Commissioner Pratt, filed a petition in intervention asking that the warrant be not issued. The petition was granted, and final action will now await a further hearing. The other case was an action brought in the name of Mr. Bier against the commissioners and the auditor to prevent them from carrying out the contract for the courthouse and asking that such contract be declared null and void. The county, through Commissioner Pratt, also intervened in this case asking that the plaintiff's contention be upheld. Judge Truax also granted this petition. M. M. Moulton, attorney for Mr. Bier, also asked in open court that the contractors, the Ferro Concrete company, and Architect Gould be made parties defendant in this case.
“As the case now stands the roll call is as follows: Moulton, Jeffrey and Judge Gose represent H. A. Bier; Zent, Powell and E. A. Davis represent two of the old commissioners and one of the new; Donworth, Todd assisted by Scott Henderson represent two of the present commissioners; Linn Boyle represent Nelson Rich; Andrew Brown represents Auditor Syfford, and Prosecuting Attorney C. W. Fristoe represents somebody. He may know whom, this paper doesn't.”
Local government infrastructure disputes over procurement and oversight remain a staple of Kennewick's civic discourse, mirroring how public money and development contracts continue to fuel intense debate in the Tri-Cities today.
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