Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1871-01-24
lCommunicated.l
Communicated.
The Bogus" Board-Mr. Aliens Reply.

10 observe Lnat we are making some
progress toward final settlement of
he question, as Mr.. Warner has
withdrawn several OF tue charges
contained in his first article in the
Democrat, aud could he be induced to
deal in facts instead of Islander the
contamination would soon be reached
The matter in dispute between us
is now narrowed down TO this: Mr..
Warner charges me with holding an
illegal and unwarranted meeting of
the Board, knowing it to be such, for
the purpose of obtaining money
wrongfuly out OF The county treas
nry, and with designedly excluding
him and Mr. Evans from the meeting
because they were known enemies of
the claims then TO be acted upon.
The fact that Warner and Evans
both received notice Of the meeting
at least week before it was held
that Evans was specially written to
and urged To attend aud that he
promised to do so if we would hold
over till another day is proof enough,
even TO Mr.. Warner that there was
no intention TO exclude either himself
or Mr.. Evans from the meeting
The question in dispute then is as to
the manner of calling the meeting
rhe law prescribes just how a special
meeting shall be called, and it is tr1e
that the letter of the law was not
richly followed in calling the meet
ing. But this meeting was called in
precisely the same manner as other
special meetings ofthe Board had been
called. Several special meetings of
the Board have been held since my
connection with it, but in no single
instance has the exact letter of the
statute been complied with. Instead
of written request by majority of
Lac Board TO the Clerk, as the law
pr1scribes, the time and place of
meeting have been agreed upon by
the Board and the Clerk had moth
ing to do with it, La no single in
stance, Mr.. Warner, during our term
Of office, was written request to
call a special meeting ever sent to
the Clerk nor did the Clerk ever no
tify II member to attend meeting
Fhe essential part of the law. name
Is: that each member should have
due and timely notice of the meeting
was strictly followed in each instance
The propriety of calling this last
meeting had been discussed and
agreed upon at our former meetings,
III the event of the Legislature pass
ing the bill restoring the old form of
county government but as Mr..
Warner chose to absent himself from
the meetings of the Board his views
as TO the propriety of calling this
meeting had not been received, but
he CdS neUertheleSS notified of the time
and place of holding it. Mr.. Warner
undertakes TO censu-e the Clerk for
not departing, in this particular in
stance from established usage in rec
ogniziLg the acts Of the Board as
valid and binding. Mr.. Evans letter
received on the day of the meeting,
clearly proves that at that time Mr..
Evans did not deem q formal notice
from the Clerk necessary, and had it
suited his convenience to attend the
meeting no would have taken part
10 its deliberations, without ever sus-
pecting that he was engaged IN an
WeqII or unWarrdnted act. This
meeting was not a mere dropping
iuto the Clerks Office of two or three
persons calling themselves Supervi-
sors, as Mr. Warner pleases to put it,
but was called in strict accordance
with established custom and prece-
dent and no idea of illegality would
ever have crossed Mr.. Warmers mind
had his whims and capfices allowed
him to drop in" along with the bal
ance
The embarrassing" and "swarg-
ing" by the new Board amounted to
just this: They appointed a COM
mittee to ascertain the facts in the
case. This committee found that the
manner Of calling the meeting was
informal, but not illegal f; that no I'M
just act had been committed; that
the county bad paid nothing but its
just Cebts, and therefore they refuse
10 have anything further 10 do with
II. If any blame is to be attached
to any one for this informal method
of assembling special meetings of the
Board Mr.. Warner must shoulder his
share of it, and not attempt to throw
the whole of it upon some one else.
In my former communication |
charged Mr.. Warner with refusing
10 attend to any of the meetings of
the Board, after the meeting for or
ganization in January" MIR. War
ner says that this assertion implies
u falsehood. Let as examine the mat
ter. In February last meeting of
the Board was called at Martinville
on an application to lay out county
road from Martinville to Platteville,
and as only quorum was necessary,
Messrs Evans, Warner and myself
were appointed to attend to this bus
mess. Mr. Warner agreed to be
there. He knew that his absence
would leave us without a quorum,
and yet he tells us that he did not at-
tend thlS meeting. Why not MIR. War
ner ? Your absence was intentional.
You stayed away for the purpose
of throwing us without a quorum,
and defeating the object of the meet
ing. This is no fdtsehOod. You
wrote TO Mr.. Evans at Platteville a
week before the meeting and told
bin you intended to stay d,cay. In
this connection wish to call Mr.
Warmers attention to Section so,
Chap - Revised Statutes, which
reads as follows:
'If any supervisor, shall refuse or neglect
to perform any of the duties which are or shall
be required OF him by law as a member of the
County Board of Supervisors, without Just
cause therefor, he shall for each offense forfeit
a sum OF not less than fifty nor more than
two hundred dollars"
AS Mr.. Warner is so very anxious
TO have the statute enforced to the
letter, by all means let him have it.
The meeting at Martinville had to
1. a