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Lawsuit targets boisterous AA meetings

| September 15, 2010 8:09 AM

A Coeur d'Alene resident thinks Alcoholics Anonymous needs to keep it down.

Edward W. Kok has filed legal action against the Washington State District Area 92 AA, The Museum of North Idaho and the Fort Sherman Chapel Group over his frustration with the AA's boisterous meetings.

Kok, who lives on Forest Drive across from the Fort Sherman Chapel where an AA group meets every day, alleges that the members talk loudly before and after each gathering.

"...The sound is as though the AA members are meeting in the plaintiff's backyard," reads the legal complaint filed on September 8 in district court.

Kok also believes the meetings are occurring without a special use permit required for religious organization or community meetings.

That puts the Museum of North Idaho at fault, as well, according to Kok, as the nonprofit corporation owns and operates the Fort Sherman Chapel.

"The defendant museum and perhaps AA as well knew or should have known" about the group's use of the structure for years, the legal complaint states.

Kok requests for a judge to enjoin the musem from allowing further AA use of the chapel, and to be awarded attorney's fees of $7,500. - Alecia Warren