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Keta Legacy Foundation Sues The Mountaineers 2021 year end update By Tom Vogl, Mountaineers CEO
Photo by Travis Prescott.
This piece was originally published on our blog on December 3, 2021. Updates have been made throughout to reflect recent developments.
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wo years ago, Keta Legacy Foundation (Keta) filed a lawsuit against The Mountaineers. Keta sued The Mountaineers, claiming they had superior rights in our name, which we had previously authorized Keta to use as the “Mountaineers Foundation.” In addition to wanting to continue to trade on our name to capture donations, Keta also seeks to prevent us from using our own name – The Mountaineers – to raise funds for charitable purposes. In the lawsuit, Keta has also sought to prevent The Mountaineers from accessing Kitsap Forest Theater through the Rhododendron Preserve, as we have since long before 1985 when we deeded the Preserve to Keta and signed a Conservancy Agreement with them. The transfer of the Preserve to Keta was made under the explicit agreement of continued access so we can operate the Theater. In addition to the legal maneuvering, in December 2021, Keta changed the locks, physically preventing The Mountaineers from using the road. This may ultimately prevent all handicap access to the theater.
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mountaineer | spring 2022
We’ve been The Mountaineers since 1906 and are vigorously defending ourselves against these unfounded attacks. As we continue our journey in the new year, I wanted to share another update on the status of these critically important efforts.
Background Since Keta first filed this lawsuit against The Mountaineers, we’ve provided periodic updates to our community. We’ve done so in the spirit of transparency and because it’s such an important issue for both our donors and the well-being of The Mountaineers. I encourage members to read previous blog posts to learn more about the background of Keta’s lawsuit and efforts we’ve taken to resolve their claims amicably. We made a good faith offer to resolve this to Keta, and sought to meet with Keta’s board to hash out our differences. Despite these efforts, Keta never responded with their own proposal to our settlement offer, and ultimately declined to meet with us. It is our goal to resolve this dispute and focus our organizational efforts on donor funds and meaningful projects, but we can’t put this case behind us outside of court without a willing partner.
