Fieldbrook residents are calling for community support to save the Fieldbrook Community Club, formerly the Fieldbrook Grange. Members of the Club assert that the California State Grange has not followed through with its obligations to pay the bills of local halls it has seized through legal action.
Former grange halls across the state, including several in Humboldt County, are being sued for their properties by the California State Grange because they are no longer interested in being part of the fraternal Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry.
A petition to the California State Grange from the Fieldbrook Community Club asserts that such halls have been built, funded, managed, and maintained solely by their local communities for more than 80 years with little to no support from the grange organization.
“The grange organization insists that local individuals have the right to manage and maintain these buildings for their communities only if they join the grange; however, the grange organization has not been successful in making itself attractive to potential members in our communities,” according to the petition. “Over a dozen halls have been lost in Humboldt and Del Norte counties since 2000. It does not make sense to require people to join an organization in which they have no interest for them to serve a role in stewardship of their local community hall.”
Community halls serve an essential role in small communities like Fieldbrook and provide a space for public and private events.
“The loss of these buildings would be devastating,” the petition stated. “These halls play critically important roles in their communities, tailored over many years to the unique needs of each. They provide crucial support to schools, fire districts, emergency response groups and the nonprofit community.”
However, the California State Grange argues that this whole issue is simply “about following the rules.”
“We are a nation of laws, there are federal laws, state laws, county laws, municipal laws, and as members of the grange, we are subject to grange laws,” according to the California State Grange website. “If we don’t want to abide by grange laws, we can work internally to change them, or not subject ourselves to them by withdrawing from membership.”
Kathy Moley, secretary for the Humboldt Grange #501 in Eureka, underscored that all grange halls are locally managed and maintained but, in the eyes of the law, that does not mean they are locally owned.
“The halls are meant to be a community asset, with the community in mind. However, if a local organization folds and no longer decided to remain a grange that does not mean they get the keep the building,” she said. “When a local grange folds, it is within the State Grange bylaws that those assets are to be held in trust for up to seven years as the State Grange works to reorganize a local grange.”
In the last decade, a rift between the National Grange and the California State Grange led to the National Grange revoking the State Grange charter. However, local granges did not lose their charter.
“While the state grange had lost its charter, it still operated as an entity within the Secretary of State world and we continued to have state conventions, as required by the Secretary of State,” Moley explained. “However, at that time, there was also a significant rift within the California State Grange. …Eventually, the National Grange re-chartered a new California State Grange, with new officers, many of which were a part of the California State Grange membership and officers prior to the split.”
Once the California State Grange was re-chartered, Moley said local granges were forced to choose which organization to stay with.
“Additionally, in a court case, the unchartered California State Grange was required to change their name, which was changed to California State Guild. There were several local granges that were tired of the lawsuits (and) did not want to hire lawyers,” she said. “They chose to go with the newly chartered California State Grange while other halls decided to retain lawyers and work towards retaining their halls locally. As such, they recently lost their charters with the California State Grange.”
Granges in Whitethorn, Garberville, Ferndale, Table Bluff and Orick have shuttered and the Rohner Grange in Fortuna merged with the Humboldt Grange. The Mattole and Dow and Dows Prarie granges remain in “good graces” with the State Grange charter and the Redwood Grange in Redcrest has recently been re-chartered, Moley said.
“The Mad River Grange and the Freshwater Community Hall either have just come back into good standings or are in the process of re-chartering,” she added.
The community is invited to attend an informational meeting at the Fieldbrook Community Club hall at 4926 Fieldbrook Road on Saturday at 7 p.m.
Isabella Vanderheiden can be reached at 707-441-0504.
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