With a directive to "fight for as much as you can" from the Douglas County Commission, mediation will decide the fate of personal property from the Dangberg Home Ranch.
After 14 years of legal wrangling, Douglas County has until 2006 to establish a museum at the Dangberg Home Ranch through an agreement with the Glide Estate approved last week.
The county commission is considering having a museum on the site open for two days a week for nine months.
The Glide Estate representing the interests of Katrina Glide, a granddaughter of H.F. Dangberg, who settled the home ranch west of Minden off State Route 88, offered a quit-claim on many personal items from the ranch.
A 1978 decree between Dangberg's three granddaughters and ranch buyers said the women could live out their lives at the ranch, with the home ranch then being offered as a living history museum.
The ranch has been sold several times. The last granddaughter, Glide, died in July 1995. Shortly afterwards, Dangberg Holdings acquired the home ranch as part of a larger ranch. Dangberg attorneys said they weren't bound by the 1978 decision, which prompted Douglas County's lawsuit.
At a Jan. 10 hearing at the 9th Judicial District Court, visiting Judge James Hardesty decided to keep jurisdiction over the estate's personal property, instead of sending the issue back to probate court.
Milos Terzich, representing the Glide Estate, told the commission it wants out of litigation and is offering the quit-claim on all other personal property to resolve the matter.
At issue is a list of personal items that were left to all three granddaughters from the grandparents of the founding family.
The commission directed the Douglas County District Attorney's Office to mediate with the surviving family member, Steve Achard, for disposition of those items.
"You literally have the history of Douglas County in (your) hands and, basically, you should fight for as much as you can," Commissioner Jacques Etchegoyhen said.
The mediation will start after a Feb. 11 conference call to confirm issues with the judge.
In other business, the commissioners:
-- Approved an outdoor festival application for the 2003 Candy Dance in Genoa.
-- Approved purchase of playground equipment for the renovated Topaz Ranch Estates Park.
-- Approved a seven-year lease agreement with the Tahoe Douglas Senior Center at the old Tahoe jail facility in Zephyr Cove.
-- Approved a resolution to the state of Nevada to allow local governments to impose restrictions on smoking in public places.
