Felkner v. Winningham

1912 OK 30, 122 P. 534, 33 Okla. 204, 1912 Okla. LEXIS 667
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedJanuary 9, 1912
Docket3028
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 1912 OK 30 (Felkner v. Winningham) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Felkner v. Winningham, 1912 OK 30, 122 P. 534, 33 Okla. 204, 1912 Okla. LEXIS 667 (Okla. 1912).

Opinion

WILLIAMS, J.

On the 23d day of May, 1911, an election was held in school district No. 66, Washita county, Olcla., to determine whether or not said district would disorganize and form a consolidated district with districts 61 and 62 of Beckham coun *205 ty, Okla. The clerk of said district No. 66 reported to the county superintendent that said election resulted in favor of consolidation. On the 17th day of June, 1911, the county superintendent of Washita county, acting upon the certificate of the clerk of said district, made his order declaring district 66 in Washita county disorganized, and proclaiming a consolidated district formed, comprising said district No. 66 in Washita county and districts numbered 61 and 62 in Beckham county, and designated a time and place to hold an election to select officers for said consolidated district. On the 23d day of June, 1911, within ten days after the county superintendent disorganized said district 66, an appeal was taken therefrom setting forth various reasons why said order disorganizing said district No. 66 should not have been made, among which was that a majority of the voters voting at said election did not vote in favor of consolidation. This appeal was filed with the board of county commissioners of said Wash-ita county; the said district -66 tying entirety within said county. On the 6th day of July, 1911, the appeal was dismissed by the board of county commissioners on the ground that they had no jurisdiction to hear and determine the same. On the 7th day of July, 1911, the plaintiff in error filed a petition in the district court, praying for a writ of mandamus to require the said commissioners to hear said appeal. On the 7th day of July, 1911, plaintiff in error filed a petition in the district court praying for a temporary order of injunction restraining defendants in error as directors of the proposed consolidated district, of which district 66 formed a part, from performing any acts as directors of such proposed consolidated district until the determination of said mandamus proceeding, and a temporary injunction was granted by the county judge in the absence of the district judge from the said county. On the 17th day of July, 1911, the defendants in error filed an unverified motion with the district court to have said injunction dissolved. The same was heard in chambers at Arapaho, and an order made dissolving the same. This proceeding in error is to review said order.

On March 10, 1905, the Legislature of the territory, of Oklahoma passed an act entitled,

*206 “An act to provide for the formation of consolidated school districts by the voluntary disorganization and consolidation of adjacent school districts, the establishment of consolidated schools in which certain branches shall be taught, the transportation of pupils to and from school, and the disposition of the property and indebtedness of the said disorganized districts.” (Sess. Laws 1905, pp. 358, 362.)

Section 1 of said act provides:

“Meetings of the voters of any two or more adjacent school districts may be called in their respective districts for the purpose of voting on the proposition of uniting with the other said adjacent districts for the purpose of establishing a consolidated school, said call to be made in the same manner as provided by law for the calling of special district meetings. If three-fourths of the voters residing in each of said districts shall vote to so unite, then the clerk of each of said districts shall thereupon make a written report of such action to the county superintendent of the county in which said districts are located; provided that the vote in each district shall be made conditional upon its carrying in all of said districts, and provided further that unorganized territories and legally organized school districts containing a school population of one hundred persons or more, may organize under the provisions of this act. The number of persons entitled to vote in said election shall for the purpose of this act be determined by the last returns of the enumeration of the respective districts included in said school district.”

Section 2 of said act provides:

“The county superintendent shall, upon receipt of the reports as provided in section 1 of this act, declare said districts disorganized and shall form a consolidated district composed of the several districts voting to unite, and he shall designate a time and place for the meeting of the voters of the said districts so disorganized for the purpose of electing officers and completing the organization of said consolidated district. He shall give notice of said meeting by posting written or printed notices, stating the time, place and purpose of said meeting in at least three public places in each of the disorganized districts not less than ten days prior to the time of meeting; provided, that in the formation of consolidated districts comprising territory lying in more than one county, the county superintendents of said counties shall act together in the same manner as provided by law in the formation and control of joint districts, and at said meeting of the voters of the newly organized school district, shall select a build *207 ing site, as near the center of population of such consolidated district as practicable.”

At the first session of the Legislature after the erection of the state, said section 1 was amended to read as follows:

“Meetings of the voters of'any two or more adjacent school districts may be called in their respective districts for the purpose of voting on the proposition of uniting with the other said adjacent districts for the purpose of establishing a consolidated school, said call to be made in the same manner as provided by law for the calling of special district meetings. If a majority of the votes cast in each of said districts shall be in favor of such consolidation, then the clerk of .each of said districts shall thereupon make a written report of such action to the county superintendent of the county in which said districts are located. The vote in each district shall be made conditional upon its carrying in all of said districts; Provided, that unorganized territories and legally organized school districts containing a school population of one hundred persons or more may organize under the provisions of this act.” (Sess. Laws 1907-1908, p. 670; section 8169, Comp. Laws 1909.)

In said section 1 as amended it is provided:

“If a majority of the votes cast in each of said districts shall be in favor of such consolidation, then the clerk of each of said districts shall thereupon make a written report of such action to the county superintendent of the county in which said districts are located.”

Does this contemplate that all of said districts are to be located in one county, and that the report shall be made to the county superintendent of the county in which such districts are located, or does it mean that the clerks of the respective districts shall make a report to the respective county superintendents of the counties in which said districts are located? In order to determine the proper construction, it is. necessary to look to the other provisions of the act. The proviso in section 2 (section 8170, Comp. Laws 1909) is as follows:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1912 OK 30, 122 P. 534, 33 Okla. 204, 1912 Okla. LEXIS 667, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/felkner-v-winningham-okla-1912.