A Fortgrounds attorney wants Alcoholics Anonymous to keep it down.

Out of frustration with a local AA group's raucous gatherings, Edward W. Kok has filed legal action against the Washington State District Area 92 AA, Fort Sherman Chapel Group and unnamed AA members.

Kok (pronounced like Coke), who lives on Forest Drive, says his quality of life has been thwarted by the hubbub of AA meetings across the street at Fort Sherman Chapel.

"The actions of the defendants are offensive to the senses, are an obstruction to the free use of plaintiff's property, so as to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life and property," Kok wrote in a legal complaint filed in district court on Sept. 8.

Kok is representing himself.

The 53-year-old alleges that members of the group - who meet at the chapel every day at 8 a.m. and also Mondays at 5 p.m. - converse loudly before and after meetings.

"...The sound is as though the AA members are meeting in the plaintiff's front yard," the legal complaint reads.

Sometimes loud motors and conversation starts long before 7 a.m. and goes as late as 9 p.m., the document reads. Individuals' cars have also blocked spaces for residents in the area.

It's a public nuisance, according to Kok.

He also alleges that the group's meetings are unlawful, as the gatherings take place without a special use permit required for religious organization or community meetings.

That means the Museum of North Idaho is at fault, as well, Kok reports, 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.

Efforts to find an individual claiming authority for the AA group have been futile, Kok wrote in his complaint.

As he hasn't been able to track down members, his legal action labels those defendants as John and Jane Does 1-100.

Kok is requesting a judge to enjoin the museum from allowing AA further use of the chapel.

He is also asking for $7,500 in attorney's fees, though he wouldn't say if he plans to bring another attorney on board.

"I'm committed to seeing this through to some satisfactory solution," Kok said on Wednesday.

Individual members of the chapel AA group either couldn't be reached, or preferred to retain anonymity and not be quoted.

Dorothy Dahlgren, director of the Museum of North Idaho, said that AA members she has spoken with have said they try to respect the chapel's neighbors.

They moved their picnic table to the college side of the building, for instance, and used cones to restrict parking.

"Being in this historic building means a great deal to the AA members, and they would feel a great loss if they had to move," Dahlgren said.

David Yadon, planning director for the city of Coeur d'Alene, verified that AA would need a special use permit to meet in the building, because of a zoning restriction in residential areas.

The group could be exempt, however, if it can prove it has been meeting there since before the law was created in 1982.

The group's attorney has been consulting with city staff, Yadon added.

"My understanding is their attorney was going to meet with the city attorney and staff members to go over some information they have that might answer non-conformance use questions, or whether they've been operating long enough," Yadon said.

Dahlgren said the group has been meeting at the chapel at least 25 years.

Since the museum took ownership of the chapel in 1984, there have been few complaints about chapel tenants, Dahlgren said. Tenants were always willing to rectify problems, she added.

"They've bent over backwards to try to resolve any issues," she said.

AA and other groups pay rent for use of the chapel, Dahlgren said. AA is the only entity that uses the building daily, and its rent is the primary source of maintenance and preservation of the 130-year-old chapel.

The AA group has been a perfect tenant, she added.

"They're excellent caretakers of the chapel. They do the yard work, put up the storm windows, and by having somebody in there every day, we're sure there's no vandalism to the building," she said. "If people come and have a wedding and leave a mess, who cleans up? The AA."

The organization has even funded some chapel improvements like new carpeting, she said.

The museum wouldn't have enough revenue to keep up the building without the AA's rent, she said.

"They really have done a lot to preserve that building, and losing them will have a bad effect on the building," she said.

Mike Dolan, who lives on Forest Drive near the chapel, acknowledged that he has had some problems with the AA group, like parking and an occasional roaming dog.

Whenever he has approached the group, members have remedied matters quickly and courteously, he said.

"They have been very good about self policing," said Dolan, who is a member of the museum board but emphasized that he was speaking as a neighbor.

The group's parking has never been worse than large crowds attending North Idaho College and summer events, he added.

"If it's over parking and nuisance, why isn't the school being sued?" he said.

Although the meeting conversations are audible, he said, he thinks the inconvenience is outweighed by the benefits the AA provides for its members and the community.

"Ed is a great neighbor and I respect him. I can't say he hasn't been inconvenienced or had negative experiences," Dolan said. "But I can just tell you my experience has been more positive than negative, and in my opinion you should weigh any community activity that way."