By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

A lawsuit against county commissioners and Expedition Wind now has only six — of 72 original — plaintiffs left.

The lawsuit was originally filed in August against county commissioners over their approval of conditional use permits for Expedition to build a wind farm in the southern portion of the county.

Expedition entered the lawsuit in September, citing financial and property interests in the outcome.

Court documents filed Feb. 11 by lawyers for the plaintiffs show 40 plaintiffs withdrew from the lawsuit.

The six remaining plaintiffs are Randall Eitzen, Tom Britain, Michelle and Brandon Butts, Susan Mayo, and Steven Butts.

Seven plaintiffs withdrew from the case in September and another 19 withdrew in January.

Withdrawing from the lawsuit last week were Marlene Eitzen, Lorrie and Nick Peter, Virginia Skinner, Eddie Coover, Robert Sellers, Marilyn Jones, Robert and Denae Kyle, Ernest and Louann Gray, Faye and Vincent Ressel, Larry Larsen, and Chris, Jennifer, and Bryant Young.

Also withdrawing were Donna Nelson, Brandy Cookson, John, Lori, and Lloyd Gillet, Cameron and Jessica Bowlin, Barbara Seeney, Lona Sacks, Jamie Hunt, Diane Muzyka, Anita and Eddie Schmidt, Aaron Waddell, Michael and Rachel Callahan, Bill and Rohain Alcorn, Cheryl Rosine, George Threll, Gary Suderman, and Joshua Dicks.

A status conference in the lawsuit is set for April 7.

A plaintiff who withdrew in September, Amy Stutzman, was charged in December with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after she allegedly fired a handgun at the ground near a group of surveyors staking property adjacent to Stutzman’s property. She is scheduled for preliminary hearing March 18.