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Records/Archives in the News Part 04 01/18/00
Records/Archives in the News r991218a
There are 5 stories in this posting
Arizona Republic 12/18/99
Web site showcases Latino roles in state history
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer 12/18/99
Florida clerk puts records on Internet
Washington Post 12/18/99
Clerk is accused of burning Md. Court records
Washington Times 12/18/99
Cops say clerk had a burning work ethic
Bergen Record 12/18/99
Paterson will give The Record code violation information
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Arizona Republic 12/18/99
Web site showcases Latino roles in state history
by Anita Mabante Leach
<snip>
A somber-faced child stands against a photographer?s backdrop, a faux moon
rising behind her.
She is dressed in special garments indigenous to the Mexican, Indian and
Spanish cultures of the 1800s Southwest.
Her name is Maria and she was immortalized a century ago by what was then
considered new technology. The old photo now serves as a visual bridge to a
new Web site that relates the Latino heritage in Arizona.
Much as the Church of Latter-day Saints has preserved the history of its
families through archiving, the Chicano Experience in Arizona seeks to
showcase the Southwest?s past seen primarily through the eyes of Latinos.
The Web site, which debuted last month, is used as a tool to show what
Arizona State University?s archives hold for those interested in researching
Latino state history. The site can be accessed at
www.asu.edu/lib/archives/website/index.htm.
The Internet offered exhibits curator Rose Minetti and historian Chris Marin
an opportunity to create a kind of electronic map for those seeking
information about Mexican life in Arizona. But they needed a Webmaster?and
money to pay her.
Minetti, Marin and others with the archives and manuscripts department at the
ASU library applied for a grant from the Arizona Humanities Council. The
council gave them $2,400 as seed money for the project, which ASU then
matched in kind with labor and services. The council is the state affiliate
of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Minetti estimated that the bilingual site, which gives an overview of the
roles Mexican families played in the development of the Southwest, took about
400 hours of work over three months to create.
"It's just a huge effort on the part of four or five people," Minetti said.
<snip>
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Columbus Ledger-Enquirer 12/18/99
Florida clerk puts records on Internet
by Jennifer Foster
<SNIP>
On Nov. 1, Manatee County, Fla., went public?literally. R.B. ?Chips? Shore,
clerk of the circuit court, posted all public documents recorded in the
county since 1978 on a Web site. The site, www.clerkofcourts.com, is the
first known site to provide such information free of charge.
Q: What was the impetus for putting records online?
Shore: There wasn?t any impetus. This has been our goal from beginning. My
concept in the office is that these records all belong to the public, and
they ought to be as accessible as possible. We?ve been trying to do this for
10 years, and it?s just that technology is allowing us to do it now with the
advent of the Internet.
Q: How much information is included on the site?
Shore: Oh, I couldn?t even begin to tell you. It?s in the millions of pages.
Actually, the way we?ve done it, it?s actually made it easier for us because
now we scan everything that comes in, and we?re doing our microfilm from our
scans electronically. In Florida, we have to preserve the record for a
minimum of 200 years, and microfilm is only accepted form of doing it now.
And it also made it easier for us to scan, because we had really good
microfilm before. That?s why we were able to put so many images out there.
Q: How long did it take from beginning of project?
Shore: We started seven years ago with the imaging. But we knew this was
going to come about, we just weren?t able to get there under the old system.
But under the new one with the Internet and being able to have our own Web
page, it?s allowed us to do it.
Q: Did you run into any resistance during the project?
Shore: Very little. And it seems to center around Social Security numbers
(which are not blacked out on the documents) more than anything else, but it
hasn?t been as great as I expected. We?re trying to work with the Legislature
in finding out an answer on the Social Security question. We?d just as soon
not put (numbers) out there, but the law requires us to now.
Q: What are people around town saying?
Shore: I?ve had tremendous feedback from almost everywhere. We?ve gotten
e-mails from California, from everywhere. It?s just amazing.
Q: Any comments on what this means for freedom of information or open records
access?
Shore: You can?t have it two ways. You can?t have the information at hand for
everybody and have public information and not have it out there. As for our
system, I can?t find anybody else that you can look up official records as
far back and as quickly. There are some other systems out there, but I?ve
never found one like this. And maybe there is, I don?t know. Some of counties
here have it, but they only go back one year.
Q: Suggestions for anyone who might want to put their public records online?
Shore: Nerves of steel. It?s just a lot of work, it takes good people. I
always say the best job I do here is to hire good people.
<SNIP>
________________________________________________________________
Washington Post 12/18/99
Clerk is accused of burning Md. Court records
by Steven Gray
<SNIP>
A Montgomery County District Court clerk has been arrested after allegedly
taking traffic court records to her home and burning them to keep colleagues
from learning that she had fallen behind in her work, according to county
officials and court documents.
After being arrested Tuesday, Lisa Lynne Wolfe, of the 18900 block of
Smoothstone Way in Gaithersburg, was charged with theft, destroying a public
document, second-degree malicious burning and malicious destruction of
property, authorities said.
All are misdemeanors. Wolfe appeared before a court commissioner this week
and pleaded not guilty, according to Montgomery County State?s Attorney
Douglas F. Gansler.
<SNIP>
<SNIP>
According to a sworn statement filed in court by a detective, an ex-boyfriend
of Wolfe?s told Wolfe?s supervisor that she had been removing documents from
the court and bringing them home.
According to the sworn statement the detective was told that ?when she
brought the documents home she would burn them.?
The detective said in the statement that Wolfe told the friend that ?she
could not keep up with her workload at work and that she was getting rid of
the work so no one would find out how far she was behind.?
The number and type of documents involved was unknown last night, officials
said. They said some documents may have had bond checks attached to them.
Gansler said the loss of so many court records would have minimal effects on
the judicial system, as most of the records are also maintained elsewhere.
But he said the matter of the straightening out the question of the checks
was ?bureaucratic nightmare.?
Officials said Wolfe, 34, had been employed in the 6th District Court of
Maryland?s criminal-traffic division since at least 1995. According to the
sworn statement, Wolfe was assigned to enter data into a computer from
documents that were sent from the circuit court to the district court.
<SNIP>
________________________________________________________________
Washington Times 12/18/99
Cops say clerk had a burning work ethic
by Kristan Trugman
<SNIP.
Bogged down with paperwork at the office? Just burn it.
That?s exactly what police say Montgomery County district clerk Lisa Wolfe
did with court documents when she fell behind in her work for the last year.
?This is a woman who abused the public?s trust,? Montgomery County State?s
Attorney Douglas Gansler said. ?This was her ?Band-Aid? or short-term
solution, and it certainly has led tofar more serious problems.?
Miss Wolfe, 34, of the 18900 block of Smoothstone Way in Gaithersburg, is
charged with four misdeameanor counts -- theft less than $300, malicious
destruction of property less than $300, second degree malicious burning, and
destroying public documents.
Because uncashed checks likely were attached to some of the documents, the
value of the goods could increase to warranty felony charges that could carry
a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.
?She was falling behind in the work, and she didn?t want to get in trouble
for it. To cover her tracks she destroyed the documents,? Montgomery County
Police Officer Derek Baliles said.