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RAIN 09/27: More from Iowa



Ames Daily Tribune 9/26/00
Public records violations uncovered
http://www.amestrib.com/news.cfm?num=1842

By Mike Krapft
AMES--Public records weren't always public at Mid-Iowa law enforcement
agencies, a newspaper investigation found.
When a Tribune reporter visited the Ames Police Department last spring and
asked to examine the previous day's incident reports, a records clerk said
they weren't public records under department policy.
The clerk said the public is only allowed to view a log of arrests made by
the police department. After the reporter examined that logbook, the clerk
refused to copy a page from the book. When the clerk was shown Chapter 22 of
the Iowa Code, which says the public has a right to examine and copy a public
record, she said photocopies of the logbook were not allowed under department
policy.


Burlington Hawkeye 9/26/00
School board member says policy needed
http://www.thehawkeye.com/daily/stories/ln26098.html

By Craig T. Neises
In response to publication this week of the results of a statewide report on
accessibility of public documents that have appeared in The Hawk Eye and 13
other newspapers in Iowa, School Board member Steve Hoth suggested a policy
be developed for how the Burlington School District should respond to public
records requests.
It is important, Hoth said, that the district comply with the open records
law.


Burlington Hawkeye 9/26/00
Copy charges vary by agency
http://www.thehawkeye.com/daily/stories/ln26097.html

By Kameron Murphy
Under Iowa law, the fees a public agency can charge for photocopies of
documents "shall not exceed the cost of providing the service."
That limit on photocopy charges includes a "reasonable" fee for the time of
workers making copies.
In southeast Iowa, few agencies charge more than 50 cents per photocopied
page. One exception is the Louisa County sheriff's office, which charges $1
per photocopied page.
While it may seem trivial to quibble over a quarter here or 50 cents there,
officials reluctant to release public documents -- especially documents
containing dozens, or even hundreds, of pages -- could theoretically charge
exorbitant fees to deter public document seekers.


Cedar Rapids Gazette 9/26/00
No worry for law violators
http://www.gazetteonline.com/GCDA/article/1,1098,6216,00.html?curlocation=2&cu

redition=315&curdate=September+26%2C+2000

by John McCormick
Des Moines Register
Speeders, tax cheats and thieves all face penalties when they are caught
breaking the law, and ignorance of the law is not considered an excuse.
Yet government officials who violate Iowa's public-records law have little
reason to worry about being prosecuted. There are few penalties -- and even
less enforcement -- when it comes to maintaining public access to government
records.
Tom Miller, Iowa's attorney general for 17 of the past 22 years, cannot
recall a single case in which his staff has prosecuted someone for violating
the state's public-records law. He also is unable to point to a case where a
county attorney prosecuted a government official for such violations.


Cedar Rapids Gazetter 9/26/00
Vilsack: Articles will increase compliance
http://www.gazetteonline.com/GCDA/article/1,1098,6215,00.html?curlocation=12

By Rod Boshart
DES MOINES -- Gov. Tom Vilsack said Monday he believes a series of newspaper
articles focusing on the reluctance of some government officials to release
public records will help bring greater compliance with the state's
open-records law.
During his weekly news conference, Vilsack said many elected leaders in
cities, counties, schools and other local levels are part-time government
officials who may not understand the law.
At the same time, he said, ignorance of the law is no excuse when it comes to
maintaining a vital precept of a democratic system of government.


Quad City Times 9/26/00
Schools pass test on records
http://www.qctimes.com/local/story1.html

by Ann McGlynn
All of Scott County's school districts passed a public records access test
with flying colors, while 80 percent of the state's districts failed to
respond to the information request.
Outlying Quad-City school districts didn't do so well, either. One school
official lost the letter requesting information. One said he never received
it. Another said it was probably overlooked.
The project was a part state- wide audit by 13 newspapers, including the
Quad-City Times, to measure access to public records from county, city and
school officials.


Quad City Times 9/26/00
Vilsack: FOI laws local, not state issue
http://www.qctimes.com/local/story2.html

by Kathie Obradovich
DES MOINES -- Gov. Tom Vilsack said Monday that he does not believe state
enforcement or oversight is needed to ensure compliance with the Iowa open
records law, although he acknowledged that "a lot of people in local
government don't understand what the law is."
His comments drew criticism from an Iowa public information advocate, who
said Vilsack is "out of touch" with governors of other states where
compliance with open records laws has been tested.


Des Moines Register 9/26/00
http://www.dmregister.com/news/stories/c4780934/12464976.html

by John McCormick
Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller said he will provide training this fall for
law enforcement officials, after a statewide newspaper investigation showed
widespread disregard for the state's open-records law.
Gov. Tom Vilsack responded Monday to the investigation at his weekly news
conference by calling for increased education for government workers.
"There are a lot of people in local government who probably don't understand
what the law is," Vilsack said. "This is a great opportunity for them to be
well-educated about it."


El Paso Times 9/26/00
E-mail questions could dominate council meeting
http://www.borderlandnews.com/stories/borderland/20000926-47819.shtml

By David Crowder and Tammy Fonce-Olivas
The debate over Mayor Carlos Ramirez's retrieval and release of West Side
city Rep. Jan Sumrall's e-mails is likely to be clouded by the nature of
Sumrall's letters.
That debate is likely to heat up at today's City Council meeting, where
Northeast city Rep. John Cook said he intends to ask just how the mayor's
executive assistant conducts the searches of elected officials' e-mails.
El Paso City Attorney Charles McNabb, responding to a Texas Public
Information Act request from the El Paso Times, released three letters Monday
that were retrieved this year from city representatives' e-mails and given to
the mayor.


The Oregonian 9/26/00
Rare copy of Lewis and Clark journals surfaces
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/news/oregonian/00/09/lc_32

lewis26.frame

by Jeff Baker
No one knows anything about Mary B. Anderson. She worked in Washington, D.C.,
in the 1890s; she presumably knew the former surgeon general of the Army, Dr.
Elliott Coues; and she was a handwriting expert of rare skill and grace.
"She's the mystery woman in this whole thing," said Jim Kopp, the director of
Lewis & Clark College's Aubrey Watzek Library. "It's surprising that we even
know her name."
Anderson's name is at the front of a rare book discovery that has resulted in
a one-of-a-kind addition to Lewis & Clark College's collection of manuscripts
relating to the Lewis and Clark expedition. The Heritage Room in the
college's library now holds "the finest collection of printed material
relating to Lewis and Clark anywhere in the world," said Doug Erickson, the
college's archivist and head of special collections.


Space.com 9/26/00
CORONA: Celebrating 40 years of spy satellites
http://www.space.com/news/spacehistory/nro_at_forty_000926.html

by Paul Hoversten
WASHINGTON -- Forty years ago last month, a top-secret U.S. spy satellite
code-named CORONA snapped a series of grainy, black-and-white photographs of
selected missile sites in the Soviet Union.
It was a difficult, high-risk mission that brought back the world's first
pictures from space and, according to the men who worked on it, helped
preserve the peace between two Cold War superpowers.
Though CORONA has been declassified for five years, the names and
contributions of all the men who designed, built and launched it and other
spy satellites have remained largely in the shadows. Until now.
As part of its ceremonies marking nearly 40 years as an institution, the
National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) in Chantilly, Virginia on September 27
is honoring 56 pioneers and founders who contributed to the development of
national space reconnaissance.


Knoxville News-Sentinel 9/26/00
UT Receives aid to block ESPN subpoenas
Tutor, athlete file changes in lawsuits
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/15602.shtml

by Laura Ayo
The University of Tennessee football player and former tutor who are suing
the sports network ESPN for defamation want to change some wording in their
lawsuits to limit the sports network's ability to obtain thousands of
subpoenaed university documents.
Court papers filed by the lawyers for sophomore offensive guard Reggie Ridley
and former tutor Victoria Gray explain they support UT's attempts to fight
ESPN's subpoenas.
The sports network has asked a federal magistrate to force the university to
comply with ESPN's requests for thousands of student records and university
documents ESPN contends are needed to prepare its defense.


Sacramento Bee 9/26/00
Supreme Court to hear case addressing document access
http://www.sacbee.com/news/calreport/calrep_story.cgi?N62.HTML

By Richard Carelli
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court agreed to tackle an important dispute
over the scope of a federal law aimed at curtailing government secrecy,
wading into a water-use dispute from Oregon and California.
The court said Tuesday it will decide whether the federal Department of
Interior must release copies of documents it received from several Indian
tribes to non-Indians who compete with the tribes for irrigation water.
A federal appeals court ordered release of the seven documents under the
Freedom of Information Act, but government lawyers say one of the law's
exemptions should apply.


Orange County Register 9/24/00
Identity theft in the DMV lines
http://www.ocregister.com/politics/dmv00924cci1.shtml

By Kimberly Kindy
The California Department of Motor Vehicles issues more than 100,000
fraudulent driver's licenses annually to criminals who use them to steal the
identities of unsuspecting victims, according to internal DMV documents and
interviews with agency fraud investigators.
As a result, hundreds of Californians are wrongly arrested each year.
Thousands more become victims of financial fraud that ruins their good credit
when thieves use the driver's license to secure loans for purchases they make
- but will never pay for.




Peter A. Kurilecz CRM, CA
pakurilecz@aol.com
Richmond, Virginia

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