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RAIN 11/06 A: Weekend Updates



San Francisco Chronicle 11/02/00
Battling to preserve remnants of History
Newspaper archives expensive and complex
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/11/02/M

N111401.DTL

by Kevin Fagan
Say you're a professor and you want to look at the 1898 New York World front
page on the explosion of the battleship Maine. Or maybe you'd just like to
see what was in The Chronicle on the day your grandparents tied the knot in
1923.
So you head to the library or newspaper office in search of history, a room
of ancient papers you can leaf through just like in the old days.
Dream on.
What you'll find is not real newspapers, but black-and-white microfilm -- and
you'll not only be rolling dice on whether you can read the fuzzy images on
the sometimes-bad machines or film, you may well get sick to your stomach
looking at them. Literally.


Salt Lake Tribune 11/3/00
Will shredding report stay secret?
http://www.sltrib.com/11032000/nation_w/39525.htm

by Matt Kelley
Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- A report on Treasury Department lawyers who helped conceal the
improper shredding of documents should remain secret, the department told a
federal judge Thursday.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth and a court-appointed investigator had
both scolded the department last year for its 14-week silence about shredding
162 boxes of documents.
The boxes may have included records Lamberth had ordered the department to
turn over to lawyers in a multibillion-dollar lawsuit over American Indian
trust accounts. The department shredded the records as Lamberth was
considering whether to hold then-Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin in contempt
of court for withholding other documents. Lamberth finally did cite Rubin for
contempt in February 1999.


Rocky Mountain News 11/03/00
Bookstore owner to appeal order to turn over records
Attorney will ask state's high court to take case directly, skip appellate
level
http://www.insidedenver.com/news/1103tatt7.shtml

by Hector Gutierrez
Tattered Cover Book Store owner Joyce Meskis said Thursday she will appeal a
judge's order directing the store to turn over customer information to
police.
Police want to know who bought a book about manufacturing methamphetamine.
They hope to tie a suspect to a drug lab in Adams County.
"We believe it's important to appeal this because of our customers' privacy
rights, and privacy is totally connected to the First Amendment, and all of
what that means," Meskis said. "If we turn over this information, other
customers would be concerned that we would be in a position to do that with
their purchases. That's the example of the chilling effect on our citizens."



The Hindu 11/01/00
Missing files: inquiry on
http://www.indiaserver.com/thehindu/2000/11/01/stories/0401211n.htm

By Our Special Correspondent
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, OCT. 31. The Government is conducting a detailed inquiry
to trace the files missing from the Excise Department.
As many as 130 files were found to be missing. An inquiry is still on to find
out whether they are actually missing from the department or lying somewhere
in the department itself. The possibility that someone would have
deliberately removed sensitive files is not ruled out.
The Excise Commissioner, Mrs. J. Lalithambika, said that further action could
be proposed only on completion of the probe.



New York Times 11/02/00
VA Department sued over privacy
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-VA-Privacy.html

Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Department of Veterans Affairs employees are suing the
government, accusing the VA of breaching their privacy by giving fellow
workers and some patients access to their Social Security numbers and dates
of birth.
The class-action suit on behalf of the VA's 180,000 employees seeks $1,000
for each one, the minimum amount under the 1974 Privacy Act. If successful,
that would total about $180 million.
The suit says that through an internal patient record system, employees'
personal information appeared along with the medical information on patients.
Workers at any VA facility could check up on VA workers anywhere else, said
the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Wisconsin last month. It said
there were no warning screens or logs of who accessed the information.


MaineToday.com 11/03/00
Group works overtime for 'yes' vote
Extra research, mailings part of effort before vote on city bond questions
http://www.centralmaine.com/news/stories/001103citypark.shtml

by Dan McGillvray
AUGUSTA - The committee promoting passage of the four city bond questions has
been collecting names of absentee voters and mailing each one a brochure that
explains the referenda while urging a "yes" vote on each item.
"It's all public information that they're getting," said City Clerk Cheryl
Frith.
Attorney Roger Katz, a spokesman for Citizens for Augusta's Future,
acknowledged that a person connected with the group is checking the lists in
City Center on a regular basis. Since the four ballot measures are so vital
to the economic development of the city, the group is attempting to reach as
many potential voters as possible, he added.
But resident Nina Osier, who registered to vote absentee in mid-October, said
she was annoyed to receive a "Vote Yes" pamphlet just several days after
asking the city clerk's office for a ballot because of impending surgery.



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

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