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RAIN 12/13: Open records and a new museum



Albuquerque Tribune 12/11/00
Public servants block public-records access, N.M. survey finds
http://www.abqtrib.com/news/121100_survey.shtml

by Barry Massey
Associated Press
County, city, court and school officials routinely violate state law by
failing to release public records such as budgets, public employees'
salaries, and reports of crimes and court cases, a statewide survey by New
Mexico newspapers found.


Albuquerque Tribune 12/11/00
The Sherlock twist in Moriarty - and other dodges on public records
http://www.abqtrib.com/news/121100_snapshot.shtml

Associated Press
In southern New Mexico, a reporter found himself interrogated by county law
enforcement after asking to look at local crime records.
Hundreds of miles to the north, a school superintendent asked police to check
the vehicle license plate of an out-of-towner wanting to see the district's
budget and know the salaries of administrators and coaches.



New Zealand Herald 12/12/00
Abortion files abandoned
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=164807&thesection=news&thes

ubsection=general

by Francesca Mold
Health Reporter
Files listing the names and addresses of women who had an abortion five years
ago have been found in a disused private hospital in Auckland.
Police were called to Rawhiti Hospital on Mt Eden Rd on Sunday night by
health authorities who had been alerted to the discovery of the files by the
media.
The files apparently included the names and addresses of women who had
abortions at the hospital from 1995, general administration papers as well as
abortion authorisation forms. Information on the number of abortions done
each month was also found.



New Zealand 12/11/00
Private abortion files found in abandoned hospital
http://www.stuff.co.nz/inl/index/0,1008,539065a10,FF.html

Police will secure a room of a now defunct Auckland private hospital where
confidential files of women who have had abortions were discovered.
The files were found in an unsecured room attached to the Mt Eden premises of
the former Rawhiti Trust Hospital by members of the public, and health
authorities are now trying to contact the former hospital operators.
The files included the names and addresses of women having abortions at the
hospital from 1995, general administration papers as well as abortion
authorisation forms. Information on the number of abortions carried out each
month was also found.



The Herald News 12/11/00
Partially burned letters rekindle family's history
http://www.copleynewspapers.com/heraldnews/opinions/whiteside/j11lifecol.htm

A box full of partially burned old letters has returned some family history
to a Plainfield man. Karl F. Walter thought those letters were lost in a fire
some 20 years ago.
The old letters from the 1920s were between his parents, Anna and Karl, when
they were courting. Walter's father had immigrated to Chicago from Germany in
1924. His mother was then living in Vienna, Austria.
Written in German, the couple courted through the mail between 1924-29. Then
he went to Vienna to claim his bride.



The Korea Times 12/11/00
Museum to display 100 yrs of newspaper history
http://www.korealink.co.kr/kt_nation/200012/t200012111746254111106.htm

A museum for providing a glance into the 114-year history of local newspapers
will open for the first time in Korea.
As an umbrella organization of the Dong-A Ilbo, a leading vernacular daily,
the museum occupies the third and the fourth floor of Dong-A Media Center at
the Kwanghuamun Intersection, downtown Seoul, and will be formally opened
with a dedication ceremony on Dec. 15.
The name "Presseum," created by combining the words ``press'' and ``museum,''
is an expression of the wish to be on par with such renowned museums of
journalism as "Newspark" of Japan and "Newseum" of the U.S.



Newsday 12/11/00
State investigating Internet privacy of Toys R Us website
http://www.newsday.com/ap/regional/ap479.htm

by Amy Westfeldt
Associated Press
FORT LEE, N.J. (AP) - The state has subpoenaed records from Toys R Us Inc.'s
Internet retailer in an investigation of its privacy practices, a company
spokeswoman said Monday.
The inquiry by the state Division of Consumer Affairs, which is overseen by
the state Attorney General's Office, partially stems from lawsuits that
accuse Toysrus.com of illegally sharing personal information of its Internet
customers, spokeswoman Jeanne Meyer said.
The company has turned over ''thousands of documents related to our privacy
policies,'' she said.



London Evening Standard 12/11/00
Fayed 'cheated' in libel trial
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/dynamic/news/story.html?in_review_id=343103&in_r

eview_text_id=286822

by Paul Cheston and Colin Adamson
Disgraced former Tory minister Neil Hamilton today accused Mohamed Fayed of
robbing him of "a level playing field" during the cash-for-questions trial by
receiving documents stolen from the rubbish bins of barristers' chambers.
Mr Hamilton, who emerged financially and politically ruined from the
so-called "battle of the liars", is launching a High Court appeal in a bid to
clear his tarnished name.



Denver Post 12/11/00
Software aiding hunt for war dead
http://www.denverpost.com/business/biz1211b.htm

by Tom McGhee
An Arapahoe County-based software company designed its product to gather
e-mails, faxes and other business communications, but the Defense Department
found another use: tracking bodies in the jungles of Southeast Asia.
U.S. officials don't expect the Marine Corps data compiled with Information
Management Resource's Alchemy software to help locate any of the 1,991
Americans missing in Vietnam. Instead, the Vietnamese will use the
information to search for their own.
Last month, President Clinton gave Vietnamese officials 24 compact discs
containing the equivalent of 350,000 pages filled with battlefield
coordinates and other information compiled by Marine units during the Vietnam
War.



Ottawa Citizen 12/11/00
Nfld. Fires back at critics who accuse province of withholding information
http://www.southam.com/ottawacitizen/newsnow/cpfs/national/001211/n121156.html

by Michael MacDonald
ST. JOHN'S, Nfld. (CP) - The Newfoundland government is scrambling to deflect
a sudden wave of criticism that has saddled it with a reputation for keeping
too many secrets.
The governing Liberals' latest attempt to promote a sense of transparency
came Monday with the release of two secret hydroelectric deals negotiated
with Quebec in the past two years. The Conservative Opposition has spent the
past year hammering the government for keeping the documents sealed while
boasting about how much they benefit the province.



Insight Magazine 01/01/01
DOE 'Green Book' secrets exposed
http://www.insightmag.com/archive/200101012.shtml

by J. Michael Waller
Insight uncovers astonishing new security lapses by the Energy Department
that, via public e-mail, compromised U.S. nuclear-weapons designs and
next-generation weapons plans.
Evidence of terrible security lapses at Department of Energy (DOE)
nuclear-weapons labs continues to mount - thanks, ironically, to defenders of
Wen Ho Lee, the Los Alamos, N.M., scientist who, according to the FBI, passed
many of the most sensitive U.S. nuclear-weapons secrets to the People's
Republic of China.




The Age 12/12/00
NDW forks out over $19m to settle disputes
http://www.theage.com.au/breaking/0012/12/A1795-2000Dec12.shtml

AAP
Deficient records and poor staff management have been blamed for over $19
million being forked out by New South Wales government agencies to resolve
legal disputes last year.
A review of outofcourt settlements conducted by the NSW AuditorGeneral's
Office of 85 agencies found 163 disputes were resolved with a payment.
Its report, which was tabled in state parliament today, revealed most of the
disputes related to alleged unfair dismissals, personal injury claims, agency
negligence and breaches of contracts.



Palm Beach Post 12/11/00
Hunt for fraudulent voters triggered anger
http://www.gopbi.com/partners/pbpost/epaper/editions/today/news_2.html

by Robert P. King
Two years ago, the state began a computerized hunt for felons and corpses on
its voting rolls. But the search for fraudulent voters also:
o Wrongly branded the mayor of a rural North Florida town a potential
criminal.
o Incorrectly identified other innocent people because they had the same
name, birth date, race, even height as convicts.
o Listed 384 people with criminal convictions for crimes that supposedly
would occur in the future.
Those in charge of the search say they or local election officials caught
those errors before any damage occurred.



Duluth New Tribune 12/11/00
Ticketing technology: Duluth considers electronic options
http://www.duluthnews.com/today/dnt/local/tix.htm
http://www.duluthnews.com/day2/dnt/local/tix.htm
by Sarah Jackson
Duluth parking tickets may soon go electronic -- at least those issued by
downtown parking monitors.
While Traffic Sgt. Ed Moroney says the idea is only in the discussion stages,
he's looking at hand-held ticketing machines that could print tickets, keep
better records and, perhaps, give warning tickets for first-time violators
and ID repeat offenders.
The machines -- one model is called Husky FS/2 -- could help Duluth's four
traffic monitors keep track of downtown motorists who continually feed
quarters into meters for all-day, on-street parking.


Bulgaria Today 12/12/00
Bulgaria mulls opening all Communist police files
http://www.centraleurope.com/bulgariatoday/news.php3?id=229511

Reuters
SOFIA, Dec 12, 2000 -- (Reuters) Bulgaria's parliament started debating a
draft law on Tuesday under which files of all employees and collaborators of
the communist-era secret services would be opened to public ahead of a 2001
general election.


Atlanta Journal Constitution 12/12/00
Smithsonian celebrates a century of sleep
Museum exhibits Beautyrest ads
http://www.accessatlanta.com/partners/ajc/epaper/editions/tuesday/features_a35

34cb725d522f3002d.html

by Kavita Kumar
Washington --- The woman in the photo looks sad and tired, with unbecoming
bags under her eyes. The caption reads ''Fatigue.''
In a second photo the same woman is smiling, alert-looking and fresh. This
caption reads ''Radiance.''
The difference? The Beautyrest mattress, claims the advertisement from the
1920s. ''Ask your mirror about your mattress,'' it goes on to say. ''Have you
the beauty that comes with the right kind of sleep?"



Medical records particularly vulnerable to ID theft
http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20001212/2907688s.htm

by Greg Farrell
The recent revelation that a hacker broke into the University of Washington
Medical Center and downloaded confidential information on thousands of
patients rang alarm bells with privacy advocates.
They worry about how the revelation of intimate medical secrets could
jeopardize patients' jobs or affect other areas of their lives. But the
violation of the confidentiality of their medical histories is only one of
the dangers from such medical hacking.



Daily Nebraskan 12/12/00
Daily Nebraskan, U. Nebraska continue disagreements bout releasing records
http://news.excite.com/news/uw/001211/university-56

by Josh Funk
(U-WIRE) LINCOLN, Neb. -- University of Nevada-Lincoln officials remain at
odds with the campus newspaper at the prospect of releasing the names of
students found guilty of crimes of violence or sex offenses under the Student
Code of Conduct.
The language of federal and state laws governing the release of disciplinary
records is unclear, but the history of the state records law shows it was
never intended to conflict with the federal one.



Mementoes of Dame Margot sold at auction
http://www.theage.com.au/breaking/0012/13/A2742-2000Dec13.shtml

AAP
LONDON, Dec 12: Costumes and personal belongings of the late legendary
ballerina Dame Margot Fonteyn sold at auction today for more than STG654,000
($A1.8 million).
The internationally renowned dancer, who died in 1991 at age 71, was a great
star of the Royal Ballet for decades and created the most famous partnership
in ballet with Rudolf Nureyev in the 1960s.



The Glenwood Post 12/12/00
DNR file a mystery to oil and gas reformers
http://www.searchcolorado.com/glenwood/stories/110800/poi_1108000026.shtml

by Heidi Rice
DENVER - Members of the Western Colorado Congress say they are unsure what
they will find in a copy of a file used by the DNR to develop a proposed
legislative package to reduce oil and gas conflicts around the state.
DNR Director Greg Walcher made the file available for review between 9 and 10
a.m. on Tuesday at the DNR's offices in Denver. The Grand Valley Citizens's
Alliance (GVCA) in Parachute, which belongs to the coalition of Western Slope
environmental organizations, made a request to the DNR last Thursday that the
file be opened in accordance with the Colorado Open Records Act.



The Glenwood Post 11/3/00
GVCA pursues state codification of oil and gas drilling conflicts
http://www.searchcolorado.com/glenwood/stories/110300/poi_1103000021.shtml

by Heidi Rice
PARACHUTE - The Grand Valley Citizens Alliance (GVCA) is one of a coalition
of statewide conservation organizations which have announced it is filing a
formal Colorado Open Records Act request urging the Department of Natural
Resources (DNR) to disclose its communications in developing a proposed
legislation package aimed at addressing oil and gas conflicts in Colorado.



Nando Times 12/12/00
Authors' alleged correspondence looks like fictin
http://www.nandotimes.com/24hour/modbee/entertainment/story/0,1661,500289340-5

00458187-503024363-0,00.html

Associated Press
ST. PAUL, Minn. (December 12, 2000 2:37 p.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) -
Minnesota's historical society once trumpeted its acquisition of a book and
letter that seemed to reveal a warm friendship between the state's top
authors, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Sinclair Lewis.
But the society has quietly returned the items and received its $8,500 back
after an investigation showed the correspondence was likely a forgery.


Toronto Sun 12/12/00
Privacy shields zapped
http://www.canoe.ca/TorontoNews/ts.ts-12-12-0041.html

by James Wallace
Queen's Park Bureau
Ontario's Tory government was hammered again yesterday over proposed
legislation to "protect" patient's medical records.
Opposition leader Dalton McGuinty said that proposed law and another to claw
back crime proceeds will give police and the province access to confidential
medical information.



New York Times 12/11/00
'Insider' testifies in Tobacco case
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Brooklyn-Tobacco.html

Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) -- Whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand testified Monday that one of
the nation's largest cigarette makers systematically altered and destroyed
internal memos that -- if left unaltered and made public -- would have
confirmed the risks of smoking.


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

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