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RAIN 0519 Weekly Update: Government



Toronto Star 5/12/02
Access to information in peril
Alasdair Roberts
ALMOST 30 years ago, the United States adopted a new freedom of information law that gave Americans a right to government documents. Many other countries, including Canada, soon adopted similar statutes. But the right to information has always had a perilous existence.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentSe..._PrintFriendly&c=Article&cid=1021117620445


Houston Chronicle 5/12/02
A half-century of knowledge
City secretary 'who knows how to keep her
mouth shut' has long, successful career
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/metropolitan/1408403


Los Angeles Times 5/12/02
Paper Tear-Up Snafu Hits INS Facility
Immigration: An agency contractor in O.C. may have shredded live
documents, possibly destroying many applicants' paperwork.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-000033640may12.story?coll=la-headlines-california


Knox News 5/12/02
University of Colorado release 1951 'Red files'
By JULIE POPPEN
May 12, 2002
A lengthy report filled with hearsay and innuendo from unnamed informants on alleged Communists at the University of Colorado in the 1950s singles out 12 faculty members as well their spouses, campus employees and student groups and details their alleged involvement in the Communist Party at the height of the Red Scare.
After a special meeting Friday, the university's Board of Regents voted 8-1 to release the report, compiled in 1951 by two former FBI agents at the request of then university President Robert L. Stearns
http://www.knoxnews.com/cr/cda/article_print/1,1250,KNS_350_1142789,00.html




Arkansas Democrat-Gazette 5/13/02
Records of state's history molder in attics, neglected
AMY SCHLESING
As records of President Clinton's public life cool in a humidity controlled safe house protected by armed guards, the brittle pages of Arkansas' history deteriorate in the state's county courthouses.
Of the 50 states, Arkansas remains the only one without a statewide record management program that organizes and preserves local and state records.
"Arkansas is the only state that has no records management program on any level," said state historian John L. Ferguson. "I suspect most counties have old records maintained under less than optimum conditions."
State officials have tried time and again to implement a management program since the creation of the Arkansas History Commission in 1905, but budget limitations stopped them short.
http://www.ardemgaz.com/cgi/textonly.plx?name=ark/A1xarchive13.asp



The Sun Herald 5/13/02
Housing agency inaccessible to public, newspaper
http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/3251960.htm



Mail & Guardian 5/14/02
Missing' truth files are in NIA's hands
Terry Bell
A formal investigation has been launched by the National
Archives into the 34 boxes and two folders of Truth and
Reconciliation Commission (TRC) documents earlier reported
missing by the Mail & Guardian.
http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.jsp?a=59&o=3283


AP 5/15/02
Arizona governor to allow public-records bill to become law
PHOENIX — Gov. Jane Hull this week criticized a public-records bill but said she would allow it to become law without her signature.
The bill, SB1415, would require that public agencies promptly respond to mailed requests for public records.
Hull said on May 13 that she supported the principle of public records but said the bill likely would lead to litigation because it was "clumsily written and leaves agencies with no guidance as to implementation."
http://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=16249


Washington Post 5/15/02
Alexander's Last Name Is Illegal
Parents Seeking a Birth Certificate Fight D.C. Regulation
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17160-2002May14.html


Suffolk Life 5/15/02
Protecting Public's Right To Information
By Laura Stiles May 15, 2002
If you want to review minutes of your local school board meeting or be
informed about who is contributing to local politicians' election
campaigns, then a Freedom of Information Law request is a valuable
instrument. A FOIL request is likened to a key that opens doors and
gives residents access to valuable information.
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=4132889&BRD=1776&PAG=461&dept_id=6365&rfi=6



AP 5/16/02
Fla. Gov. Signs Missing Girl Bill
Thu May 16, 3:41 AM ET
By DAVID ROYSE, Associated Press Writer
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Responding to the case of a 5-year-old girl in state care who was missing for 15 months before welfare workers noticed, Gov. Jeb Bush signed a bill that makes it a felony for state workers to falsify records.
Under the new law, falsifying documents related to children, the elderly or disabled in state care would be punishable by up to five years in prison. If the person is seriously hurt or dies because of the records fraud, it would be a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020516/ap_on_re_us/missing_girl_legislation_3


Sun-Sentinel 5/16/02
Bill outlawing faked files gets governor's approval
By Mark Hollis
Tallahassee Bureau
TALLAHASSEE As he signed legislation Wednesday making it a felony to
tamper with records in child-abuse investigations, Gov. Jeb Bush spoke
sentimentally about state employees who investigate cases of abuse and
neglect.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/sfl-fchildbill16may16.story?coll=sfla%2Dnews%2Dflorida


The Sporting News 5/16/02
SEC investigator to examine
Tennessee academic
documents
May 16, 2002 Print it
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- The Southeastern Conference sent
an investigator Thursday to the home of a former University
of Tennessee employee to examine documents, including
grade transcripts of athletes, that he says proves a pattern of
academic fraud.
Bob Gilbert, former director of university news operations
and a sports columnist for several small Tennessee papers,
said SEC investigator Bill Sievers was at his home Thursday
to review papers given to him by Linda Bensel-Meyers, the
English professor at the center of an academic fraud
investigation three years ago.
http://www.sportingnews.com/cfootball/articles/20020516/404057.html


AP 5/17/02
Military Weapons Documents in Limbo
Science Academy Seeks Speedy Decision From Military on Release of Weapons
Documents
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20020517_1398.html


Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 5/18/02
Coalition Reaches Agreement on Amending Stasi File Law
F.A.Z. BERLIN. The parliamentary groups of the Social
Democratic Party and Alliance 90/The Greens on Friday
agreed on an amendment to the German law governing files
compiled by the East German secret police, the Stasi. The
Social Democrats' domestic policy spokesman, Dieter
Wiefelspütz, said that the proposed amendment had been
forwarded to the opposition parties, and that talks would
ensue so that the amendment could be passed before the last
session of the current legislative period in July.
http://www.faz.com/IN/INtemplates/eFAZ/docmain....F88}&doc={98C6653C-F591-4E0C-B0EC-9B94644F2F70}



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