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RAIN 0727 Weekly Update: Government (25)



CounterPunch 7/19/02
Of Mice, Bullets & Bombs
http://www.counterpunch.com/nimmo0719.html

Washington Post 7/19/02
Senate Getting Badly Needed E-Mail Update
By Brian Krebs
After more than four years of planning, the U.S. Senate is finally replacing its 12-year-old e-mail system, an antiquated communications tool that staffers say has given new meaning to the term "snail mail."
"With the old system, it could take anywhere from 15 minutes to sometimes days for an e-mail to get to its recipient," said Matt Payne-Funk, a systems administrator for Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt), whose Washington office is among the first to migrate to the Microsoft Outlook-based e-mail system that will replace the old system.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33809-2002Jul19.html


The Straits Times 7/21/02
2,000-year-old official records found in Hunan
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/asia/story/0,1870,132975,00.html?


Sacramento Bee 7/21/02
Measure seeks to open records
Amendment backers argue governments keep too much secret.
By Ed Fletcher
A newspaper reporter for the Bakersfield Californian last month discovered that more than 80 Kern County firefighters were making more than $100,000 a year - in large part because of overtime pay. The newspaper tried to find out who was benefitting - but was turned away. The county asserts that salaries of individual firefighters are not a matter of public record. The newspaper is suing to get the information.
The conflict over what the public has a right to know is played out daily between government bodies and those seeking information - individual citizens, lawyers, advocacy groups and media organizations.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/3665507p-4691303c.html


Richmond Times Dispatch 7/21/02
Editorial: Hand 'Em Over
Today's Op/Ed by State Librarian Nolan Yelich invites comments in the vein of
Houston, we've got a problem.
The late departed Gilmore administration, it seems, is playing fast and loose with the public interest, with statutory mandates, and apparently with its own stipulation (Yelich: "the Governor's office during the Gilmore administration agreed to a comprehensive records retention schedule") to provide the Library with all but the administration's personal, private, or active records.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/editorials/MGBV388MU3D.html


Richard Times Dispatch 7/21/02
Tradition of Good Government: Governors' Papers Provide State a Seamless Historical
Record
Current efforts by the staff of the Library of Virginia to obtain the official records from the administration of former Governor Jim Gilmore are based upon legal authority established by the General Assembly and mandated in the Code of Virginia. These efforts also are consistent with a historic Virginia tradition of Virginia Governors providing citizen access to information generated by their administrations.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/editorials/oped/MGBAPE8MU3D.html


The Day 7/21/02
Groton gets grant to preserve land records
Groton –– The town will receive a $10,000 grant to help pay for the preservation of
local records, state Rep. Lenny T. Winkler, R-Groton, announced this week.
The grant, which will be awarded under a special legislative act that went into effect
in 2000, will be used for preservation of microfilm. The money will cover creating
microfilm of maps and scanning them into compact discs.
http://www.theday.com/news/ts-re.asp?NewsUID=05F04510-8C1A-4330-8B79-621BE5EF7199


Washington Times 7/21/02
Finding history along with bodies
By Karl Peter Kirk
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BUDAPEST — Deep in the Hungarian army's dusty archives, Ferenc Szottfried is finally coming to terms with the loss of two grandfathers he never knew.
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20020721-46194264.htm


Wenatchee World 7/22/02
Court files soaked in gas
By K.C. Mehaffey
OKANOGAN -- An Okanogan man who lost his land to back taxes was caught inside the Okanogan County Courthouse early Sunday with a 40-foot long pile of gasoline-soaked
Superior Court files.
Sheriff Mike Murray said Byron R. Winter, 48, allegedly poured about five gallons of gas on the court documents, which filled five apple bins when removed.
http://www.wenworld.com/wenw/275441974524145.bsp


Shreveport Times 7/22/02
State police records access questioned
Robert Morgan
BATON ROUGE - Despite a state law requiring initial police reports be available to
citizens, the Louisiana state police only last week developed a policy to ensure its
policing activities comply with the Public Records Law.
While other law enforcement agencies have long-established procedures for the
release of routine initial reports filed by officers following investigations of complaints or criminal activities, state police has traditionally relied on a public relations procedure.
http://www.shreveporttimes.com/html/68FBC88D-D8C9-45C0-8019-5E11A436287F.shtml


Fox News 7/23/02
NYC: Fire Department Records on Sept. 11 Attacks Should Never Be Made Public
NEW YORK — The mayor's office says it plans to keep secret hundreds of written
and audio records related to the fire department's response to the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center.
The documents include 911 calls from people trapped in the towers, radio transmissions between firefighters and taped oral histories with firefighters and emergency medical technicians recounting their experiences that day.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,58561,00.html


Associated Press 7/23/02
Connecticut can't charge newspaper $20 million for database
By The Associated Press
HARTFORD, Conn. — The Department of Public Safety cannot charge the Hartford Courant $20 million for a copy of the state's criminal convictions database, a unanimous state Supreme Court ruled July 17.
The newspaper asked for the database in 1999. The 815,000 files in the database detail the names, dates of birth, addresses and criminal histories of those who have violated Connecticut law.
Public safety officials had calculated the $20 million price based on a state statute that allows police to charge $25 to search for an individual file.
http://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=16581


Orlando Sentinel 7/23/02
Point-and-click your way to criminal-case information
By Sherri M. Owens
TAVARES -- Information about misdemeanor and felony criminal-court cases filed in Lake County now is available online.
Civil and traffic-violation data have been accessible through the Internet for a little more than a year. The criminal information was made available earlier this month.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/orl-lklcourts23072302jul23.story?


New York Times 7/24/02
Ashcroft's Words Clash With Staff on Checks
By FOX BUTTERFIELD
ongressional testimony by Attorney General John Ashcroft last December that the F.B.I. could not legally use records of gun background checks to investigate terrorism suspects conflicted with a formal opinion by his own legal staff, a report issued yesterday by the General Accounting Office shows.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/24/politics/24GUNS.html?



Macon Telegraph 7/24/02
Agency: Gun Records May Do More Harm
JESSE J. HOLLAND
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Destroying government records of firearm purchases after one day instead of three months could put guns in the hands of criminals who shouldn't have
them, congressional investigators say.
Attorney General John Ashcroft last year suggested shortening the time period that the government keeps records on people who try to purchase firearms from 90 days to no more than one business day.
http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/politics/3725184.htm


The Examiner 7/24/02
County legislators to debate ruling's
effect
Effect on state's Sunshine Law is at issue
By James Dornbrook
The Examiner
Jackson County legislators plan to debate whether the Missouri Sunshine Law has
been damaged by a recent court decision and whether county government should
spend about $35,000 to fix it.
Bob WitbolsFeugen, who sued the Office of Human Relations and Citizens
Complaints under the Sunshine Law, asked the county Legislature to right what he
says is an improper court decision.
http://www.examiner.net/stories/072402/new_072402014.shtml


News24 7/24/02
Archive wins in SANDF case
Stan Winer
Johannesburg - The South African History Archive (Saha) has reached an out
of court settlement in a landmark case for access to apartheid-era military
intelligence records.
The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) agreed to hand over the
documents on August 6, said Saha director Verne Harris on Tuesday but added
that it was, "still a delicate matter".
http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/Gauteng/0,1113,2-7-829_1218563,00.html


Richmond Times Dispatch 7/25/02
Court records slated for scrutiny
Group to determine data to be shielded
BY ALAN COOPER
A legislative subcommittee studying the openness of court records agreed to take a comprehensive look at the types of records courts maintain and the information that is in them.
That study probably will require pushing the work of the subcommittee past its original deadline of Nov. 30 and more than the $6,800 the General Assembly allocated for the
subcommittee.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/more/MGBLCEKY14D.html


AP 7/25/02
Utah high court orders sheriff's office to release disciplinary records
By The Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY — The Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office must reveal some disciplinary
records in the case of a deputy who was fired for alleged improper use of his weapon and making sexual innuendoes, the Utah Supreme Court ruled this week.
Former deputy Brent Young, fired in January 2000, wanted access to disciplinary records from other Salt Lake County Sheriff's Department employees who had been accused of similar offenses.
http://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=16601


Richmond Times Dispatch 7/26/02
Paper trail at high level
Kilgore urging library, Gilmore to settle dispute
BY JEFF E. SCHAPIRO
A lawyer for former Gov. Jim Gilmore is arguing to the attorney general that the law is on Gilmore's side in the fight over his official papers.
David E. Anderson told Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore during a private, 50-minute meeting yesterday that executive privilege allows Gilmore alone to decide which records to surrender to state archivists.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/more/MGBSE6ME34D.html


(Northumberland) News-Item 7/26/02
Fight between Kulpmont mayor, council could end next month
SUNBURY -- The ongoing battle between Kulpmont's mayor and borough council over parking tickets and building permit records may be settled in August.
Northumberland County Judge William H. Wiest has scheduled a hearing for 9:30 a.m. Aug. 26. The hearing was originally set to take place June 12, but a continuance was given to borough solicitor William Cole and the governing body.
http://www2.newsitem.com/ni/276094284119478.bsp



The Mercury 7/26/02
Limerick officials approve 15-cent hike for copies
John Gentzel,
LIMERICK -- If you want to photocopy a land development plan or a Limerick zoning ordinance, you better bring a checkbook -- the price of such a requestmore than doubled recently.
However, before taking out a loan to finance a trip to the photocopying center in the
township building on Ridge Pike, note that the newly raised price is only 25 cents per
page, about average for the Pottstown area.
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=4860203&BRD=1674&PAG=461&dept_id=18041&rfi=6


New York Times 7/26/02
Scientists Worry Journals May Aid
Terrorists
By NICHOLAS WADE
The leader of a national scientific organization has sought the advice of the National Academy of Sciences on whether scientific journals should withhold information that may aid bioterrorists or countries contemplating biological warfare.
In a letter to the academy, Dr. Ronald Atlas, president of the American Society for Microbiology, wrote, "We are now being asked to allow authors to withhold critical information because of concern that significant data could be misappropriated or abused."
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/26/science/26RESE.html?


Asahi Shimbun 7/27/02
No logs on personal data access in 20% of municipalities
The Asahi Shimbun
Results of an Asahi Shimbun survey are likely to further erode confidence in Juki
Net.
Twenty percent of local autonomies do not keep records on access to computer
systems that contain residents' personal data, an Asahi Shimbun survey has found.
Such records are used to check whether people accessing systems have the
justification to do so.
http://www.asahi.com/english/national/K2002072700274.html


FCW.com 7/29/02
Industry still leery about FOIA rules
BY Christopher J. Dorobek
The long-time debate over whether information on system vulnerabilities that industry shares with the government should be exempted from the Freedom of Information Act may be finally coming to a head.
A House hearing July 24 was dominated by debate about a Bush administration proposal
that would create what one lawmaker called a loophole in the Freedom of Information
Act.
http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2002/0729/news-foia-07-29-02.asp



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