The Toledo Blade, Cincinnati Enquirer, Cleveland Plain Dealer, and more than 40 other Ohio papers and news organizations pulled together to test and expose the state of Ohio’s open record laws. Here is a collection of their stories.
Requests were met with resistance in numerous municipalities.
In Cleveland, for example, an auditor trying to find the mayor’s executive expense form and police chief’s salary was sent to the mayor’s office, finance department, and law department before learning that it would take a week to see the information and up to a month to receive a copy.
Reporters also had difficulties securing information as basic as school superintendents’ pay.
Nearly half the time — 48 percent — school districts refused to give out the information. Those who asked for superintendents’ pay received the information within 24 hours only 28 percent of the time. In 22 percent of requests, they received the information after meeting conditions — such as written requests — not required under law.
I am such a fan of this project. I know other states have conducted similar tests. I recommend it and I recommend lots of reporting about why open records are vital to a democracy. I also hope you will write more about what records are open and how to get to them.
The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer reported:
Dayton Daily News reporter Joanne Huist Smith was turned down by a records clerk when she asked to see reports at the Eaton Police Department, in southwestern Ohio.
“He said, ‘It’s just too much of a headache. There are too many,’ “Smith said.
Wrong.
At the Strongsville school board, a clerk demanded to know Plain Dealer reporter Rachel Dissell’s name and why she needed a record showing the superintendent’s pay.
Wrong.
When reporter Eric Ayres from The (Martins Ferry) Times Leader told the mayor’s secretary in Woodsfield, in southeastern Ohio, that he didn’t need to identify himself to see city records, she responded, “In that case, I’d rather not help you.”
Wrong.
When citizens walk into government buildings to ask for records, they often deal with clerks, secretaries, receptionists, and other front-line workers who may not be knowledgeable about Ohio’s open-records law. The law essentially says that records must be made available promptly and without a hassle.
The Toledo Blade reported:
Municipalities, schools, and police departments across Ohio that were asked to provide certain public records on an unconditional and timely basis followed state law only about half the time, according to results of a survey conducted on or around April 21.
More than 90 representatives from The Blade, 41 other newspapers, the Associated Press, two radio stations, the University of Dayton, and Ohio University walked into government agencies just as anyone would and asked to see certain public records in all of Ohio’s 88 counties.
The audit was sponsored by the Ohio Coalition for Open Government, a watchdog group formed by the Ohio Newspaper Association, which represents 83 daily and 163 weekly newspapers.
Government officials and employees regularly questioned the need for the records, improperly insisted some requests be in writing, and demanded to know the name of the person who wanted the record — all in violation of Ohio law.
Ohio’s audit results were similar to those conducted previously in several other states and reflect diminishing access to records, especially since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, said Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Arlington, Va.-based Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
“Things have gotten dramatically worse,” Ms. Dalglish said. “The shutdown in access in information that started at the federal level is being pushed down to the state level.”
Kids and Rebound Headaches
This is a story about how kids are overusing over-the-counter medications for headaches. When kids use too much medication their headaches actually increase.
“We have a lot of kids that are overusing OTC medicine,” warns Rothner, a Cleveland Clinic pediatric neurologist who presented the data to the American Headache Society last week.
“Three days a week is probably excessive. That’s not good for their health, let alone their headaches,” says Dr. David Dodick, a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz. Parents should “do everything they can to get these kids off of the analgesics. That means they need better headache management.”
Less appreciated, Rothner adds, is that overmedicating actually can worsen some kids’ headaches, a syndrome called rebound headache that eventually can spur almost daily headaches.
Specialists have known for more than a decade that certain adults get rebound headache, although it’s little-discussed outside of headache clinics.
Up to 32 percent of adults are thought to overuse painkillers for headaches, and true rebound headache is thought to hit 1.5 percent, Dodick says.
There’s little data on children, although pediatric specialists say rebound headache is similar for them, too.
Fast-Tracking Fliers
Time magazine says the Feds will announce a program this week that will make it easier for some fliers to make it through security.
The magazine says:
Aviation sources tell Time that this week the TSA will announce the launch of a three-month trial of its Registered Traveler program, which will start at five airports, beginning in Minneapolis-St. Paul and then in other cities, including Los Angeles and Houston. A sort of fast track for frequent flyers, the program aims to let approved passengers use less crowded lanes to the security checkpoints and possibly avoid such routine security measures as removing their shoes and coats. To gain that privilege, passengers must submit to an extensive background check, including searches of commercial and government databases. After being approved and paying a small annual fee (yet to be determined), they would be issued a card — containing a biometric identifier (a fingerprint, for example) and personal data — that shows they’re entitled to the special security treatment.
Schools Give Military Recruiters Student Info
I did not know until I read this story in The Oregonian that schools are required to give contact information for students to military recruiters or risk being held in violation of the No Child Left Behind Act. The paper reports that schools are supposed to tell students how to “opt out” of handing over the contact information, but some schools don’t say much about the “opt out” provision.
Iraq Changes Everything for Military Recruiters
The New York Times says big shifts have occurred at the 1,600 military recruiting stations around the country. The paper reports:
Gone, recruiters here say, are the people looking mainly for easy cash to pay for college. Gone also, they say, are those who covet signing bonuses of up to $20,000 but hope to never leave their base. And gone are those who think enlisting in the Reserve or the National Guard will mean a few weekends training in a park.
The war in Iraq has changed the implications of signing up, and these potential soldiers’ families, especially some who came of age during the Vietnam War, have tougher questions when recruiters call — or do not want to hear the pitch at all.
“Parents will tell us all the time that ‘Johnny’s not joining!’ and just hang up on us,” said Sgt. First Class John J. Stover, who says he has “put in” some 35 soldiers in his two years as a recruiter at the station in Topeka. “The difference,” Sergeant Stover said, “is that no one has ever recruited during a sustained war.”
Officials at Army Recruiting Command at Fort Knox, Ky., say the Army is on pace to bring in nearly 100,000 soldiers for active duty and the Reserves by October. Army National Guard officials, meanwhile, are in the midst of reviewing whether their efforts will be sufficient to meet this year’s recruiting goals, said Scott Woodham, a Guard spokesman.
The paper says recruiters are changing their pitch these days:
More than ever, recruiters are pitching a broad range of options: a shorter enlistment of 15 months instead of 2 years; a buddy option, which lets enlistees serve alongside a friend; and a reminder that there are 211 Army jobs (euphonium player in the band, for instance) far beyond “just shooting at people” as Capt. Erik O. Hinckley said. And recruiters are spending more time with their prospects.
Recognizing Photo-J’s
KVUE-TV (Austin) does something interesting on its website. It not only lists the photojournalists, it includes a link to some of their best work. (I was especially impressed with the tornado story listed under Scott Guest’s name.) It is a nice idea to recognize the photojournalists’ work. It is also a great teaching tool for the hundreds of high school and university journalism professors who are starving for stories to show their students.
I think it is a nice idea.
The station, interestingly, also has a fairly detailed Q and A section where viewers can ask questions of the GM, Patti Smith, and the answers are online.
We are always looking for your great ideas. Send Al a few sentences and hot links.
Editor’s Note: Al’s Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, story excerpts, and other materials from a variety of websites, as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly from another source, it will be attributed, and a link will be provided, whenever possible.
