passopenrecords.org

Late last week, we recieved several stories from Lock Haven University students who have tried to obtain open records. Not all were successful, but a good portion of them did get the information they requested. A big thumbs-up to the students and to the local entities who complied with the law!

Here are their stories, in their own words:

Elizabeth Regan:

I visited the Williamsport school board and requested the minutes of the last two school board meetings. The secretary said it would cost me 25 cents to print out a copy of them at the office, so she e-mailed me the information. She gave me no problems whatsoever; she did not ask why I needed them, but immediately offered to give me the records. She e-mailed them to me that night.

Christina Shuman:

My assignment consisted of obtaining minutes from the last two school board meetings in my hometown (Quakertown Community School District). This was not terribly difficult because they are already posted on-line. This was also true for the municipality meetings as well. The school district office offered to give me a copy in the office or mail it to me. The office was kind about the request. As long as the minutes are approved, they are immediately posted on the website. I went to the website and it was easy to navigate and the minutes were easy to find.

Kyle Ciclioni:

On Sept. 1, 2007 at 6:30 p.m., I went to the Lackawanna County Scranton Police Department to try and obtain the 24 hour police call logs. I entered the building and stopped at the front desk. The room was empty with the exception of the clerk working the desk. I introduced myself politely and asked him if it would be possible for me to obtain the 24 hour police call logs for this county. He asked me to repeat what I asked, so I did. After my second time repeating he said that he still did not understand what I meant. I asked if there was a supervisor available to talk to. He asked one of the police officers, who had just entered the room to file a few papers, if there was a supervisor I could talk to. The police officer said that the only supervisor that would be able to give me the information I needed was not in at the moment and would not be in until Tuesday. He gave me the number of Lt. Namiotka. The officer said that that was the only way to get the information
I needed. Since that kind of information can not be given out over the phone, my assignment had ended here.

Amanda Alexander:

My name is Amanda Alexander and I am a resident of Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. I went to the local police station and asked to see the 24-hour police call log. When I arrived, the secretary was at the counter chatting with someone. I approached the counter and she asked, “Can I help you?” I asked her if I could see the police call log. The log was sitting on the counter and she pushed it toward me and said, “Help yourself.” I asked if she needed to see my ID and she said, “I don’t need to see your ID, anyone can look at these.” I then thanked her and spent a few minutes looking at the log and then handed it back to her.

Lock Haven will be hosting a presentation by Bob Heisse on October 17 at 7 pm titled “The push for open records in PA: the ethical concerns, and the benefits for journalists and citizens.” The event is free and open to the public.