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People’s Legal Front

309 N. Jefferson, suite 220

Springfield, Missouri

65806

March 9, 1999

RE: Sunshine Law

Attention: Doyle Childers

Your Honor:

My name is Lee Martin, of the 151 District of the State of Missouri. I have been embroiled in a matter before the 31^st Judicial Circuit, Greene County. Said matter is one of Declaratory Judgment to Open Public Records. The Public records in question are the Standard Operating Guidelines of the Springfield Police Department. These Documents according to all that is contained by the Sunshine Law Chapter 610 of the RSMo's are public documents and should be made available to the public for viewing, and should be able to be received for the cost of copying. The City of Springfield has denied me access to these documents, by requesting $1,000.00 for the cost to redact said documents. I do not believe that is the legislatures intention as stated in Chapter 610.

My initial request to view and receive these documents in computer format has been thwarted at every attempt. My initial request was made in October of last year (1998) and the resulting letter, from the Attorney for the City of Springfield is the continuing assertion that I should pay the wages of civil servants in order to get the said civil servant to do their job. $1,000.00 is exorbitant. The City attorney has stated that there is about 500 pages contained in the SOG's and at the cost that the City Attorney has quoted is 25 cents per page. At that price the SOG's would only cost $125.00 not $1,000.00. There is no rational for the City of Springfield and its police department, both of which are governmental bodies, to hold the public up for records the public has already paid for.

The Declaratory Judgment that is filed to produce these documents was filed in December of 1998. I have tried to get a setting for trial and a court order to get these documents and the court seems to want to stonewall. The Police department should not be given time to redact or edit the SOG's. The public should be given a means to acquire public documents without hiring an attorney or face entangling litigation with lawyers playing process tricks. Are these not the work products of taxpayer funds? Should the public not know what government uses as operating guidelines in the performance of there job duties? Should not the public is able to see and evaluate civil servant's work product? How else can we make a rational decision in the voting booth? Maybe, that is the goal of hiding public documents behind judicial process.

Further, the City of Springfield should not be allowed to redact anything from the SOG's as they presently stand. For the City of Springfield to insist on doing so is to deny the republican form of government that we live by. I must suggest that a governmental body such as the police department should be under the closest scrutiny, and the public should be not placated by the wonderful words of Chapter 610 of the RSMo's. It is time to give these words bite, and let the public take control of the government and not let the government hide behind guidelines that we the people are not allowed to view, see, and have duplicated. What is happening in the City of Springfield borders on fascism, and though we may not have a Hitler to identify as a leader of this fascist movement we do have the same result. Please help me correct this problem before it becomes much worse. I suggest that the legislature enact criminal statutes on all government employees that do not comply with the statutes of the State. Ignorance of the Law is no excuse except if you are an employee of the government who deliberately thwart the law to their agencies benefit and the detriment of society. Sincerely,
Lee Martin
President
People's Legal Front Inc.

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