LETTERS: LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMPLIES ON RECORDS

To the editor:

Residents of the Cape Girardeau School District and Cape Girardeau Public Water District No. 2 are fortunate to have elected officials who understand they are doing the public's business.

State Auditor Claire McCaskill recently conducted a test of the Missouri Sunshine Law. Using plain paper rather than her office stationery, McCaskill requested from public agencies copies of the minutes of their last meetings in 1998. Minutes of meetings of public governmental bodies are public records, and any person is entitled to get copies of public records.

Of the 214 agencies contacted at random, 102 violated the Open Meetings-Open Records Law by failing to provide the minutes.

As president of the Missouri Press Association, I want to commend the Cape Girardeau School District and Public Water District No. 2 for complying with the Sunshine Law and providing the records. Thank you for recognizing the importance of having government agencies that are open to the citizens and that do not try to keep secrets from them.

You have helped to set a good example for those public agencies around the state that are just clearly not getting it.

The Missouri Press Association, which represents nearly every paper in the state, salutes you.

I also would like to tell people they can get free copies of the Sunshine Law with an explanation of the law's requirements from the attorney general's office.

ROBERT W. WILSON

Publisher

The Milan Standard

Milan, Mo.