FALL 2005 NEWSLETTER
GEORGIA FOI ACCESS
GEORGIA FIRST AMENDMENT FOUNDATION

GEORGIA FOI CONFIDENTIAL
Mike Burbach's influence for greater FOI continues to spread across Georgia  

By Tom Bennett 

   Atlanta, Oct. 26, 2005 -- Mike Burbach is one of the rising stars in the Knight Ridder as managing editor of the Akron Beacon-Journal in Ohio.  His earlier assignment for the national chain of newspapers was as executive editor of the Columbus, Ga., Ledger-Enquirer.  There he was one of this state's greatest leaders in freedom of information.  He set a standard for activism for FOI while a board member of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation, sponsor of this web site. 

     Under his leadership, the Ledger-Enquirer co-managed the 1999 Georgia open government survey, and then Burbach followed up by chairing the 2003 and 2004 Weltner Freedom of Information banquets, which raise money so GFAF can keep doing work in Georgia on open government.  The L-E prevailed in court when the Columbus sheriff surrendered records this year about a SWAT team shooting.  Any paper that continues to employ as its ace reporter Jim Houston, father of Georgia's open-records victory in Houston v. Rutledge, is performing a service to the state. 

     Now the Burbach influence is being extended even farther as his Columbus managing editor, Susan Catron, has been named executive editor in Savannah.  In addition, Burbach's former news editor, Charlotte Atkins, has assumed the same role in Rome, Ga.   "Susan Catron and Charlotte Atkins are smart, passionate journalists," Burbach told Georgia FOI Access. 

     "They're leaders who have good heads, good hearts and courage. They're also community-minded -- which means they know that the pursuit of openness, and the protection of the public's right to know, are central to a newspaper's role in its community. I'm glad I got the chance to share a newsroom with them for a while, and that they're in position to serve the public good." 
 
ATLANTA’S  THIRD ‘O’ 

   It may have been momentarily dismissed as just more of the public relations for which Atlanta is famous. For FOI advocates, however, the city's announcement that it will have a new brand and stress  attributes including "openness" was very satisfying indeed. 

   The city under the new administration of Mayor Shirley Campbell has signalled its intent to move away from the secretive Bill Campell era.  It now will stress  "optimism, opportunity and openness."  Tom Clyde of the Atlanta law firm of Dow, Lohnes & Albertson represents the Journal-Constitution.  He fought long battles with the Campbell administration for documents as varied as drug-related incident reports, the 911 records during the Olympic Games, the mayor's appointment calendar, the city's adult entertainment database, and an audit of the Police Department property unit.  This newsletter, Georgia FOI Access, documented that 12-year struggle with the city in the Fall 2001 edition.   "I think the decision to identify openness is important for the city, and hopefully it will bring good things for the future and manifest itself in the way they do business," Tom Clyde said.

SANDY SPRINGS’ BID TO BE BORN MOSTLY PRIVATE 

     When it has fully gained incorporated status, the area of north Atlanta called Sandy Springs  will be Georgia's seventh largest city.   It is alarming to see that the city's fathers -- and mothers-- are exploring ways to privatize city functions.  So far they have been secretive about it in their conversations with Staff Writer Henry Farber of the Journal-Constitution.   "So far we have not faced the challenges of dealing with a largely privatized government because most of the info we have requested is in the hands of the Governor's Commission for Sandy Springs," Henry Farber said Oct. 26. 

   "We have had numerous problems with the interim government because most of its activity is generated and handled by one man, Oliver Porter, who has repeatedly demonstrated a reluctance to open meetings and records.   

    "Porter has stated to the AJC numerous times that he    believes, one, open-records and open-government requirements are  a hindrance to efficient operation of the interim government  and, two, he mistrusts the newspaper's desire to  be accurate. 

    "He once requested that the AJC refrain from covering a meeting of all candidates, saying he wanted the lesser known candidates to feel comfortable asking basic questions."

HOW SKY OVER SOUTH GEORGIA’S WAS
BIRTHPLACE OF U.S. ‘STATE SECRETS’

Reynolds v. U.S. has been cited 900 times 

   The Atlanta Constitution's front page of Oct. 7, 1948 carried this banner headline: 

     "9 Die As B-29 Explodes over Waycross." 

     That fiery explosion above south Georgia led to the establishment of "state secrets" in the United States.  That much now is clear from a report out of Philadelphia last month. 

     Here is how this recent development arising from the 1948 crash was reported in September in the daily SPJ Press Notes:

    "A federal appellate court panel, saying there is an "obviously reasonable" truthful interpretation of statements made by the Air Force in the 1953 lawsuit that prompted the  U.S. Supreme Court to create a "state secrets" privilege, has refused to find a fraud upon the court in the landmark case despite revelations in declassified records of a cover-up. 

    "The ruling, by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia (3rd Cir.), was unanimous. Declassified documents showed the 1948 crash of a B-29 Superfortress bomber in rural Georgia was caused by negligence of the base commander, mechanics and crew. 

     "Widows of three civilian engineers who were among those killed in the crash were unable to recover full damages for the deaths of their husbands because the military claimed release of the accident reports would reveal "state secrets" not to be divulged in the interest of national security. The government would not even permit the judge handling the survivor claims to see the reports. 

     "The privilege articulated by the high court in Reynolds v. U.S. has been used in at least 900 cases in which the government claims that it cannot provide information to the court because doing so would reveal "state secrets." 

     "In 2000 an heir to one of the men killed in the bomber crash viewed the declassified records that showed the military affidavits to the court were false. They referred without detail to "secret electronic gear" on board but otherwise described the negligence that caused the accident. 

    "Source: Rebecca Daugherty, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press" 
  
Since 1994, Tom Bennett has been secretary of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation and volunteer editor and writer of its newsletter.