Every court has a set of rules by which they operate, set filing costs, set deadlines, and everything else. I want electronic copies of those records. As usual, it is not as simple as asking. Here's some of what I'm running into:
- "We wrote that on a typewriter."
- "I'm not even having this conversation."
- "That was in 1997. We don't have that computer anymore."
- "We don't have that. This is Appalachia."
- "This is Wyandot County. We don't have all the technological supercomputers that other counties have."
While no one is arguing that I shouldn't have access to the local rules, there's a pervasive but unexplained reluctance to release these records as .doc or .wpd files. A gentle reminder for the custodians of the records in question, per R.C. 149.43(B)(6):
The public office or the person responsible for the public record shall permit that person to choose to have the public record duplicated upon paper, upon the same medium upon which the public office or person responsible for the public record keeps it, or upon any other medium upon which the public office or person responsible for the public record determines that it reasonably can be duplicated as an integral part of the normal operations of the public office or person responsible for the public record.I seem to have found a way around the problem, though, when I called the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas.
Brian: I'm trying to get the files as Word or WordPerfect files.
Clerk: We have hard copies of those available at the clerk's office or on the Internet.
Brian: But I'm looking for them in the format they were written in.
Clerk: Are you attorney?
Brian: No.
Clerk: Then why do you need these?
Brian: Because I'm blind and you don't have them in Braille.
Clerk: Oh, I'm sorry. Hold on just one moment.
one moment...
Clerk: OK, what's your e-mail address?
And now I have them. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be blind for the remainder of the day.
