For the record...

Information - The breakfast of champions for every journalist. It's what we go on, what we write about and most importantly it's how we don't get sued (well, usually...). Open Records law in Pennsylvania is todays topic of discussion.
Let's take a look at the sleepy little town of Butler, Pa. Not much happens there along the lines of big budget scandals or judicial corruption stories, but what if it did? What if something did happen, and I had to report about it? It was time to find out if the Pennsylvania Open Records Laws backed by Butler's representative Brian Ellis and Senator Jane Orie would actually pay off.

The target: The contract of Edward E. Fink, superintendent of Butler Area School District.

Finding a copy of his contract might have been easily done if I just went to the administration building with a smile on my face and asked one of the nice older ladies behind the desk for a copy. But hey, if I'm a big time reporter from counties or even states away, I might not have that luxury. A letter requesting Fink's contract was definitely in order.

Thanks to pa-newspaper.org, finding a sample letter to make mine look professional was as easy as clicking the link and downloading the template. Simple, couldn't be easier. I wrote my letter, addressed the administration building on the front and away it went into the hands of the U.S. Postal Service. Ten days. They have 10 days.

Fifteen days passed. "Hmm," I thought to myself, "this can't be good." So I did what any college student with an assignment that has a coming due date - I waited three more days. "I'll give them some more time, they might be swamped, I don't want to be a hassle," I thought. That was a mistake.

On the 18th day after I sent my letter, I finally buckled down and gave the Butler Area School District Administration Building a call. "Yes, we received your letter Mr. Beatty. According to our records, last Tuesday (pun intended?) we sent the information you requested," said the secretary. Odd. My mailbox is still empty... "Can you tell me what address it was sent to? I still haven't gotten the information I requested and I'm curious as to why," I asked. She rattled off the address the information was sent to. The only problem? That address didn't exist.

I have to say, I love the factor that human error puts on this little green and blue globe. In the course of creating the request letter, I made the mistake of putting the wrong zip code on the bottom of the letter. Right now the information I requested is probably somewhere in Montana, waiting in a little white laundry basket with a "RETURN TO SENDER" stamp on the front.

Let that be a lesson to me. I try to test the system, it conquers me and shows me where I messed up.

touché.