Ellington

September 13, 2006

Photo caption: Former mayor and Melton attorney Dale Danks.

On Aug. 30, The Clarion-Ledger announced it had finally reached a settlement with the city of Jackson in its open-records law suit. Around the same time, the city responded to a memo from the Jackson Free Press detailing eight public-record requests the city had ignored over the past year.

The city filled most of the old requests, and the city clerk's office waived several hundred dollars' worth of duplication costs. The requests were all months overdue.

Among the materials released by the city was the log of all rejected public-record requests. The Public Records Act requires the city to keep such a log, stipulating that it must be available for inspection during regular business hours. City Clerk Cedric Morgan insisted that the JFP file an information request for the log, which the JFP did on May 30. Morgan said that a request to view the log was like any other records request and would have to be sent to the city's legal department. He assured me that the request would take less than 14 days to answer, though the JFP received no response for more than two months.

The log, which consists of copies of rejected requests, appears to be incomplete. There are only three requests from 2005, but most of the rejected requests are very recent. Mississippi law (§ 25-61-5) requires the city's log to contain all requests rejects within the last three years.

The Public Eye is pleased to report that more requests from the JFP have been rejected than from any other body.

The majority of rejected requests relate to the Jackson Police Department and were rejected by Sharon Gray, who directs JPD's records. Time after time, Gray rejected requests without any reference to exemptions in the Public Records Act. Among rejected requests was the JFP's original request for ComStat reports, which Gray said were for internal use only. Two weeks ago, the city released two ComStat reports to the JFP and waived duplication costs.

In many cases, requests were for arrest records. State law does provide a general exemption for bodies engaged in law enforcement, but it does not exempt records consisting of identifying data and notations of arrest, the nature and disposition of criminal charges, sentencing, confinement, release, and parole and probation status. Gray insisted that all such records are available only by subpoena.

More recently, the ACLU confronted Gray for failing to release to his mother the arrest record of a 15-year-old boy arrested for curfew violation. Gray told the mother that the arrest record was available only by subpoena. This is an offense not only to common sense and decency but also the law. Gray cited a 1992 attorney general's opinion in support of her position, but such an opinion cannot supersede the law. Gray then passed the matter on to Sgt. Perry Martin, who oversees JPD's juvenile enforcement. Martin also insisted that a subpoena was required.

"With a paternalistic air, (Martin) told me that while the mother couldn't inspect her son's record, the mother and son could visit his office and he'd tell them everything they needed to know," said Brent Cox of the Mississippi ACLU, who helped the mother with the case.

The matter remains unresolved.

In one case, Gray rejected a request regarding a 911 call and charged $10 for the privilege. Gray's response consisted of a single sentence written on a single sheet of paper. Mississippi law forbids public officials from exaggerating the costs of responding to public records requests.

In another case, an attorney asked for sections of JPD's policy handbook. Again, Gray insisted that the information was available only by subpoena. There is no question that such information is public. This time, Gray refrained from charging for the refusal.

* * *

Former Mayor Dale Danks has filed to withdraw as Melton's attorney in the Meridian lawsuit regarding Melton's defamation of MBN employees, specifically Melton's suit with Allstate Insurance over whether the company must pay Melton's penalties. In his motion to withdraw, Danks cites an unspecified "conflict" that requires his removal. Melton will now be represented in the matter by Michael T. Jaques. Jaques is listed as the press contact for both Source One and Kidsvision, a company that specializes in providing digital surveillance services to monitor children.

A word of advice to any attorney representing a public official (or anyone else for that matter): do not create a MySpace page. You are bound to be embarrassed, even if you do not post rehashed heavy metal from Red Wire Morning on your site. Also, the author of "The Art of War" is spelled Sun Tzu, not "Zun sa."

Corrected. The print version of this article erroneously referred to a JPD officer as Sgt. Perry Mason. While we are sure that Mason would have made a fine officer, the JPD officer's name is actually Sgt. Perry Martin. We apologize for the error.

Previous Comments

ID

172624

Comment

Whose myspace page is this supposed to be? Is it Melton's new atty? This guy you posted lives in Cali. and studied art. Don't know if I'd hire an atty. who also has video surveillance company. Doesn't he have enough work to be just an atty?

Author

pikersam

Date

2006-09-13T16:52:03-06:00

ID

172625

Comment

There must be something wrong with my monitor; no person could naturally be as tan as Dale Danks is.

Author

Darren Schwindaman

Date

2006-09-13T19:30:18-06:00

ID

172626

Comment

There must be something wrong with my monitor; no person could naturally be as tan as Dale Danks is. What? You ever seen George Hamilton?!

Author

jeff lucas

Date

2006-09-13T19:35:13-06:00