Archives for July 2005

By Betsy Z. Russell, Staff writer
July 27, 2005

BOISE – As North Idaho’s field burning season kicks off, the Environmental Protection Agency has asked Idaho to give the public more details on where field burning will take place each day – but the state Department of Agriculture has decided to give fewer.

Callers to the state’s smoke hotline recording Tuesday were informed simply that burning was approved that day in Benewah and Latah counties. The estimated number of acres to be burned in each county has been removed from a state Web site, though times for a burn window, such as from 1 to 4 p.m., still are posted.

“We have found that posting the amounts of acreage online doesn’t help, primarily because conditions change,” said Wayne Hoffman, spokesman for the department.
The department also is citing a public records law exemption enacted in 1992 that classifies the location of seed crop fields as a “trade secret.”

“That is what the statute says, and so far we have not been given a reason to believe the law ought to be amended,” Hoffman said. “We’re trying to balance what the law says with the public’s need to know about where a burn is taking place, and so far we think we’ve struck that balance.”
Field burning opponents disagree.

“We need to know exactly where burns are happening, exactly what time and how many acres,” said Patti Gora, executive director of Safe Air For Everyone. “The Legislature has already immunized farmers from being held accountable for any harm they do to people. Isn’t it the only decent thing left to do, to tell people where these burns are going to happen so they can get out of the way?”

State lawmakers passed a law in 2002 preventing farmers from being sued for nuisance or trespass over the smoke from their field burning, as long as they follow state smoke management rules. The law was challenged, but the Idaho Supreme Court upheld it.

Gora’s group, which was started by North Idaho physicians concerned about the effects of smoke on their patients with breathing problems, often hears from people who are afraid to drive to medical appointments or who are uncertain if they should leave their homes because of field burning.

The idea that the location of state-approved field burns is a trade secret is “malarkey,” Gora said. “It just doesn’t pass the smell test.”

The public records exemption was enacted a decade before the department took on the smoke-management program, and was proposed by southern Idaho seed-crop growers who were concerned that when they submitted crop samples to a state lab for disease testing, competitors might be able to find out what varieties they were developing by requesting public records. In addition to field locations, the law exempts the names and addresses of seed crop growers, varieties and acreage by variety.

The bill’s statement of purpose says it was intended to exempt “proprietary information contained in the forms generated by seed testing labs.”

EPA Acting Regional Administrator Ron Kreizenbeck, in a Feb. 15 letter to state Agriculture Director Pat Takasugi evaluating last year’s burn season, praised the state for developing a Web site and televised burn forecasts. “However,” he wrote, “additional improvements are needed to provide more detail on the location of daily agricultural burning activities. This information will reduce the public’s uncertainty about burning activities and provide more useful information so people impacted by smoke may take important precautionary measures.”

Kreizenbeck also recommended a series of public workshops on ways to improve communication and notification, but the department declined to follow that recommendation.

“We believe we have an ongoing dialogue taking place with the public regarding the smoke management program,” Hoffman said, including calls that come in to a complaint hotline. “We’ve used the public comments we’ve received to improve the program.”

The EPA, in its letter, also urged the state to require flaggers on roads near burns to avoid smoke-caused accidents like one that killed an eastern Idaho man last year; to study what went wrong when pollution levels soared during burns near Grangeville and Moscow last year; and to put more emphasis on finding alternatives to field burning.

“EPA continues to have concerns with smoke from agricultural burning and its impact on public health, welfare and the environment,” Kreizenbeck wrote.

Hoffman said the state intends to notify the public when fields will be burned, and if people need more detail on the location of burns, they can call the complaint hotline and ask. “We’ll tell them, ‘There’s a burn taking place north of Moscow’ or ‘There’s a burn taking place in southern Benewah County,’ ” he said. “We have no problem providing general and pretty useful information on where a burn is taking place. Obviously, we can’t provide the exact address because of the exclusion in the public records law.”

Though it originally was proposed by seed crop growers, the department helped write the 1992 law that created the exemption. The department proposes various amendments and legislation every legislative session.

Doug Cole, air program coordinator for the EPA in Boise, said the department could have proposed amending the law this year after receiving the EPA’s letter. “I don’t know why they didn’t,” he said. “We obviously think that it’s important to provide information to the public on locations and areas. … Clearly it’s something that we’d like to see happen, and that’s why we suggested that.”

Field burning

So far this summer, 5,300 acres have been burned in Idaho, including about 44 acres on the Rathdrum Prairie, where more burning is expected in the coming weeks. To find out about field burning plans:

• On the Internet, go to www.idahoag.us and click on “Smoke Management Program” under “Quick References.” Then click on “Daily Airshed Info.”
• Call toll-free (800) 345-1007 for information or to ask questions or submit complaints.
• Daily burn forecasts also are broadcast on KXLY-TV and on five area radio stations: KPND 95.3 FM, KSPT 1400 AM, KIBR 102.5/102.1 FM, KBFI 1450 AM, and KICR 102.3 FM.

From the Spokesman-Review

Statewide seminars will help keep information flowing

Commentary by A.L. Alford Jr.

Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden is excited about the first three public records and open meetings sessions held so far – in Idaho Falls, McCall and Salmon.

That’s enough to get north central Idaho public officials, citizens and media enthused, too, about seminars No. 4 and 5. The first will be Thursday in Moscow and the second will be Friday in Lewiston.

Moscow’s will be from 1 to 3 p.m. at room 104 in the College of Law at the University of Idaho. Lewiston’s will be from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Clearwater-Snake River rooms at Williams Conference Center at Lewis-Clark State College.

The workshops are mainly for local government officials. About 180 invitations have been mailed to city, county, school and district officials in Nez Perce, Latah, Idaho, Clearwater and Lewis counties, ranging from the Lewiston City Council and Latah County Commission to the Nezperce Rural Fire District and the Ferdinand Cemetery District.

The workshops are also for citizens interested in good representative government.

You may not be familiar with the 2-year-old sponsoring organization, Idahoans for Openness in Government, known as IDOG. IDOG is a broad-based, nonprofit coalition formed in 2003, joining similar coalitions in more than 40 other states.

The board of directors includes Idaho’s secretary of state, Idaho League of Women Voters, the Idaho State Broadcasters Association, the Idaho State Library, a public service lawyer and newspaper reporters and editors.

IDOG’s mission is simply to “promote open government and freedom of information.” The goal is to foster open government and an informed and engaged citizenry. The mantra for the workshops: “We believe that we all benefit when the public, the media and government officials are fully aware of the public’s rights to access government information and observe the conduct of the public’s business.”

The focus, in other words, is fostering open government.

The workshops are personally directed by Wasden.

Why is Wasden enthused after the 2004 seminars at Idaho Falls and McCall and last May’s at Salmon? It’s because he’s leading a collaborative effort with government, IDOG and the Idaho Press Club, a long-standing tradition of his office.

“I hope that these workshops will lead to a common understanding of the basic rules for public records and open meetings,” Wasden said. “The laws are important because they help citizens understand what their government is doing. An informed electorate makes for a stronger democracy.”

A common understanding between local governments and media can serve at least three important purposes, Wasden said. First, provide timely access to public information. Second, protect information that the law requires to be protected, such as records of active law enforcement investigations. Third, reduce conflict over access to government information.

The Moscow and Lewiston workshop agendas?

The event sponsors, the Moscow-Pullman Daily News and Lewiston Tribune, will extend a welcome. Wasden will address the merits and needs for open government and access to public records, acting as a referee of sorts for skits to demonstrate openness and access, with role playing by elected local officials (playing parts of reporters) and members of local media (playing parts of elected officials).

It promises to be fun. More important, it promises to be informative. IDOG’s Web site is www.openidaho.org. The Web site for a similar Washington organization is www.accessnorthwest.com.

Alford is a member of the board of directors of IDOG, representing Idaho Allied Dailies, and may be contacted at alajr@lmtribune.com.

From the Lewiston Tribune

CALDWELL, Idaho (AP) – The Idaho attorney general’s office is investigating a complaint that Canyon County commissioners violated Idaho’s open meeting laws.

The complaint, filed by government watchdog Deloris Cram, claims that in February the commissioners conducted an executive session without adequate public notice. Cram alleges that the county’s executive sessions are not properly announced nor recorded.

Idaho’s open meetings law requires that public officials give at least 24 hours notice before going into executive session. Executive sessions, which are closed to the public, are allowed only in specific situations, such as when officials must discuss personnel matters or pending litigation.

Cram claims commissioners David Ferdinand, Matt Beebe and Robert Vasquez conducted an improper executive session on Feb. 11 just before a public meeting on the county’s impact areas.

“I really, really only did this to point out that we cannot depend on the elected officials to actually follow the Open Meeting Laws unless we watch them every day, and we should not have to do that,” said Cram, who is an avid watcher of local government.

The commissioners deny Cram’s claims.

“As far as I know, all of our executive sessions are agendized,” Beebe said.

Besides, Ferdinand said, the commissioners make all of their final decisions in public.

Bob Cooper, spokesman for the attorney general’s office, said his department was investigating the matter but he could not say when that investigation would be complete.

“We will engage in fact-finding and legal analysis and then we will inform (Prosecutor Dave) Young and the Canyon County commissioners of our conclusion,” Bob Cooper said.

Commissioners and other officials were fined $175 in 2002 for violating Open Meeting Laws after another complaint filed by Cram. That complaint regarded a meeting with county planners in which a proposed power plant near Middleton was discussed.

Beebe, Todd Lakey and Pat Galvin were county commissioners at the time.

Information from the Idaho Press-Tribune

From the Associated Press

Courtwatch, a Canyon County citizens group, has been named the winner of the 2005 Max Dalton Open Government Award, a $1,000 public service award sponsored by the Idaho Newspaper Foundation.

Courtwatch joined forces with the Angie Leon Citizens Task Force following the murder of Angie Leon of Caldwell in May 2003 by her estranged husband, Able Leon, who was released from jail a few weeks earlier despite a long history of domestic violence against Angie Leon and fears by Angie that she would be harmed by her husband. The group wanted to know how Able Leon was able to “fall through the cracks” of the law-enforcement and judicial system and be set free despite his obvious danger to his wife and family.

Through extensive research, including frequent public records requests under the Idaho Public Records Act, the group found numerous flaws in the system, including poor record-keeping, inadequate procedures by prosecutors and lack of information provided to judges. The group made a series of recommendations to improve the prosecution of domestic violence cases and continues to monitor the court system in Canyon County.

The group earned the Max Dalton Open Government Award because of its persistent use of Idaho’s public records despite roadblocks put up by public agencies, INF Executive Director Tom Grote said. In its report, Courtwatch cited numerous instances in which agencies were unresponsive to public records request, charged inappropriate fees for copies or showed a general lack of understanding of the public records law.

“Courtwatch was not deterred in their legitimate requests for public records, even though the obstacles they faced would have frustrated many citizens,” Grote said. “Because they were dogged in their efforts, the group advanced the public interest by discovering and reporting serious flaws in the legal system.”

The Max Dalton Open Government Award has been given each year since 1999 to a citizen or group judged to be an outspoken advocate of openness in either public records or public meetings on the state or local level.

Max D. Dalton was killed, at age 78, in November 1997 by squatters on his ranch in Costa Rica. Dalton had spent most of his life in Idaho where he operated a Meridian milk-testing business. In 1981, Dalton filed a public records lawsuit that resulted in a 1984 landmark Idaho Supreme Court ruling that reinforced the right of every Idaho citizen to have swift, convenient access to state records.

In the years since the Dalton decision, the state’s public records law has become undermined with dozens of loopholes requested by special interests, state agencies and city and county governments.

“By honoring those who emulate Max Dalton’s example, we hope more citizens will take personal action against needless government secrecy in Idaho,” Grote said.

The Idaho Newspaper Foundation is a non-profit organization founded in 1983.

From the Idaho Newspaper Foundation