ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, April 24, 1997 TAG: 9704240070
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: NEWPORT NEWS DAILY PRESS
The question is whether recordings of emergency calls are public records.
The Supreme Court of Virginia agreed Wednesday to hear an appeal from lawyers for the Daily Press, WAVY-TV and two other newspapers in a case that could influence future interpretations of the state's Freedom of Information Act. That law allows citizens access to government records.
The newspapers and television stations sued Surry County Sheriff Harold Brown to release a recording of a November 1995 call to the county's 911 emergency system. A toddler choked to death after rescue personnel were delayed because a 911 dispatcher gave them incorrect directions.
Brown refused to make the recording public, and Circuit Court Judge Robert O'Hara Jr. ruled in May that the tape is not subject to the FOI.
On April 4, attorneys for the media asked the court to grant the appeal in hopes of having O'Hara's ruling overturned.
Stephen Noona, an attorney representing the Daily Press had argued to the court that the 911 recording should be made public because it is publicly funded, housed in a public building and staffed by public employees; the tapes are county records; and the sheriff has no privilege based on his claim to be the chief executive of the county.
LENGTH: Short : 35 linesby CNB