City admits FOIA violations; lawsuit dismissed, reimbursements ordered

The city of Branch admitted it violated the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act by not recording its public meetings and by overcharging for access to public records, and in return Circuit Court Judge Jack Patterson on June 7 dismissed a lawsuit against the city, according to an article in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Fort Smith Attorney Joey McCutchen filed the lawsuit in Franklin County Circuit Court at Charleston on behalf of his client, Branch resident J.B. Turner, who had requested the recordings because he felt the written minutes were inaccurate and he believed he has been misquoted on a particular issue.

The court ordered the city to record its meetings and maintain them for a year, as required by state law, and to reimburse Turner the money he spent to obtain public records as well as pay attorney and court fees.

In February, when the lawsuit was filed, Branch Mayor Gerald Harris said he wasn’t aware of an April 2019 change in the FOIA and that the city would follow the act in all future public meetings. Act 1028 amended the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act of 1967 to require all officially scheduled, special and called open meetings of first and second class cities and incorporated towns be recorded in a way that captures sound.

The act became effective in July 2020.

Keith

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Dr. Keith covered the story, working with Sun editor Larry Fugate. “It was one of the first big breaking news stories I was involved with,” he said.

From an editor’s viewpoint, Dr. Keith was especially proud of the work accomplished by his staff at the Log Cabin Democrat in the aftermath of 9/11.

His staff located a man from Conway who had been in the Twin Towers and also reported on local doctors who had been involved in triage work at the disaster site. He also cited exceptional design and images the staff developed to augment their reporting.

“The work they did during that period really stands out to me,” he said.

Dr. Keith has continued to do freelance writing and editing over the years and has appeared on numerous news-related forums, such as AETN’s Arkansas Week.

He and Tammy have two sons; Scott, who lives in Little Rock, and John, who lives with his wife Brandi and daughter Kennedy, 6. “I still play some golf, but Kennedy is our major hobby,” Dr. Keith said.

Despite all the changes in journalism, Dr. Keith still loves the printed newspaper. He is appreciative of the quality achieved each week by his students in their printed version of The Echo. When he asked the staff if they want to allocate more resources to digital production and cut back on the print product, their answer was an emphatic “no.”

“They like to see their work and their names in print,” he said.

Above all, Dr. Keith has enjoyed following the successful careers achieved both by his earlier newspaper staffs and his college graduates.

“I get phone calls from former students still asking my advice,” he said. “I have always told them I am their advisor for life.”