Big Brother has struck once again in Columbia County, Oregon. Last week the commissioners decided that public record costs should be raised. The current price after the first 15 minutes was $37.00 per hour; the priced has increased to $39.00 per hour. The copy fee is two bits per page over three times the cost anywhere in town. I strongly oppose these charges to begin with. The taxpayers of the county pay for the paper, ink, machines, paper clips, electricity, the employee's wages and PERS, and all other associated costs.

I believe the reason for these disproportionate costs is to limit the publics' access to publicity owned records. The commissioners do not want John Doe public to be informed on issues that might affect any individual, you see if a concerned citizen does research and questions the actions and decisions of public officials, the citizen is a threat to the smooth operation of the county and its leaders. Heaven forbid if a common citizen questions land use, corporate contracts, pay raises, budgets, new industry, and tax give always.

The commissioners are simply excluding citizens that do not have a bulging pocket book and frankly they could give a rats behind if any citizen is involved in their government. In fact the elected officials would much rather no one was involved in any decisions that the county must make. Input from citizens only causes the politician to actually do their job as elected by the voters of the county.

Public records are the publics property not the commissioners, in order to have a free and functioning government all people must have access to public records, as this means every citizen rich or poor, all citizens should have equal opportunity to be involved in the government. When one citizen is excluded from the opportunity of being involved in the government the rest of us should be outraged and demand that the injustice be corrected. These are the first steps in excluding even those with the means to pay.

The corruption and questionable actions of many politicians would have never came to light with out open records. Only those who have something to hide want to make public records costly, separating the classes between the haves and have-nots. Only allowing the rich to have a say in how the government is run.

The other section of public record inspection is a charade, the public record request form, was implemented for one thing and one thing only, the commissioners wanted to keep check on who was looking for certain records and what they were looking for. I resent this assault on my right to inspect public records. Frankly it is none of the commissioners business what I am looking for. If I wanted the commissioners to know what I was doing I would send them a telegram. I think that these regulations need to be rescinded and these commissioners need to be chastised, they are forgetting that they work for the people. I hope that everyone who reads the Take would take 5 minutes of your time and e-mail the commissioners or phone them and voice your opinion on this issue.

I know that the commissioners will tell you that they are doing this because of cost, and to protect the public records, from being stolen, I assure you that there are easier ways to keep the records from being stolen. This public record ordinance is merely a ruse to keep interested and informed citizens in the dark. Please take the rose colored glasses off, turn on the lights, and take action against those who want to circumvent democracy.
I am ashamed of our county commissioners and they need to go.