Area bankruptcy filings fall
Area bankruptcy filings fall
Published: 1/4/2012 -
4-year low no sign of prosperity, lawyers say
BY TYREL LINKHORN
BLADE BUSINESS WRITER
The number of bankruptcy filings in northwest Ohio last year fell to the lowest level since 2007, but observers said that doesn’t necessarily mean fewer people are in financial crisis.
Filings for bankruptcy in the 21-county region handled by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Toledo totaled 6,853. That’s a 19 percent drop from the 8,461 filings in 2010.
The two most common types — Chapter 7 liquidation, which accounted for 6,129 filings, and Chapter 13 repayment, which accounted for 703 — each fell 19 percent from last year. There were also 21 filings for Chapter 11 reorganization, down two from 2010.
Several local lawyers specializing in bankruptcy said the numbers don’t tell the whole story.
“We have seen a decline in your average Chapter 7 filings, but I don’t know if I’m ready to make a conclusion that it’s good news,” Toledo attorney Thom Cafferty said.
Mr. Cafferty and others gave differing opinions on why, exactly, the number of filings dropped. All agreed it’s not a sign of prosperity.
“We think it’s basically because the economy has been so tight with the credit that the credit market is driving this,” said Victor Rauser, owner of Rauser & Associates. The Cleveland-based law firm is Ohio’s largest bankruptcy firm and has offices in several cities, including Toledo. Mr. Rauser said the story is the same across Ohio.
One factor the firm has observed contributing to the decrease in bankruptcy proceedings is the end of automatic foreclosures and some banks — saddled with huge inventories of homes they can’t sell — being less aggressive in seeking foreclosures.
“That’s great temporarily for the consumer because they’re not getting pressure from the banks … but unfortunately, it doesn’t mean they’re going to be given their house,” Mr. Rauser said.
Bankruptcy filings in the Toledo district court peaked at 16,883 in 2005 ahead of new rules that changed how many people could file. The number fell back in 2006 to 3,837 and steadily increased until 2010, when there was a slight drop. The 19 percent drop from 2010 to 2011 was much more significant in number, but perhaps not in meaning.
“You can’t really make a direct correlation between bankruptcy filings and the economy,” said Kara Bruce, a University of Toledo law professor who had been a bankruptcy attorney in Chicago.
Like Mr. Rauser, Ms. Bruce attributed the drop largely to the tightened consumer credit markets. Still, she said without an in-depth analysis, it’s difficult to gauge the particulars, because each bankruptcy is a specific situation.
Toledo bankruptcy lawyer Scott Ciolek said his office has taken many calls from people who would like to file for bankruptcy but can’t afford to pay the fees to do so. Court filing fees are about $300, and filers can spend an additional $1,000 or more on attorney fees. “I think what it means is people aren’t filing that should be filing,” he said of the drop.
Instead, Mr. Ciolek said, people teetering on the edge are withdrawing from retirement accounts, refinancing bad mortgages, and working with debt consolidation companies that he said often don’t help in the long run.
Both Mr. Ciolek and Mr. Cafferty said many people who are dealing with long-term unemployment don’t see much benefit to filing because they have no assets left to protect and without income, they aren’t open to wage garnishment.
Mr. Rauser said data he sees do not point to people not filing because of inability to pay the fees.
One possible silver lining, Mr. Ciolek said, is that the low filings could help free up money for borrowers.
“When [banks] are running their actuary tables and determining the risk of loaning money, I think the decrease in bankruptcies will actually increase the number of loans issued for mortgages and consumer debt,” he said.
Contact Tyrel Linkhorn at: tlinkhorn@theblade.com or 419-724-6134.
In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: Bankruptcy, Kara Bruce, Scott Ciolek, Toledo Ohio Bankruptcy
Ciolek Speaks Out Against ‘Big Brother’ Camera System in Toledo
Ciolek Speaks out against the proposed Police Security Cameras in Toledo.
Ciolek on Coffee with the Fords Finale
Coffee with the Fords – June 19
Updated: Jun 19, 2011 12:00 AM EDT
Todd Crandell, Founder and President of Racing for Recover, stops by to talk about what it takes to be an \Iron Man.\”
In part two, Cynthia is joined by artist Sandra Schroeder and attorney Scott Ciolek, who represents both performing and visual artists, to discuss art and copyright and licensing issues.
Ciolek Ltd.
Website: www.counselor.pro
Twitter: GlassCityLawyer
Blog: blog.counselor.pro
Office Phone: (419) 740-5935
In part three, Reginald Truss returns, this time with his \”little brother\” from Big Brothers Big Sisters, Derrick Meyers. Derrick, a master chef, explains how to make \”Steak Neapolitan,\” a perfect dish for Father’s Day.
In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: Coffee, Ford, Ohio, Scott Ciolek, Toledo
Zoo Money
Zoo levy unveiled
Posted: Sep 08, 2011 3:01 PM EDT
Updated: Sep 08, 2011 3:01 PM EDT
13abc.com Jenna Lento – email
Zoo Levy Information
With high unemployment, and a struggling economy, The Toledo Zoo is turning to taxpayers. The zoo isn’t asking people for more money, but to continue paying what they pay now. Scott Ciolek says The Toledo Zoo is one of the city’s best assets, and he would hate to see it go downhill.
Ciolek says, “it’s well maintained national reputation clean and they have a lot of events. ”
That’s why he says he’ll vote for the renewal levy this fall.
Ciolek says, “If they need the money to keep it going, and to keep this asset in town, I think we need to support it.”
The zoo says it would generate about 6.4 million dollars a year. So the owner of a $100,000 home would pay about $26.00 a year. The zoo’s director says, because of the struggling economy they’re not asking tax payers to pay any more than they already are.
Executive Director, Dr. Anne Baker says “we recognize time are economically hard for everybody, the zoo is challenged, we’re really belt tightening.”
Ciolek says he understands why the zoo is again turning to voters.
Ciolek adds, “as property values go, the tax base begins to dwindle. So in order to maintain the same standards they’ve been living off of, it would see that they would need to maintain the levies already in place so they don’t loose anymore ground.”
Dr. Baker says the levy will help pay for things like animal food, veterinary care, utilities and maintenance. She says if it fails 30% of the zoo’s budget will be cut. Regardless of levy results, Dr. Baker says admission prices will go up. That includes ticket prices, membership rates and program fees. Still, she says, The Toledo Zoo is a great bargain.
Dr. Baker says, “the levy enables us to keep rates low. If you go to a zoo in a city where there is not public support, rates are about double what they are here.”
Ciolek adds, “they should go visit the zoo and start going to some of the events, and take advantage of all that they can provide, and then make up their own mind.”
People will get the chance to do that when they vote on November 8th.
In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: 13 ABC news, Scott Ciolek, Toledo, Toledo Attorney, Toledo Zoo
Dodd-Frank Act Hearings
Friend of the Firm, Toledo Law Professor Geoffrey Rapp Testifies in United States Congress on May 11
College of Law Professor Geoffrey Rapp was invited to testify on Capitol Hill in hearings of the United States House of Representatives, Committee on Financial Services, Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises. The hearings covered “Legislative Proposals to Address Negative Consequences of the Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Provisions.” The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, Section 922, included a reward program for whistleblowers who expose violations of the the U.S. securities laws. Professor Rapp published a 2007 article, Beyond Protection: Invigorating Incentives for Sarbanes-Oxley Corporate and Securities Fraud Whistleblowers, which urged the adoption of that policy, and a 2010 article, False Claims, Not Securities Fraud: Toward Corporate Governance by Whistleblowers, which discussed early versions of the whistleblower bounty scheme enacted in Dodd-Frank.
The hearing on Wednesday, May 11, at 2 pm, addressed legislative proposals to alter the Dodd-Frank bounty program. Read Professor Rapp’s written statement here, or watch the video of the testimony.
Professor Rapp’s testimony was covered in multiple news outlets:
Republicans seek changes in SEC Whistleblower Rule, Reuters, May 11, 2011
Business Community Pushes to Change SEC Whistleblower Program, Fox Business, May 11, 2011
Bill Seeks to Restrict Corporate Whistleblowers in Financial Cases, Fair Warning: News of Safety, Health, and Corporate Conduct, May 16, 2011
Can CFOs be Whistleblowers? A New House Bill Could Leave Finance Chiefs Out of an SEC Bounty Program that Rewards Informants, CFO Magazine, May 13, 2011
House holds hearings on legislation revising Dodd-Frank whistleblower provisions, Jim Hamilton’s World of Securities Regulation, May 12, 2011
Drawbacks of Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Rules Debated at House Hearing: Capital Markets Subcommittee Debates Whether Whistleblower Rules Create “Unintended Consequences”, AdvisorOne, May 12, 2011
Financial Services Committee Hearing: Whistleblowers Likened to Bounty Hunters, Firedoglake, May 11, 2011
Business Community Pushes to Change SEC Whistleblower Program, Automated Trader, May 11, 2011
Republicans seek changes to SEC whistleblower rule, Portfolio.com, May 11, 2011
Lawmakers consider forcing whistleblower to report to employer first, HousingWire: Financial News for the Mortgage Market, May 11, 2011
In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: Dodd Frank, False Claims, Geoffrey Rapp, Ohio, Qui Tam, SEC, Whistleblower
Toledo this weekend in the Arts
More than 200 paintings by the late Ruskin Stone will be available for purchase this weekend at Toledo Botanical Garden’s Crosby Conference Center. Born in Fostoria in 1906, Stone used oils and pastels to create portraits, character studies, and land and seascapes in a style reminiscent of Impressionism. He never sold his work, saying he couldn’t bear to part with it. Prices will range from about $125 to $1,500. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the garden. The center will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Information: 419-536-5566.
• A free discussion of Venice’s founding and its ancient Roman and Christian roots will be given by Sandra Knudsen, associate curator of ancient art, at 7 p.m. Nov. 26 in the Glass Pavilion of the Toledo Museum of Art.
• Pop-up Art Gallery, a temporary store, will open with a 5 to 8 p.m. reception Nov. 26th at 901 Jefferson Ave. at Michigan Street. Through Dec. 23, it will sell the work of 20 artists, and is organized by Nancy Beeman, Annette Moriarty, and Mary Pat Peltier. Hours are 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tues. – Fri. and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sat. Information: 419-260-6404.
• Reservations are required for two free workshops about taxes and legal issues that may face artists. Taxes, record keeping, and write-offs will be discussed from 6 to 8 p.m. Nov. 30 in a session led by Dave Peer, CPA. Another session will deal with copyright, trademark, patents, and other legal concerns from 6 to 8 p.m. Dec. 7 with Scott Ciolek, an attorney who specializes in the arts. Classes will be in the Professional Building, 1838 Parkwood Ave., and are organized by the Arts Commission of Greater Toledo. Reservations: badams@acgt.org and 419-254-2787, ext. 13.
Lucas County Commissioners Recount
Contrada declared winner in recount
County elections board’s Republicans draw fire
The recount of the Nov. 2 election ended Thursday with Democrat Carol Contrada again declared the winner in the Lucas County board of commissioner race over Republican George Sarantou, but with strong criticism of the Republican members of the Lucas County board of elections by the local party leadership.
The elections board also certified the victory of the Springfield school board’s request for voter approval of a 3.9-mill levy. Both races were the subject of a three-day mandatory recount because of how close the races were.
Refusing to concede the election with only 193 votes separating him and Mrs. Contrada, Mr. Sarantou and his representatives Thursday requested detailed records of how provisional ballots were validated. The counting of 4,145 provisional ballots on Nov. 22 changed the outcome of the commissioner contest.
“I’m very troubled that we do not have that information. We live in a democracy. This is a free nation. We should have that information and we should not have a lot of excuses regarding that. Hopefully we will get that very, very shortly,” Mr. Sarantou said after the board’s vote to certify the recount Thursday.
“This is an unusual, historic, close election and we want to make sure everything was done according to the law,” Mr. Sarantou said.
Board member Patrick Kriner said the information asked for will be provided by Tuesday. Mr. Sarantou has a 10-day period, which began Thursday, to file an election contest challenge in Lucas County Common Pleas Court.
They were outraged again Thursday when Mr. Kriner denied Mr. Sarantou’s lawyer, Scott Ciolek, the opportunity to address the board.
Mr. Stainbrook also noted the board’s mistake Monday night in leaving out 5 percent of Lucas County’s polling places in coming up with a random sample of 5 percent of the vote. Board executive director Linda Howe announced Tuesday that a board employee had found a sheet containing seven polling locations that had not been cut up in strips to be included in the random drawing of polling locations.
The board corrected the mistake by randomly picking one of the omitted polling locations and adding it to the sample that was initially recounted.
Mr. Stainbrook said the mistake would have been covered up had they not known that his associate, Kelly Bensman, would figure it out.
He accused the Republicans on the board of allowing LaVera Scott, the Democratic supervisor of voter services, broad validation of provisional ballots, knowing that provisional ballots tilt heavily Democratic. Ms. Scott has said Mr. Stainbrook misunderstood the law.
Mr. Sarantou has hired a consultant, Columbus elections expert Terry Casey, to probe the handling of the 4,145 provisional ballots that were validated.
“You would think all of the members of the Board of Elections would be here at least for some time, seeing that they have the ministerial responsibility to certify elections,” Mr. Sarantou said. “As a Republican candidate it would be nice to have a representative at the board of elections of the two Republican board members.”
Click Here to View Entire Story
Contact Tom Troy at tomtroy@theblade or 419-724-6058.
Former NFL star plans to sue Toledo Police Dept
TOLEDO, OHIO — Jeremy Lincoln, a graduate of DeVilbiss High School and a 10 year veteran of the National Football League, has retained an attorney for the purpose of filing a lawsuit against the Toledo Police Department.
The potential litigation is in connection with an incident that took place at Arnie’s saloon on West Central Avenue during the early morning hours of June 26. Lincoln and several of his fellow retired NFL colleagues were in Toledo on Friday, June 25 for a football training camp with young Toledo football players. Later that night, the group assembled at Arnie’s. Shortly after midnight, Lincoln and his entourage were approached by a pair of off duty Toledo police officers who coincidentally had been high school classmates of Lincoln. The encounter led to Lincoln and two friends being arrested for disorderly conduct.
Attorney Scott Ciolek has been retained by Lincoln. “They were essentially accosted by police officers, undercover officers and arrested without probable cause,” Mr. Ciolek said.
The charges were eventually dropped.
The arresting officer, Michael Johnson, was given a verbal reprimand for not filling out paperwork properly. An internal affairs investigation led to Officer Jeremy Carey being given counseling.
Toledo Police Chief Mike Navarre says the arrests should not have been made. “Jeremy Lincoln is a great ambassador for the city of Toledo,” Chief Navarre said.
Lincoln was in Toledo on Tuesday for the 16th consecutive year of his pre-Thanksgiving turkey give-away. “It was a very unfortunate incident that happened, because I like to take my friends that come and help me who give their time to help this city and this community and it was a very unfortunate incident,” Mr. Lincoln said.
Copyright Action Filed in Federal Court on Rediscover
Digital gold: Internet can be friend to musicians
Photo
The Toledo-born electronic pop group Rediscover poses for a publicity shot in 2008.
By GARY PAKULSKI
BLADE STAFF WRITER
You may never have heard of the Toledo-born electronic pop band Rediscover.
The original group broke up two years ago, but you can buy “Dance Transylvania,” “Your Pretty Eyes,” and other songs recorded by the band at major Internet retailers such as mp3.Walmart.com, iTunes, and Amazon.
You can watch their live performances on YouTube.
And you can share your opinions about the group and listen to their songs at music-focused social networking sites such as last.fm.
Just a few weeks ago, a 15-year-old girl in Germany wrote on last.fm: “I really adore Rediscover — one of my favorite bands.” She is among 80,000 visitors to the Web site who have played Rediscover songs 1.1 million times, according to a tally on last.fm.
The band isn’t especially famous or played on mainstream radio — the traditional track toward popularity and record sales.
But according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Toledo by a former member, Rediscover continues to generate significant revenues more than two years after the band broke up.
And newly won fans are downloading the band’s most successful tunes to their laptops, iPods, and other listening devices at 99 cents each up to five years after some of the tracks were recorded.
The experience of the band from Toledo demonstrates that there is hope for musicians more than a decade after the onset of a digital revolution shut record stores, led to widespread music file-sharing that is condemned as theft, and disrupted revenue streams of record companies and many performers.
The Rediscover story even points to a potential upside fore recording artists, especially lesser-known acts, that aren’t hugely famous but that have attracted a following and have the ability to generate buzz.
“I’m making more money than I ever did,” says guitarist Jeff Kollman, a former Toledo resident who now lives in Los Angeles and who has played with artists ranging from UFO to the Michael Schenker Group, Bruce Hornsby, and Lyle Lovett. He recently received a check for $2,000 in payment for his songs that were downloaded from the Internet over a 24-hour period.
The Internet, once dismissed by some in the music business as a vehicle for piracy and theft, is generating serious cash for many performers.
Purchases of digital copies of songs on the Web, subscription to digital music services, and royalty payments from songs played on the Internet now produce nearly half of all music revenues nationally, according to figures from the Recording Industry Association of America.
Such purchases generated 41 percent of the industry’s $7.7 billion in sales last year, up from just 9 percent in 2005, the association reported.
For sure, the digital revolution has devastated music industry sales revenues overall. They have plunged by nearly half from $14.6 billion in 1999, figures show.
While bad for record companies and some performers, that news is not as ominous as it first sounds.
Fans aren’t listening less. Despite the huge drop in revenues, the number of records sold, music downloads, and other products rose 60 percent over the decade, according to the figures.
But rather than being forced to buy a compact disc album for $12 with six or seven songs they aren’t interested in, listeners download the one or two songs from the album they actually want for 99 cents each. CDs and other hard copies of music generated 59 percent of revenues from music sales in 2009, down from 91 percent four years earlier, the Recording Industry Association says.
Nontraditional track
Fans of Toledo’s Rediscover have downloaded its songs 31,000 times, according to tracking by the firm Nielsen SoundScan.
But downloads cover only a portion of the income opportunities open to groups like Rediscover not only as a result of the digital revolution but the explosion of television programming brought on by the rise of cable channels and world-wide expansion of audiences eager to view U.S. shows and movies, experts say.
Other factors that are boosting band revenues:
• Sale of song snippets to fans for use as ring tones on their cell phones
• Ease of getting hard copies of CDs and songs along with digital versions included in the massive electronic catalogs of major Web retailers such as iTunes.
• Royalties paid by Internet radio stations each time a song is played These payments more than tripled in three years to $156 million nationally last year.
• Placement of songs in movies and TV shows, an arrangement that typically begins to pay dividends with re-broadcasts on cable TV and in foreign markets.
And, because many smaller bands release songs independently without a record label, they are able to keep most of the proceeds brought in from these sources, experts note.
Social networking
It is unclear how much money Rediscover has made. Guitarist Michael Corwin, in a copyright lawsuit filed Sept. 24 in federal court in Toledo against founder and singer Wesley Quinonez, claims that Quinonez “received large sums of money” from licensing agreements and other uses of the group’s music.
Corwin, who alleges that as co-author he holds a 50 percent ownership stake in nearly three dozen songs, says in the complaint that he has received nothing from the works but is owed at least $75,000.
Besides downloads of Rediscover songs tracked by Nielsen SoundScan, the firm says the band sold 2,000 copies of its albums.
SoundScan doesn’t keep track of licensing agreements or royalties for radio and Internet play. But the Internet played a major role in the success achieved by the group, which originally consisted of Quinonez, 27, and Corwin, 26. They later added drummer Rob Wagner and bass player Daaron Davison.
Corwin, who today tends bar at a popular downtown Toledo nightspot, attends audio engineering school, and plays occasionally, recalled in an interview how he and Quinonez made use of a popular social networking site when they first began touring nightclubs around the country in 2005.
“We would spend eight hours on Myspace when we were going to a city,” he related. “We would use an advance-search function to identify kids in a certain age range who liked bands that played music similar to ours.”
Corwin says that he never received any payments despite the relative success achieved by the band.
To promote albums, Rediscover members went on nightclub tours — mostly in the United States but occasionally in Canada and once in Japan.
For road tours, they loaded equipment into a trailer, hitched it to Quinonez’s van, and headed out for engagements where some nights they performed before crowds of up to 1,000 people and other nights before the “sound guy and the bartender.”
Performance fees and proceeds from T-shirt and CD sales went for gas, hotels, and other expenses, Corwin says.
Tours were never profitable and were subsidized by band members with money earned at odd jobs, he recalls.
“We had to work,” he says. “We would work at a job for 1 1/2 months, save up $800, go out for four weeks, come back broke, find another job, and do the same thing over again.”
Despite tough times, they landed a record deal in 2006 with One Big Spark, a subsidiary of Warner Music Group with bases in Boston and Los Angeles.
The contract led to a performance at the popular Key Club in Los Angeles. But the deal didn’t result in the success they had hoped.
How much?
The band broke up in June, 2008. Corwin says he and Quinonez, who was the band’s bookkeeper and manager, “were not getting along on many levels” and he believed the band was unprofitable when it broke up.
Friends would alert him when they heard portions of its songs in soundtracks of reality shows and other programing on MTV.
But Corwin says he thought the network used the music without payment in exchange for promotional value of the placement.
But then reports began to filter back from Los Angeles about the income Quinonez was receiving for Rediscover’s work. Corwin declined to discuss the figures he heard.
Last fall, he contacted Toledo attorney Scott Ciolek, who specializes in intellectual property disputes — also known as copyright and trademark cases—and filed suit. The case has been assigned to U.S. Judge David Katz.
Contact Gary Pakulski at:
gpakulski@theblade.com
or 419-724-6082.
In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: Ciolek, Copyright, Corwin, Federal Court, Quinonez, Rediscover
ELEPHANT ATTACK TAPE DUE OUT TODAY AFTER RESTRAINING ORDER ENDS
Elephant attack tape due out today after restraining order ends
FROM THE TOLEDO BLADE
BLADE STAFF WRITER
The Toledo Zoo is expected to release a video Wednesay morning depicting a young elephant attacking and critically injuring his trainer.
Louie, the zoo’s prize “baby” elephant, knocked elephant manager Don RedFox to the ground on July 1, leaving the keeper with two punctured lungs and multiple rib fractures. Zoo officials said Mr. RedFox entered 7-year-old Louie’s enclosure with some carrots while the elephant’s back was turned and it appears to have been startled. Mr. RedFox is undergoing treatment at the University of Toledo Medical Center, the former Medical College of Ohio. A review of the incident by zoo staff and animal experts is pending.
The video of the July 1 incident had been previously withheld from the media after a Lucas County Common Pleas Court judge granted a temporary restraining order on behalf of Mr. RedFox and his wife, Wanda.
The order was a result of the couple’s claims that the animal keeper’s privacy would be “irreparably harmed” if the video was released.
That changed yesterday when attorneys for the couple and the zoo approached Judge Linda Jennings with a proposed agreement that dissolved the restraining order.
The proposal meant that the temporary restraining order was no longer in effect after midnight when it expired.
According to attorney Timothy McCarthy, who represents the zoo, the proposal was submitted by the RedFoxes. He said that while privacy continues to be a concern for the couple, allegations that the elephant had been mistreated led them to rescind their prior opposition to the release of the video.
“The family was aware that there were rumors about the mistreatment of the elephant and they wanted to release the video,” Mr. McCarthy said. “…[The zoo] simply took the position with the court that if the family is prepared to forgo the temporary restraining order, then that was fine by the zoo, and we would make the necessary arrangements to release the video.”
According to zoo officials, Mr. RedFox violated zoo protocol when he entered Louie’s enclosure alone. Zoo rules stipulate that two staff members must be present during any direct contact with the elephants. The zoo has three elephants altogether.
Attorney Christopher Parker, who represents the couple, could not be reached for comment.
According to the motion filed on behalf of the couple this month requesting the temporary restraining order, the surveillance video “graphically” depicts the injuries sustained by the employee. The motion further stated that the RedFoxes have “an uncompromising right and interest in the protection of Mr. RedFox’s privacy with regard to his injuries and medical condition.”
The zoo did not oppose the motion.
Attorney Scott Ciolek filed a notice of appearance on behalf of The Blade July 6 to inform the court that the newspaper hoped to intervene in the case. On Monday, attorneys filed a motion requesting that the court allow the newspaper to appear in the case in opposition to the restraining order.
Citing Ohio public records law, the newspaper claimed that the recording is a public record in the possession of a public office.
“The Blade is pleased it will finally have access to the video, which is clearly a public record,” said Kurt Franck, executive editor of The Blade. “Unfortunately, the public was ill-served by the zoo in this case. Not only did the zoo fail to promptly share the video, it also failed to honor its public-records obligation in court. Zoo officials have been trying to control the message rather than trying to be transparent with the public. We expect better.”
The restraining order was in effect until yesterday, when a hearing for a permanent injunction was scheduled. Mr. McCarthy said the hearing was vacated after the parties reached their decision.
The zoo will unveil the video at a news conference scheduled for 10 a.m. on zoo grounds. At that time, Executive Director Anne Baker is expected to provide commentary while the video is played.
Staff writer Erica Blake contributed to this report.
Contact Claudia Boyd-Barrett at:
cbarrett@theblade.com
or 419-724-6272.
In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: Elephant Attack, Ohio Sunshine Law, Open Open Records Law, Toledo Blade, Toledo Zoo, Zookeeper