Opinion
Opinion By: Gregory D. Stumbo, Attorney General; Amye L. Bensenhaver, Assistant Attorney General
Open Records Decision
This matter having been presented to the Attorney General in an open records appeal, 1 and the Attorney General being sufficiently advised, we find that the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government's Division of Police improperly denied Courier-Journal reporter Tom Loftus' August 29, 2006, request for copies of "all '911' tapes recorded and maintained by the Lexington Police during the crash of Comair Flight 5191." We believe that 06-ORD-230, a copy of which is attached hereto and incorporated by reference, is dispositive of the issue on appeal.
A party aggrieved by this decision may appeal it by initiating action in the appropriate circuit court pursuant to KRS 61.880(5) and KRS 61.882. Pursuant to KRS 61.880(3), the Attorney General should be notified of any action in circuit court, but should not be named as a party in that action or in any subsequent proceeding.
Footnotes
Footnotes
1 LFUCG objects to this office's consideration of The Courier-Journal's appeal on the basis that on September 6, 2006, Courier reporter Elizabeth Beardsley submitted an open records request in which she advised LFUCG to "disregard the original open records request sent by Tom Loftus on August 29." It is unclear under what authority Ms. Beardsley made this statement. It is clear, however, that The Courier complied, in all particulars, with the requirements found at KRS 61.880(2) in submitting an open records appeal consisting of Mr. Loftus' request and LFUCG's denial. It is equally clear that, under these circumstances, the Attorney General is statutorily required to "review the request and denial and issue . . . a written decision stating whether the agency violated provisions of KRS 61.870 to 61.884." Accord, 40 KAR 1:030 Section 1.