FACED WITH SQUARING OFF WITH BLOGGER IN COURT THE CITY REVERSES THEIR POSITON ON FOI REQUEST DENIAL

The pen is mightier than the sword.  That old metonymic adage is an appropriate one to use in the matter we have been posting about the last few days.

Apparently Little Rock city attorney Tom Carpenter read the post made late last night (as have thousands of others) and made a wise decision. 

DID THE FESTERING ISSUE OF DECEIT PLAY A PART IN CARPENTER'S FLIP-FLOP OF DECISION? 

Or perhaps beleaguered Mayor Stodola or worn out city manager Bruce Moore directed Carpenter to comply with our request.

Our guess is that Carpenter, who has come under fire from the Little Rock Board of Directors over the way his office has mishandled numerous cases, could not risk losing a case again, especially to one filed by a Pro Se litigant.

A Pro Se litigant that has taken on the Arkansas Attorney General's top litigator and used his own exhibits to win the case.

A Pro Se litigant that won FOI case by a directed verdict (subject of FOI request filed lawsuit to prevent release of documents and lost).

A Pro Se litigant that called out the city on its shenanigans and stood on principals of law and open, transparent government.

Whatever happened, an early morning email from LRPD was an unexpected one. Here it is:

We shall see if this change in position remains long enough for us to view or obtain the video footage from the camera that is fixed on and recording activity at a religious organization. One that is partnered with churches of every denomination through out the city to provide meals to our homeless citizens.

The city of Little Rock is at a crossroads. Dissatisfaction with our city leadership and police department is at an all time high.  At the last count there have been 45 murders in the city this year. Every day you read or hear about another shooting, or someone being robbed while going back to their car from buying groceries.

The mayor has given himself and "A" for a plan that he recently promulgated.  Actually he deserves a "F" like Chief Buckner received last year from the Racial and Cultural Diversity Commission.

Several years ago Stodola spent a year researching what other cities were doing to combat crime. At the end of the year he he was talking to a tv reporter sitting at his desk patting a large stack of papers. He said he did not have any answers as to how Little Rock could combat rising crime. He announced that he was forming a task force. That task force was created a couple of years ago and has yet to make a report. We pressed Stodola about that before the mass shooting at the Power Bar and Stodola stated one was coming out in a matter of days.

Weeks have passed and that task force has yet to produce anything.

Changes are needed in city leadership and we need a new mayor, city manager and chief of police.

Make you votes count next year. Send a loud and clear message.

#CLEANOUTLRCITYHALL


****UPDATE - 8/24/17 2:30 PM*** 

City attorney Tom Carpenter sent a couple of emails after we received the one from Sgt. Prater at LRPD.

We responded:

Stay tuned for updates. #CLEANOUTLRCITYHALL 


***UPDATE 8/24/17 - 3:00PM***

Apparently we got under ole Tom's skin with our response to his email.
He fired back with this:

To show you how out of touch poor ole Tom is, that book in its 6th edition (we have the 5th edition in our resource library).

And the publisher of this blog can't wait for ole Tom to invite him to have lunch at the 1836 Club and hear all about that committee.  

He might bring along his 5th edition copy of that book and let Tom autograph the pages that he is mentioned on.

#CLEANOUTLRCITYHALL