HOW DO WE DO THIS, ANYWAY?

Thanks to Oregon's Open Meeting Laws and Public Information laws, the information we are receiving is all legally available from various sources. Once in a while, if the "Big Wigs" in City Government want to make things difficult, a "Freedom of Information" request must be made. Eventually--and they can delay things if they want to--the information must become public. It would be nice if we didn't have to do this. It would be marvelous to wake up tomorrow morning, as a friend says frequently, and just find out that ALL GOVERNMENT PRACTICES ARE SUDDENLY OPEN, ETHICAL, and ABOVE BOARD. Wouldn't that be a happy day! Just like pulling up the white plastic sheet on a "Magic Slate!" Local Government could just start over and say, "You know, I really am not sleeping very well at night. These darn WATCHDOGS are driving me nuts! I'm just going to change my way of doing things and clear all this mess up!" For those who would like to visit an important website for us Citizen Journalists, go to www.filinginoregon.com which is the site of the Oregon Corporation Division. Did you know that the registry of assumed business names was designed to prevent fraudulent businesses from operating in the state? This open and tranparent process allows any citizen to find out who the person is doing business as "Investments in Cancun" for example. Or "Doughboy's Military Surplus" or "Denison Enterprises". Those last two aren't real. People just think they are. See why we need the law?