Editor’s Note: This is one in a series of articles highlighting the importance of openness in government as part of Sunshine Week, March 12-18.

From Staff Reports

ELKINS — Local public employees asked to provide public records during a four-county test of compliance to open-records laws this week granted just four of eight total requests, with a county sheriff insinuating one auditor was lying to him, while another auditor was told she would need a subpoena to see sheriff’s department arrest records.

In honor of March 12-18 being Sunshine Week, an annual nationwide celebration of access to public information, The Inter-Mountain conducted a four-county audit of local government agencies’ compliance with records laws this week.

A different Inter-Mountain employee was sent to each of four county courthouses in the newspaper’s coverage area to request copies of the following public information: Wednesday’s arrests/activities report from the Randolph, Barbour, Upshur and Tucker counties’ sheriff’s departments; and a list of the county expenditures for February from county clerks’ offices in those same counties.

Following are the results of this week’s audit.

Upshur County

An Inter-Mountain employee entered the Upshur County Sheriff’s Department Thursday and requested a copy of Wednesday’s arrests/activities report. She spoke to a clerk, who said she was not permitted to provide public documents.

When asked why she wanted the information, the Inter-Mountain employee said she was a local resident who was interested in seeing these public records. She did not identify herself as an Inter-Mountain employee.

Upshur County Sheriff David Coffman took her into his office, had her sit down, and then questioned her at length about why she wanted the public records. He asked her where she lived and then insinuated she was lying to him.

“I don’t feel like you’re telling the whole truth, nothing but the truth, so help you God, while you’re in here,” Coffman said. “Don’t take that as disrespect but you’re from Elkins, you’re coming over here asking what we did yesterday. Duh. Why would you go out of your way, on your time, to see what’s going on at the Upshur County Sheriff’s Office?”

Coffman then said that in order to obtain the arrests/activities record for a specific day, he can require a citizen to fill out a Freedom of Information request.

After asking more questions, Coffman provided the arrests/activities report, but had all the names of the officers involved “whited out” by corrective fluid before turning a copy of the information over to the Inter-Mountain employee.

At the Upshur County Clerk’s office, the Inter-Mountain employee was told the county expenditure information for February was available, but copies would cost $1 per page. Clerks said various expenditure lists were available, but the general funds report would be the cheapest for a citizen to get copies of, at a price of around $50.

The clerks also said the expenditure records are available for the public to view for free, as long as the copies stay in the courthouse.

Barbour County

An Inter-Mountain employee entered the Barbour County Courthouse Thursday and was greeted by a friendly police officer and bailiff, who asked if she had any metal in her pockets and waved a metal detector wand over her.

At the Barbour County Sheriff’s Department, the clerk was pleasant but said the department had “no such thing” as a daily arrests/activities report or daily log. She said the county 911 Center would have a log, but told the auditor she would need a subpoena to get that information.

“So it’s not public information?” the auditor asked.

“It’s not public, no,” the clerk said.

In the Barbour County Clerk’s office, the auditor asked for county expenditures information and was directed to speak with the Barbour County administrator, who they said was on vacation until Monday. The auditor was given the administrator’s phone number.

Randolph County

On Thursday, an Inter-Mountain employee went to the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office, where a sign on the door read “Due to illness our office will be closed today. If you need to speak with a deputy about a non-emergency issue, please call 304-636-2000. All emergencies call 911.”

When the Inter-Mountain employee went to the Randolph County Clerk’s office on Thursday, she requested the county’s expenditures list for February, but the clerk on duty said she didn’t understand the request and didn’t know how to help fulfill it.

On Friday, the auditor returned to the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office, and a clerk told her she would have to fill out a Freedom of Information request to obtain an arrests/activities report. The clerk said Sheriff Mark Brady normally gives out the FOIA forms, but he wasn’t in his office, so she had another county office fax over the form.

While waiting, the clerk asked the auditor if she was looking for something specific. The auditor said she wasn’t, stating she was a concerned citizen curious about the crime in the town she lives in. The clerk then told her The Inter-Mountain prints the arrests, and the auditor might be able to find the information she wanted in the newspaper.

The Freedom of Information request form the auditor was given includes a section titled “Fees for FOIA.” The form says the “Search Fee” is $50, while there is also a charge of $5 for each written page, copied page, CD or cassette tape containing the information.

Also on Friday, the auditor returned to the Randolph County Clerk’s office, where several clerks — different from the one she spoke to on Thursday — helped her, printing and providing her with a list of all county expenditures for the current fiscal year to date. The clerks did not charge the auditor for providing the expenditures list, which was 43 pages.

Tucker County

On Thursday, an Inter-Mountain employee asked a Tucker County Clerk’s office employee for a county expenditures list for February, and was provided one quickly. The auditor was not questioned about who she was or why she wanted the records.

At the Tucker County Sheriff’s Department, employees were friendly but said they couldn’t provide an arrests/activities report for Wednesday because the only call officers responded to that day was a traffic accident. The employees said the accident report could not be provided because of a confidentiality concern regarding the personal information of the individual involved in the accident. The employees said a public report about the Wednesday accident would be created and released in the near future. The employees also referred the auditor to the officers who were at the accident scene if she wanted to ask them for information.