The judges ruling on opening letters for inspection
The judge even recognized that times are changing when he granted access not only to traditional media, but also to Oxford attorney and blogger Tom Freeland, better known as NMC (North MIssissippi Commentator) on folo.us.
Still, we found ourselves unable to take advantage of technology we have a hard time living without: No cellular phones or Internet connection devices were allowed in the courthouse.
We had to run outside to file updates with our editors/Web site. The security guards felt sorry for me because I filed the first two seated on the concrete, squinting to see my computer screen in the sun.
And then there was the matter of copying the letters. We had a plan. We had hoped to copy the letters, get them scanned and e-mailed to the Coast at an office service company and put them online.
No copying, the judge said. What the judge says goes.
Someone from the court clerk’s office was assigned to babysit us at all times, as we typed away on laptops in a witness room. We had to sign in and out. I forgot several times but was not arrested.
One of the women who works in the clerk’s office came in to take our picture.
I asked why. She said, “It’s history.”
Sun Herald
6/25/8
Magnolia Tribune
