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No, for YOUR information
By LeslieWilber in For your information
February 15, 2008

I'm getting the blog ready for Sunshine Week, March 16 to 22. This is not, as some have guessed a festival of vegetarianism and recycling. It's an exciting, fun-filled time to learn about why public records and open government are important.

A fellow reporter actually said that the Freedom of Information Act is not super sexy. To that I say: Knowledge is power. And everyone knows power is the greatest aphrodisiac. You take it from there.

But I want everyone to be as excited by FOIA as I am. So I'm issuing a challenge to you, the Victoria Advocate reader:

Between now and March 22, make an information request to a local, county, state or federal agency. I like to use the sample letters from the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas as a template. You can request almost anything, under the Texas public information act: arrest reports, court records, mug shots, meeting minutes.

Keep in mind, agencies have up to 10 business days to respond, and their response might be that they can't give you the information you requested (you can, of course, challenge THAT response.)

Update me, either through this blog or by email (lwilber@vicad.com).

On March 22, I'll choose my two favorite FOIA requests. Admittedly, I'm a capricious judge. I'll take into account how interesting the information is, what lengths you went to get it, and the description of how you made your request.

Here's the exciting part: authors of those two winning FOIA requests win OPEN GOVERNMENT TEE SHIRTS SCREEN PRINTED BY ME! I won't reveal the design yet (because I haven't made it) but it will be very cool.

Anyone can enter, except professional journalists, but I'd really like to see student journalists try. And if you get addicted to FOIA requests, multiple entries are welcome.

For more information about FOIA and Sunshine Week, check out:

http://www.sunshineingovernment.org/

http://www.nfoic.org/

http://www.utwatch.org/archives/foia/index.html