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gt. vtf. nr- T. a;- cL SOCIETY hITT &. LOS. 1Y bT. GERV COLUMBIA, MO. 65211 zzznzzzzmz fe i i Husked lllKill Gifted students ; fiBB The story teller yTigri Missouri played well, but not WgBmiSMr Extended Educational Experi-- clPSHHrH You may nave seen lum sltting Sfii- sssJl-ab quite well enough, Saturday jaHPanf " fill3 ences, or Triple E, is a pro- - jkL 2l2HpV lH out " front of niS nome on fifetol 1 against Nebraska. The Tigers BSSfe' BH iram at the Columbia Public & Q8$ E& V RkT Providence Road. He's there BKHStanB J let too many opportunities go BahSjig Schools for gifted children. But IjWMEt $ SSm! SZ-- j nearly every day in good WK3ftB& R& sML unused, and Cornhuskers IVMkV& JuS& ZjfiBBvZ the kids accepted into the pro-- rF weather. He's Ellory Stem-- fflfcy wfffiiB grabbed every opportunity and fttffliwBtaglBWl gram are not superkids. ' Gif-- Hnraf " mons, Sr., a resident of Colum- - JBHSMBBflBg- B- i won their seven straight game jwfBllPi tedness is an ability, a talent, Ay- flWH- y bia for over 80 years. Ellory HjSEaHTB of the season, 3413, o prove 3HfJIWPmJB but doesn't mean you're per- - IFJJzSb A nas seen a lot and done a lot W& ISmr their No. 1 ranking. See Page ffiKlflBMw fect'' savs Triple E teacher ! pp iaj and he likes to tell about it. See HMIP " fl ff- - Columbia TOP 76th Year No. 29 Good Morning! It's Sunday, October 16, 1983 6 Sections 54 Pages 50 Cents Scott TrtusN fefQfl fiflfl Suzy Conley a Tiger fan from Chicago, sits JLFC'tfl. U C11U glumly in the midst of Husker fans and watches Missouri lose 34- 1- 3, Saturday. Balloonist burned in accident ByToddCopilevitz and Glanna Jacobson Miaaowten staff writera A Nebraska fan in town for Satur-day's game was admitted to Univer-sity Hospital with severe burns fol-lowing a ballooning accident after the game. William Yancey of Omaha, Neb., received second degree burns when a balloon he was trying to inflate at Reactor Field at about 7 p. m. caught fire and fell on top of him. Hospital officials were not able to release in formation on his condition. Witnesses said Yancey and at least five other people had been try-ing to inflate the balloon for about an hour when the burner set fire to the nylon. Yancey was in the basket at the tune but jumped out, they said. " Hie whole damn balloon lit up," said Dennis Knaub of Lincoln, Neb. Knaub and five other Nebraska fans were sitting next to then camper parked in Reactor field when the ac- cidentoccu- rred. Fire equipment was hampered getting to the field because of the traffic, Knaub said. The balloon had caught fire about 15 minutes earlier, be said, but the crew working on the inflatable extin-guished it leaving two minor holes and was trying again to get the balloon in the an when the accident happened. Yancey was taken to the hospital by the crew, leaving the balloon to burn and drift, he said. A member of the crew who refused to be identified said they were plan-ning to inflate the balloon and let it float above the field. t Special session tackles statebudget problems By State capital bureau JEFFERSON CITY When a special session of the Legislature gets down to business Wednesday, several tugs- of- w- ar are expected over the items on its agenda the longest and most controversial one for a special session in nearly 20 years 1 Lawmakers, who could use the full 60 days allowed for a special session, agree that solving the state's budget problems will dominate the session called in June by Gov. Christopher Bend Bond, who chastized legislators for not acting on what he termed critical matters last spring, recalled the state's 197 lawmakers to deal with 15 ' crucial' issues before the regular session begins Jan 4 Bond's initial reason for railing a special session was to persuade leg-islators to authorize an additional $ 250 million in revj& we bonds as part of the $ 6W- - rmHicn bond issue ap-proved bjfvoters last year. Hpwever, -- me significance of the bond issue appears to have taken second billing to Borp recent call for a tax increase. Bond announced in September ( hat he would seek more revenue from higher taxes, perhaps as much as $ 150 million, to keep the state from going broke this year. If that money is not generated, he said, the state would have to with-hold some payments for the third consecutive year. Raising taxes already has created a stir among the state's most in-fluential leaders. Some Senate lead-ers have been trying to find ways to solve immediate budget problems through taxation while other House leaders have said they would not support a tax increase that would solve only short- ter- m problems. House Speaker Bob Gnffin, D- Camer- on, for instance, said he would only support a comprehensive tax reform solution. Even those who do agree that an immediate tax in-crease is needed have not agreed on the size or shape it should be. Last week, Bend proposed a 2- perc-ent increase m corporate taxes and a doubling of the state's franchise tax on businesses. Many lawmakers voiced immediate dislike to that pro-posal and vowed to fight it. Legislators also will take up a revenue- - generating former House bill that would create as much as $ 50 million by accelerating the state's sales tax collection. The bill died last spring, and Bond has called for further deliberation saying mat the money should be channeled nto the state's cash re-serve fund so the state can pay its ' bills on time. The state currently has about a $ 5Q- snilli- on surplus but eco-nomic experts have predicted that the state needs at least $ 100 million to get by. The bill is expected to receive op-position from those with business ties. It would be prohibitively expen-sive and impractical for small bu- sinss- es, which have neither the time nor bookkeeping methods to pay sales taxes on a weekly basis The governor also has said the ad-ditional bendng authority is needed to improve public facilities and cre-ate jobs across the state. Last year, the General Assembly approved $ 75 million in bonds. But a proposal last spring that called for issuing $ 225 million in bonds was defeated in the Senate, where opponents said the state could not afford to pay the debt. House Majority Leader Tom Villa, D-- St Louis, said it's too early to tell if the bonds will be approved in the special session, although he supports the issuance " The big thing the bond issue has going for it is the thought of the al-ternative," he said " How will we stimulate the state's economy and address the prison issue without the bonds'" Sen Roger Wilson, D- Colum-bia, said many legislators will approve the bonds only if they are accompa-nied by a tax increase something that still is up in the air Despite a Bond administration ef-fort to sell the bond usue to hesitant legislators by adding $ 25 million and several projects to the list in June Wilson said not enough thought has been given to how the bonds will be paid back " The ad-ministration has failed to ask, ' Where are we gouig to get a $ 30 mil-lion paymentfor2years''' " But Wilson said even without an increase, he will vote for the second phase of the bond issue which of-fers more than $ 23 million in capital improvements for Boone County and See GOVERNOR'S, Page 10A Bond asks assembly to ponder 1 5 proposals State capital bureau JEFFERSON CITY Gov Christopher S. Bond has placed 15 subjects on the agenda of the spe-cial session that convenes Wednesday Bond has asked the General Assembly to consider legislation for these items - Authorization of $ 250 million in building construction bonds An unspecified tax increase, which probably will include a boost in the corporate income tax. Money to hire 193 additional employees for the state's prison system and implement the Com-munity Corrections Act To improve the state's tax collection system. To extend the half- ce- nt sales tax for transit operations. k-- To provide statewide early childhood education programs. y To establish a fund for job training programs and retraining assistance. v To strengthen a bill passed this year allowing revocation of a driver's license upon arrest for drunken driving v To halt the spread of brucel-losis in the state's livestock indus-try To authorize some local gov-ernments to propose a sales tax for economic development and tourism To allow Missouri to join an interstate low -- level radioactivity waste disposal compact To restore a ban on child welfare to unemploed tw- o- pa- re-nt families j To allow licensed practical j nurses to administer intravenous I fluid treatments I A $ 3 4 million emergency ap-- I propnahon to finance the state 1 health insurance program. I An emergency apptopnation J that would include money for is- - j suing bonds, renovating the Kan- - j sas City State Office Building, J and minority contractor assist- - f ance for the Office of Admimstra- - tion Money also . vould be given to the state's education departments to be used for hiring additional personnel Rights Commission seeks to close deliberations ByJarwtShadden Mtoaourtan staff miter ' History does tend to repeat itself, at least for the Colombia Human RightsCommission. '. Two years ago the commission proposed to the City Council that commission deliberations be closed to the public. The council denied the request : Monday night the commission lakes the same request to a new council whose membership has tamed over completely since 1881, with tiie exception of Third Ward Counoflrnan Rodney Smith. The commission will make its pitch for closed deliberations at the council's pre- meeti- ng dinner : Commission members contend tbeir deliberations should be private under state law, but their attempts to hold executive sessions have brought criticism from the news me-dia and members of the public. At-torneys involved disagree among themsetwisabout whois right The commission, formed in 1964, uses a five- stag- e process to investi-gate complaints of violations of the city's anti- discriminati- on ordi-nances. --,.. 1 DKDK3rD The process begins with investiga-tion by a commissioner to determine if there is probable cause for a com-plaint If cause is not found, the com-print is dismissed. Otherwise, the investigating commissioner at-tempts to negotiate a settlement If an agreement cannot be reached, the complaint goes before the com-mission for a hearing. Following the hearing, the commission deliberates on the testimony and decides on a recommendation. Commissioners menprepare a statement of the facts containing its final recommenda-tion. The closed- meetin- g question af-fects only the fourth stage of the process, deliberations pn evidence. Of 113 cases brought through the complaint process, only three have progressed to the hearing and delib-erations stages. The first to arrive at the bearing stage came in August 1980 and set off the debate en closing deliberations. ' Massey Watson, an attorney and then a commission member, asked the commission to close its deliber ations on a sex discrimination case involving a local restaurant employ-ee. When the commission voted to leave the deliberations open, Watson filed suit to try to force the commis-sion to close the proceedings. His suit is soil pending. In February 1981, the commission voted to try to decide the issue at the local level rather than in the courts and submitted the matter to the council for its decision. Under city ordinance, the council must approve any closed meetings before such ac-tion can be taken. The council unani-mously denied the commission's re-quest The issue was dormant until March, when new commission mem-ber James Rutter questioned the reasoning for holding open deliber-ations. The commission then formed a subcommittee to consider closing deliberations. The subcommittee report, which the commission has endorsed, rec-ommended that deliberations be closed on the grounds that open de-liberations were a violation of the complaintanfs right to due process and that news coverage harmed ev-eryone involved. " We used to argue that it ( open de- - i y liberations) was just an inconve-nience to us, but it is in fact a viola-tion of due process," says subcommittee chairman James Cal- hha- n. " Due process demands that the litigants get the full benefit of our discussion," Callihan says, add-ing that such discussion is impossi-ble when the commissioners feel un-able to share their opinions with each other because of public scruti-ny Deliberating on cases involves as-signing subjective meaning to the evidence presented in the hearing, Callihan says. " Weighing the evidence sounds wonderfully'scienufic, but the scale seems essentially subjective," he says. Rutter says legitimate consider-ations for the commission when it is deliberating include the demeanor and appearance of a litigant " It is perfectly legitimate for someone to observe from the liti-gant's demeanor that he is being less thantruthful," he says. Rutter says such observations about someone's character should not be made in public. " How would you feel if I got up in there in front of God and everybody and said I thought you were being less than truthful? And you knew you couldn't sue me for saying it?" Rutter asks. The fact that none of the commissioners feels comfortable with making such statements in pub- h- e restrains the commission, Rutter says. " Nobody winds up saying any-thing; we just call for a vote," he says. The commission has gamed legal support from the city attorney, something it lacked in its previous attempt City Counselor David Evans says that closed deliberations are legally defensible. Evans says the deliber-ations do not fall under the Missouri sunshine law's definition of a pubhc meeting because neither pubhc poli-cy nor pubhc business is being dis-cussed or decided. " If they are considering a claim of discrimination of one individual against another, no pubhc policy is being discussed," he says. Even if the commission: did fall un-der the definition of pubhc meetings, Evans says, closure might still be Justified under the sunshine law's lit-igation exemption. The law says that meetings may be closed if a body is f discussing legal action, causes of ac-tion or litigation involving a pubhc body. Evans says the commission's deliberations could be compared to the deliberations of a jury, which is excluded from the open meetings law. Evans' position is in direct opposi-tion to the opinion of Scott Snyder, city attorney at the time of the first closure attempt Snyder advised the commission that closed dehber-- atio- ns would be a violation of the sunshine law. " There are as many opinions as there are lawyers," Evans said about the difference in the legal opinions. Part of the supporting material the commission cited in its recom-mendation was a statement by Al Plummer, executive director of the Missouri Human Rights Commis-sion, that Columbia's commission was the only human rights commis-sion in the state to deliberate pub-licly. The commissions in Sedaha, Ful-ton and Springfield conduct closed deliberations, according to commis-sion members m each of those cities.
Object Description
Title | Columbia Missourian Newspaper 1983-10-16 |
Description | Vol. 76th Year, No. 29 |
Subject |
Columbia (Mo.) -- Newspapers Boone County (Mo.) -- Newspapers |
Coverage | United States -- Missouri -- Boone County -- Columbia |
Language | English |
Date.Search | 1983-10-16 |
Type | Newspaper |
Format | |
Collection Name | Columbia Missourian Newspaper Collection |
Publisher.Digital | The Office of Library Systems of the University of Missouri |
Contributing Institution |
State Historical Society of Missouri University of Missouri School of Journalism |
Copy Request | Contact the State Historical Society of Missouri at: (800) 747-6366 or (573) 882-7083 or email contact@shsmo.org. Some fees apply:http://shsmo.org/research/researchfees |
Description
Title | Full Page |
Date.Search | 1983-10-16 |
Type | page |
Item.Transcript | gt. vtf. nr- T. a;- cL SOCIETY hITT &. LOS. 1Y bT. GERV COLUMBIA, MO. 65211 zzznzzzzmz fe i i Husked lllKill Gifted students ; fiBB The story teller yTigri Missouri played well, but not WgBmiSMr Extended Educational Experi-- clPSHHrH You may nave seen lum sltting Sfii- sssJl-ab quite well enough, Saturday jaHPanf " fill3 ences, or Triple E, is a pro- - jkL 2l2HpV lH out " front of niS nome on fifetol 1 against Nebraska. The Tigers BSSfe' BH iram at the Columbia Public & Q8$ E& V RkT Providence Road. He's there BKHStanB J let too many opportunities go BahSjig Schools for gifted children. But IjWMEt $ SSm! SZ-- j nearly every day in good WK3ftB& R& sML unused, and Cornhuskers IVMkV& JuS& ZjfiBBvZ the kids accepted into the pro-- rF weather. He's Ellory Stem-- fflfcy wfffiiB grabbed every opportunity and fttffliwBtaglBWl gram are not superkids. ' Gif-- Hnraf " mons, Sr., a resident of Colum- - JBHSMBBflBg- B- i won their seven straight game jwfBllPi tedness is an ability, a talent, Ay- flWH- y bia for over 80 years. Ellory HjSEaHTB of the season, 3413, o prove 3HfJIWPmJB but doesn't mean you're per- - IFJJzSb A nas seen a lot and done a lot W& ISmr their No. 1 ranking. See Page ffiKlflBMw fect'' savs Triple E teacher ! pp iaj and he likes to tell about it. See HMIP " fl ff- - Columbia TOP 76th Year No. 29 Good Morning! It's Sunday, October 16, 1983 6 Sections 54 Pages 50 Cents Scott TrtusN fefQfl fiflfl Suzy Conley a Tiger fan from Chicago, sits JLFC'tfl. U C11U glumly in the midst of Husker fans and watches Missouri lose 34- 1- 3, Saturday. Balloonist burned in accident ByToddCopilevitz and Glanna Jacobson Miaaowten staff writera A Nebraska fan in town for Satur-day's game was admitted to Univer-sity Hospital with severe burns fol-lowing a ballooning accident after the game. William Yancey of Omaha, Neb., received second degree burns when a balloon he was trying to inflate at Reactor Field at about 7 p. m. caught fire and fell on top of him. Hospital officials were not able to release in formation on his condition. Witnesses said Yancey and at least five other people had been try-ing to inflate the balloon for about an hour when the burner set fire to the nylon. Yancey was in the basket at the tune but jumped out, they said. " Hie whole damn balloon lit up," said Dennis Knaub of Lincoln, Neb. Knaub and five other Nebraska fans were sitting next to then camper parked in Reactor field when the ac- cidentoccu- rred. Fire equipment was hampered getting to the field because of the traffic, Knaub said. The balloon had caught fire about 15 minutes earlier, be said, but the crew working on the inflatable extin-guished it leaving two minor holes and was trying again to get the balloon in the an when the accident happened. Yancey was taken to the hospital by the crew, leaving the balloon to burn and drift, he said. A member of the crew who refused to be identified said they were plan-ning to inflate the balloon and let it float above the field. t Special session tackles statebudget problems By State capital bureau JEFFERSON CITY When a special session of the Legislature gets down to business Wednesday, several tugs- of- w- ar are expected over the items on its agenda the longest and most controversial one for a special session in nearly 20 years 1 Lawmakers, who could use the full 60 days allowed for a special session, agree that solving the state's budget problems will dominate the session called in June by Gov. Christopher Bend Bond, who chastized legislators for not acting on what he termed critical matters last spring, recalled the state's 197 lawmakers to deal with 15 ' crucial' issues before the regular session begins Jan 4 Bond's initial reason for railing a special session was to persuade leg-islators to authorize an additional $ 250 million in revj& we bonds as part of the $ 6W- - rmHicn bond issue ap-proved bjfvoters last year. Hpwever, -- me significance of the bond issue appears to have taken second billing to Borp recent call for a tax increase. Bond announced in September ( hat he would seek more revenue from higher taxes, perhaps as much as $ 150 million, to keep the state from going broke this year. If that money is not generated, he said, the state would have to with-hold some payments for the third consecutive year. Raising taxes already has created a stir among the state's most in-fluential leaders. Some Senate lead-ers have been trying to find ways to solve immediate budget problems through taxation while other House leaders have said they would not support a tax increase that would solve only short- ter- m problems. House Speaker Bob Gnffin, D- Camer- on, for instance, said he would only support a comprehensive tax reform solution. Even those who do agree that an immediate tax in-crease is needed have not agreed on the size or shape it should be. Last week, Bend proposed a 2- perc-ent increase m corporate taxes and a doubling of the state's franchise tax on businesses. Many lawmakers voiced immediate dislike to that pro-posal and vowed to fight it. Legislators also will take up a revenue- - generating former House bill that would create as much as $ 50 million by accelerating the state's sales tax collection. The bill died last spring, and Bond has called for further deliberation saying mat the money should be channeled nto the state's cash re-serve fund so the state can pay its ' bills on time. The state currently has about a $ 5Q- snilli- on surplus but eco-nomic experts have predicted that the state needs at least $ 100 million to get by. The bill is expected to receive op-position from those with business ties. It would be prohibitively expen-sive and impractical for small bu- sinss- es, which have neither the time nor bookkeeping methods to pay sales taxes on a weekly basis The governor also has said the ad-ditional bendng authority is needed to improve public facilities and cre-ate jobs across the state. Last year, the General Assembly approved $ 75 million in bonds. But a proposal last spring that called for issuing $ 225 million in bonds was defeated in the Senate, where opponents said the state could not afford to pay the debt. House Majority Leader Tom Villa, D-- St Louis, said it's too early to tell if the bonds will be approved in the special session, although he supports the issuance " The big thing the bond issue has going for it is the thought of the al-ternative," he said " How will we stimulate the state's economy and address the prison issue without the bonds'" Sen Roger Wilson, D- Colum-bia, said many legislators will approve the bonds only if they are accompa-nied by a tax increase something that still is up in the air Despite a Bond administration ef-fort to sell the bond usue to hesitant legislators by adding $ 25 million and several projects to the list in June Wilson said not enough thought has been given to how the bonds will be paid back " The ad-ministration has failed to ask, ' Where are we gouig to get a $ 30 mil-lion paymentfor2years''' " But Wilson said even without an increase, he will vote for the second phase of the bond issue which of-fers more than $ 23 million in capital improvements for Boone County and See GOVERNOR'S, Page 10A Bond asks assembly to ponder 1 5 proposals State capital bureau JEFFERSON CITY Gov Christopher S. Bond has placed 15 subjects on the agenda of the spe-cial session that convenes Wednesday Bond has asked the General Assembly to consider legislation for these items - Authorization of $ 250 million in building construction bonds An unspecified tax increase, which probably will include a boost in the corporate income tax. Money to hire 193 additional employees for the state's prison system and implement the Com-munity Corrections Act To improve the state's tax collection system. To extend the half- ce- nt sales tax for transit operations. k-- To provide statewide early childhood education programs. y To establish a fund for job training programs and retraining assistance. v To strengthen a bill passed this year allowing revocation of a driver's license upon arrest for drunken driving v To halt the spread of brucel-losis in the state's livestock indus-try To authorize some local gov-ernments to propose a sales tax for economic development and tourism To allow Missouri to join an interstate low -- level radioactivity waste disposal compact To restore a ban on child welfare to unemploed tw- o- pa- re-nt families j To allow licensed practical j nurses to administer intravenous I fluid treatments I A $ 3 4 million emergency ap-- I propnahon to finance the state 1 health insurance program. I An emergency apptopnation J that would include money for is- - j suing bonds, renovating the Kan- - j sas City State Office Building, J and minority contractor assist- - f ance for the Office of Admimstra- - tion Money also . vould be given to the state's education departments to be used for hiring additional personnel Rights Commission seeks to close deliberations ByJarwtShadden Mtoaourtan staff miter ' History does tend to repeat itself, at least for the Colombia Human RightsCommission. '. Two years ago the commission proposed to the City Council that commission deliberations be closed to the public. The council denied the request : Monday night the commission lakes the same request to a new council whose membership has tamed over completely since 1881, with tiie exception of Third Ward Counoflrnan Rodney Smith. The commission will make its pitch for closed deliberations at the council's pre- meeti- ng dinner : Commission members contend tbeir deliberations should be private under state law, but their attempts to hold executive sessions have brought criticism from the news me-dia and members of the public. At-torneys involved disagree among themsetwisabout whois right The commission, formed in 1964, uses a five- stag- e process to investi-gate complaints of violations of the city's anti- discriminati- on ordi-nances. --,.. 1 DKDK3rD The process begins with investiga-tion by a commissioner to determine if there is probable cause for a com-plaint If cause is not found, the com-print is dismissed. Otherwise, the investigating commissioner at-tempts to negotiate a settlement If an agreement cannot be reached, the complaint goes before the com-mission for a hearing. Following the hearing, the commission deliberates on the testimony and decides on a recommendation. Commissioners menprepare a statement of the facts containing its final recommenda-tion. The closed- meetin- g question af-fects only the fourth stage of the process, deliberations pn evidence. Of 113 cases brought through the complaint process, only three have progressed to the hearing and delib-erations stages. The first to arrive at the bearing stage came in August 1980 and set off the debate en closing deliberations. ' Massey Watson, an attorney and then a commission member, asked the commission to close its deliber ations on a sex discrimination case involving a local restaurant employ-ee. When the commission voted to leave the deliberations open, Watson filed suit to try to force the commis-sion to close the proceedings. His suit is soil pending. In February 1981, the commission voted to try to decide the issue at the local level rather than in the courts and submitted the matter to the council for its decision. Under city ordinance, the council must approve any closed meetings before such ac-tion can be taken. The council unani-mously denied the commission's re-quest The issue was dormant until March, when new commission mem-ber James Rutter questioned the reasoning for holding open deliber-ations. The commission then formed a subcommittee to consider closing deliberations. The subcommittee report, which the commission has endorsed, rec-ommended that deliberations be closed on the grounds that open de-liberations were a violation of the complaintanfs right to due process and that news coverage harmed ev-eryone involved. " We used to argue that it ( open de- - i y liberations) was just an inconve-nience to us, but it is in fact a viola-tion of due process," says subcommittee chairman James Cal- hha- n. " Due process demands that the litigants get the full benefit of our discussion," Callihan says, add-ing that such discussion is impossi-ble when the commissioners feel un-able to share their opinions with each other because of public scruti-ny Deliberating on cases involves as-signing subjective meaning to the evidence presented in the hearing, Callihan says. " Weighing the evidence sounds wonderfully'scienufic, but the scale seems essentially subjective," he says. Rutter says legitimate consider-ations for the commission when it is deliberating include the demeanor and appearance of a litigant " It is perfectly legitimate for someone to observe from the liti-gant's demeanor that he is being less thantruthful," he says. Rutter says such observations about someone's character should not be made in public. " How would you feel if I got up in there in front of God and everybody and said I thought you were being less than truthful? And you knew you couldn't sue me for saying it?" Rutter asks. The fact that none of the commissioners feels comfortable with making such statements in pub- h- e restrains the commission, Rutter says. " Nobody winds up saying any-thing; we just call for a vote," he says. The commission has gamed legal support from the city attorney, something it lacked in its previous attempt City Counselor David Evans says that closed deliberations are legally defensible. Evans says the deliber-ations do not fall under the Missouri sunshine law's definition of a pubhc meeting because neither pubhc poli-cy nor pubhc business is being dis-cussed or decided. " If they are considering a claim of discrimination of one individual against another, no pubhc policy is being discussed," he says. Even if the commission: did fall un-der the definition of pubhc meetings, Evans says, closure might still be Justified under the sunshine law's lit-igation exemption. The law says that meetings may be closed if a body is f discussing legal action, causes of ac-tion or litigation involving a pubhc body. Evans says the commission's deliberations could be compared to the deliberations of a jury, which is excluded from the open meetings law. Evans' position is in direct opposi-tion to the opinion of Scott Snyder, city attorney at the time of the first closure attempt Snyder advised the commission that closed dehber-- atio- ns would be a violation of the sunshine law. " There are as many opinions as there are lawyers," Evans said about the difference in the legal opinions. Part of the supporting material the commission cited in its recom-mendation was a statement by Al Plummer, executive director of the Missouri Human Rights Commis-sion, that Columbia's commission was the only human rights commis-sion in the state to deliberate pub-licly. The commissions in Sedaha, Ful-ton and Springfield conduct closed deliberations, according to commis-sion members m each of those cities. |