| February 2006 | |
FrontlinesCourt throws out church’s libel suitHOUSTON — A Texas appellate court, throwing out a church’s lawsuit that claimed it was defamed by being included in a book about cults, ruled that the book did not defame the church, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press reported. A reasonable reader would not read the introduction of the “Encyclopedia of Cults and New Religions” and assume that anything written there defamed the church, which has a one-and-a-quarter page entry in the 700-page book, written to show the dangers of cults, the court of appeals ruled. “It’s a good case for journalists because it brings together several different concepts and puts them all in one place,” said Lynne Liberato, co-counsel for the authors. “It reinforced the strong public policy in Texas of protecting First Amendment rights and the rights of reporters and publishers.” Utility sues city over ‘impromptu’ meetingTYLER — CenterPoint Energy filed a lawsuit alleging the Tyler City Council violated the Texas Open Meetings Act when it held an impromptu meeting Dec. 8 to vote to deny proposed rate increases, the Tyler Morning Telegraph reported. Dec. 8 was the final day for the city to vote to suspend the rates for the second time, a deadline that Mayor Joey Seeber said the city was aware of. CenterPoint spokeswoman Alicia Dixon said the meeting was not an emergency, adding that the city had been notified the meeting was a violation of the law. JP objects to millions of records posted onlineROSENBERG — Public record has taken on a new meaning for people such as Gary Geick, Precinct 1, Place 2 Justice of the Peace in Fort Bend County, the Fort Bend Herald reported. Geick has been getting incessant phone calls for some time, mostly financial in nature, and couldn’t figure out why. When informed some of his financial information was included in records placed on the Internet by Fort Bend County Clerk Dianne Wilson’s office, the picture began to take focus. In fact, there are between 15 million and 20 million public records of Fort Bend County citizens being published on the county clerk’s Web site and being sold by that office, some in bulk form, the newspaper learned after interviewing Wilson. Katy school repays overcharge for copiesKATY — The Katy Independent School District violated the state’s open records law and overcharged a person seeking information, the attorney general’s office ruled, the Houston Chronicle reported. The district was ordered to refund $315 to Katy resident A.D. Muller, who filed the complaint of overcharging in processing his request.
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