Stop the Destruction: Wendell Selectboard Letter and Trial Court Response
Wendell Selectboard Letter to the Massachusetts Trial Courts, and the Trial Courts Response.
Hi Everyone,
Here is the letter written by the Wendell Selectboard to Chief Justice Paula Carey of the Massachusetts Trial Court, and Jonathan Williams, Administrator of the Executive Office of the Trial Court.
Here is the Trial Court's response signed by Chief Justice Paula Carey, and Administrator Jonathan Williams. In their letter (the first direct response we have had from the decision makers for the Mass Trial Court Law Libraries in the seven months since most of Franklin Law Library's books were shredded on February 6th, 7th, and 14th).
They say that the selection process for "weeding" the books was "transparent". The Massachusetts judiciary is specifically exempted from the open meeting laws, and the public records law. There was therefore no advance public notice about the shredding of Franklin Law Library, nor any public meetings, nor any attempt to request citizen input into this decision before it happened. In fact one citizen begged them, on the last day of the temporary library, to let him get a moving van and take, and protect the books. They did not return his phone call for a week. All that week they were shredding 200 years worth of our legal history.
Even on the last day of the temporary law library space, there was a model showing the law library occupying a two floor space in the new courthouse. It was sprung on everyone, the day the courthouse opened, that space was reduced to house only 15% of its former 30,000 volume collection. Of 1300 titles that we know of, nearly 1000 were shredded (bear in mind that a line item in a law library can comprise a set of 100 or more books - for example, The Congressional Legislative Record, or Mass Case Reporters, Or US Codes).
These books were declared "property of the Commonwealth" in the 1978 Court Reorganization Act, which means they belong to us. They are property of the people. And yet, there is no branch of MAssachusetts government that considers itself accountable for protecting the peoples property when it is damaged or willfully, silently destroyed.
Hi Everyone,
Here is the letter written by the Wendell Selectboard to Chief Justice Paula Carey of the Massachusetts Trial Court, and Jonathan Williams, Administrator of the Executive Office of the Trial Court.
Here is the Trial Court's response signed by Chief Justice Paula Carey, and Administrator Jonathan Williams. In their letter (the first direct response we have had from the decision makers for the Mass Trial Court Law Libraries in the seven months since most of Franklin Law Library's books were shredded on February 6th, 7th, and 14th).
They say that the selection process for "weeding" the books was "transparent". The Massachusetts judiciary is specifically exempted from the open meeting laws, and the public records law. There was therefore no advance public notice about the shredding of Franklin Law Library, nor any public meetings, nor any attempt to request citizen input into this decision before it happened. In fact one citizen begged them, on the last day of the temporary library, to let him get a moving van and take, and protect the books. They did not return his phone call for a week. All that week they were shredding 200 years worth of our legal history.
Even on the last day of the temporary law library space, there was a model showing the law library occupying a two floor space in the new courthouse. It was sprung on everyone, the day the courthouse opened, that space was reduced to house only 15% of its former 30,000 volume collection. Of 1300 titles that we know of, nearly 1000 were shredded (bear in mind that a line item in a law library can comprise a set of 100 or more books - for example, The Congressional Legislative Record, or Mass Case Reporters, Or US Codes).
These books were declared "property of the Commonwealth" in the 1978 Court Reorganization Act, which means they belong to us. They are property of the people. And yet, there is no branch of MAssachusetts government that considers itself accountable for protecting the peoples property when it is damaged or willfully, silently destroyed.
Comments
Post a Comment