Wyoming Judge
Blocks News
Stories On
College Trip To
Costa Rica
By Ben Neary
(AP)
CHEYENNE, Wyo. -
In a rare move,
a Wyoming judge
has blocked two
newspapers from
publishing
stories on an
internal report
about a college
president's trip
to Costa Rica,
saying the
report was
improperly taken
and that
releasing
details could
prompt the
federal
government to
cut college
grant money.
District Judge
Peter Arnold on
Friday ordered
the Wyoming
Tribune Eagle
newspaper and a
local biweekly
paper, The
Cheyenne Herald,
not to
disseminate
information
about the report
for at least 10
days.
According to the
Tribune Eagle,
the report
concerns a
school-sponsored
trip taken by
Laramie County
Community
College
President Darrel
Hammon to Costa
Rica in 2008. He
served as a
student
chaperone on the
trip.
Cheyenne lawyers
Henry F. Bailey
and Lance T.
Harmon,
representing the
college, asked
Arnold on Friday
to block the
newspapers from
publishing
information
about the
report.
The lawyers
argued that the
report was taken
improperly by
whoever gave it
to newspapers,
and that college
stands to lose
federal grant
money if the
report is
released because
it contains
personal student
information.
The college
maintains that
releasing the
report would
violate the
Family
Educational
Rights and
Privacy Act. It
says it could
lose federal
funds if it
violates
provisions of
the law
requiring
schools that
receive federal
funds to keep
certain student
records
confidential.
The Tribune
Eagle has asked
Arnold to
dissolve the
order. Arnold's
office said
Monday the judge
had no comment.
Tribune Eagle
Executive Editor
D. Reed Eckhardt
and Bruce Moats,
lawyer for the
newspaper, both
said Monday that
it's
extraordinary
for a judge to
prohibit the
media from
publishing
material in
advance.
Eckhardt and
Moats said the
U.S. Supreme
Court has ruled
such "prior
restraint" is
unconstitutional
in all but the
most extreme
cases, such as
situations
involving
immediate
threats to
national
security.
They noted the
landmark U.S.
Supreme Court
case in which it
ruled the Nixon
Administration
could not block
The New York
Times from
publishing the
Pentagon Papers,
a secret
government study
of the war in
Vietnam.
"If we're going
to argue that
the Pentagon
Papers should be
allowed to be
published, then
I'm unclear how
a document of
this nature —
which basically
is a report
about a
president's
performance at a
community
college in
Wyoming — is
even sensible,"
Eckhardt said.
Moats said a
group of college
employees called
a "care team"
wrote the
report. He said
such teams are
created to look
into student
health issues.
An anonymous
person dropped a
copy of the
report at the
Wyoming Tribune
Eagle's office
on Thursday,
Eckhardt said.
He said the
college asked
Arnold for a
restraining
order after the
newspaper asked
college
officials for
comment on the
report.
The Cheyenne
Herald states on
its website that
it had posted
portions of the
report online
but took it down
after Arnold
entered his
order. An
attempt to reach
Herald Publisher
Dave Featherly
was not
immediately
successful on
Monday.
Hammon, the
college
president, on
Monday referred
questions to the
college's
lawyers. He
declined to
comment on
whether the
report was
critical of his
performance on
the Costa Rica
trip.
In their request
for a
restraining
order against
the newspapers,
Bailey and
Harmon argued
that the
community
college report
is unlike
Pentagon Papers
because the
report doesn't
"contain
information of
great public
concern."
Rather, they
said, it
"documents a
portion of the
life of a
troubled young
student."
The Wyoming
Press
Association
issued a
statement Monday
denouncing
Arnold's order
as a "dangerous
and unacceptable
breach of the
First
Amendment." The
Associated Press
is an associate
member of the
association.
Kelly McBride,
the ethics group
leader at the
Poynter
Institute in St.
Petersberg, Fla,
said most prior
restraint cases
involve claims
by law
enforcement that
publishing a
story would hurt
an ongoing
investigation.
She said she was
"blown away" to
hear of Arnold's
order in the
Wyoming case.
"They are almost
always vacated
by an appeals
court almost
immediately,"
McBride said of
such court
orders. "Prior
restraint is
pretty well
established as a
no-no given our
constitutional
law."
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