Columnist: Camcorders are

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Celebrating 33 years of independence construction,MamBurlding

Tbesday

October 19, 2004

www. kylternel. com
newsroom: 257-1915

First issue free Subsequent issues 25 cents.

 

Page 4

 

Attorney general: Police must release victims' names

By Adam Sichlto
mi KENTUCKY mm

The UK Police Depart-
ment has no legal basis for
blacking out crime victims’
information on its incident
reports and must stop the
practice. the state attorney
general‘s office ruled Friday.

At the beginning of the
school year. UK Police adopt-
ed a policy that gave crime
victims the chance to check a
box on police reports, telling
police to withhold their per-
sonal information from the

public. The Kernel challenged
that this new policy violated
Kentucky open records laws.

The UK Police Depart-
ment based its argument on a
state statute that says public
records can be withheld when
they contain “information of
a personal nature where the
public disclosure thereof
would constitute a clearly un-
warranted invasion of per-
sonal privacy"

The department also used
another state law that enables
institutions to deny open
records requests if the re-

lease of the information
would hinder ongoing police
investigations or proceedings.

But the state attorney gen-
eral‘s office found that UK
failed to meet its burden of
proof.

“UKPD has not described
in any harm to it or its inves-
tigation that would result
from disclosure of the inci-
dent report." said the opin-
ion. signed by Assistant At-
torney General Amye
Bensenhaver. “Not even a
bare claim is made in this re-
gard. Nor has UKPD attempt-

dto justify with specificity
the refusal of inspection of
these records."

Barbara Jones. UK‘s gen-
eral legal counsel and the au-
thor of UK's opinion to the at-
torney general. did not return
phone calls to her office.
When reached at home yes-
terday night. Jones said she
hadn't seen the ruling and de
clined to comment.

UK Police Chief Fred Otto
also hadn‘t seen the ruling as
of last night.

“I‘ll make that the first or-
der of business in the morn-

ing‘ ‘()ttosaid. “But Barbara
Jones is probably the one to
go to first before coming to
me."

.lon Fleischaker, the Ker-
nel's attorney and general
counsel to the Kentucky Press
Association. said he is
pleased with the ruling for
two reasons.

"No. i. it is exactly the
right decision. and it's in line
with a number of other deci~
sions throughout the years."
he said. “UK counsel‘s efforts
were to change the law. not
implement the law.

'And No.2 it in fact the
decision had been otherwise.
it would have been a major
unwarranted change in what
the law is." he said. "i trust
that UK will go back to appro-
priate policy"

The attorney general
ruled that the UK Police De
partmeiit must. by law. re
lease all of the information
on its reports in this case be-
cause it failed to show a
"heightened privacy interest“
that overrides the public's “le-

See Opinion on page 2

 

At dusk Friday, a horse in a
farm near the Keeneland Race
Course grazes. Keeneland is
open Wednesday through Sun-
day through Oct. 30.

Special events for this week-
end include:

' Thursday - Charity of the
Day: McConnell Springs.
McConnell Springs is a natural
area and historic site, where
according to regional lore,
Lexington was founded and
named. Following the races,
the Friends of McConnell
Springs will have a Bluegrass
barbeque buffet and silent
auction in the Keeneland
Entertainment Center. For
ticket information, contact
Betty Barton at 255-1757.

' Sunday - Keeneland Wall
Calendar Giveaway.

The first 5,000 patrons to
Keeneland get a voucher for a
Keeneland Wall Calendar.
Vouchers may be redeemed
between 2:30 pm. and 5:30
pm. at the calendar redemp-
tion table located trackside
on the first floor of the grand-
stand behind Elevator C. For
more information, contact
marketing®keenelandcom
(Source: wwwkeenelandcom)

t

mm run | STAFF

THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM

 

 

'4-

 

Afghan election still undecided a week later

By Paul Watson
LOS ANGELES TIMES
KABUI.. Afghanistan

Interim President Hamid
Karzai held a strong lead
in the ballot count Monday
as allegations of fraud
continued more than a
week after the Afghan elec-
tion.

With an estimated 21
percent of ballots counted.
Karzai had 61 percent of
the vote. according to the
U.N.-Afghan group that or-
ganized the Oct. 9 election.

His main rival. Yunis
Qanooni. had almost 19
percent. Abdul Rashid Dos-
tum. an ethnic Uzbek war-
lord. was riiniiing third in
a field of 16 presidential
candidates with a little
more than 8 percent.

After briefing a UN. of
ficial Monday about a long
list of alleged irregulari-
ties. Qanooni said there
were more problems with
the balloting than he had
first thought.

“Unfortunately. our
friends working in the. gov-
ernment are trying to
make these big problems
seem very small." Qanooni
said in an interview.

“But in reality
fraud is preplanned."

The election was large
ly peaceful despite threats
from Taliban militants and
their allies to kill voters
and attack polling stations.

But in the days since
the polls closed and a mas-
sive security operation
ended. violence has mount
ed again.

On Monday. an election
worker and four other
Afghans were killed when
a blast struck the truck in
which they were riding in
Paktika province.

the

U.S.»led forces have
been battling insurgents in
that southeastern region.
which borders Pakistan.

The explosion occurred
around 8 am. on a road
southwest of Sharan. the
provincial capital. said
Sultan Bahcen. spokesman
for the Joint Electoral
Management Body.

Based on initial re-
ports. U.N. spokesman Ma-
noel dc Alineda e Silva
said it was not clear
whether the election vehi-
cle had been targeted.

‘ T h e
a r c a
where this
incident
happened
is known
for mines
and im-
proviscd
explosive
devices."
he said.

" A n d
we don‘t
k ti o w
which cx-
plosive dc-
vicc hit the vehicle "

The list of 1&8 com
plaints that Qanooiii pre-
sented to the L'nited Na
tions included claims of
multiple voting and ballot
stuffing. as well as charges
that voter identity cards
were handed out in some
areas on election day. on
derage Afghans were al
lowed to cast ballots. and
monitors were beaten and

jailed.

Qaiiooni said his cani
paign‘s monitors saw at
least seven ballot boxes set
aside in the Kabul count
ing station because of
“technical problems.” such
as broken seals.

But when monitors re

But in the days since
the polls closed and
a massive security
operation ended,
violence has
mounted again.

turned later. the boxes had
disappeared. he told the
United Nations.

On election day. a poll
worker in Kabul handed a
voter a ballot and told him
to check the box beside
Karzai's picture. Qanooni
reported. adding that the
voter replied: “Look tip. 1
am Mr. Said Abdul Hadi
Dabir. one of the candiv
dates?"

“They should not have
called this a real election."
Qanooiii told the l'N. offi-
cial.

" F o r -
eigii couir
tries just
s it o u l d
have an
nounced.
‘We want
President
Karxaif i
would have
respected
that,"

Italicen
iolti l‘t‘-
porters
that any-
one with
complaints could fill out a
form amt have them iiives
tigated by the Joint Elec»
toral Management llody

Election officials esti~
mate that at least 8 million
ballots were cast. out of
more than ltl million regis-
tered voters.

Several thousand peo»
ple are believed to have
registered more than once.

To prevent multiple
voting. election officials
were supposed to mark vot-
crs' thumbs with indelible
ink,

But many voters were
able to rub off the mark.
prompting all if» candi-
dates riiniiing against

Karzai to announce a boy-
cott before the polls closed.

When US. Ambassador
Zalmay Khalilzad inter-
vened. Qanooni and other
major candidates agreed to
accept an investigation by
a three-member panel of
UN. election experts to re-
solve the disputes.

But foreign experts are
investigating complaints of
election-day irregularities
only. Qanooni said Monday.
adding that many serious
problems had occurred
since then as ballot boxes
were moved to the eight
counting centers. often
without monitors. and as
the ballots were being tab~
ulated.

Karzai would need
more than .30 percent of
the votes to avoid a rtinoff.

He also wants a strong
mandate so that he can
counter the power of war
lords and disarm their
militias.

He is leading in half
the country's :l-i provinces.
while Qaiiooiii and Dostum
are each leading in five
provinces that form their
Taiik and l'7bek ethnic
bases

Mohammcd Mohaqiu.
an ethnic Haxara leader. is
leading in two provinces.

The remaining five
provinces have yet to re-
port any results.

Old-guard warlords
such as Dostum and Mo-
haqiq may use a strong
showing in their home re-
gions to press for a share
of power as members of
the (,‘abinct. something
Karzai has said he wants
to avoid as he tries to build
a government based on
merit rather than political
horse-trading.

A hundred gather
for ‘Fahrenheit 9/11'

Film shown free yesterday at Cats' Den

(\ther

By Dariush Shata
THE KENTUCKY KERNEL

When (‘ats Den ('oordina-
tor Leslie Hollei‘man made
arrangements to bring
“Fahrenheit 9 ll" in to be
shown on the prtilt‘t‘iloll
screen. he only expected
about 60 people or so to H lillt‘

Last night. more than l3o
people turned out for Ilio
showing of the controvcixial
documentary

"i really didn't expect illl~
many. to tell you the truth."
said Hollermaii. an integrated
strategic communication so
nior “This is overwhelming
I‘m happy about it "

He said he brought the
film. the highest-grossing doc
umentanf ever. because he felt
it was an important piece of
information for this election
season.

“l‘m not trying to create
any bias. l'ni just trying to get
the information out there." he
said.

Hollcrnian said that he
didn't believe that the film
would encourage people to
vote either way to a large de-
gree.

"I don't necessarily think
it's going to skew the vote one
way or another.” he said “i
(just) think more people are
going to get out and vote be.
cause of it."

Though the film has been
touted for its political lean-
ings. some students said that
they wenen t there specifically
for the politics of it.

“The reason (I came) is
that this film is very famous."
said Asel Naskeyeva. an inter-
national relations scholar
fmm Kyrgyzstan.

students said that
they believed the film woisld
carry a significant amount of
weight politically

“l'vc heard that :lliyollt'
who watches this tends not to
like Bush no matter what po-
litical party they belong to.‘
said psychology sophomore
Allison Sopp

l’olitical scienccprotcsst1'
Stephen \‘oss \tilfi that the
tilni was sigiiiticaiit because
of the widespread release and
reaction to the film.

“It; .1 record breaking
docimicniarx which has tired
tip lllt‘ left and angered the
right so it seems llkt‘ a good
tilm to see." he said "Part of
a good odiication is knowing
what all the hype is about.”

“line \‘oss said that the
film would likely not have a
signilicant effect on voters lit'
did say that it could be a fac
tor in who wins the election

“i think it will whip tip
(the Kt‘i'l’V voters) and niotie
vatc them." he \Jllll. "Rut ma
close election. that can make
the (lll‘l‘ci‘t‘iit‘e "

Email
dshafh u Agvkcrnclmm

 

"Fahrenheit 9/11"

- Opened in 900 million
theaters across the na
tion. making it the
largest documentary re-
lease ever

a Set record earnings
with over Sim million in
first month. $2? million
in first weekend more
than $200 million world-
wide