From the Raleigh Telegram (3/24/10): The editor of an online newspaper in Pamlico County called “Pamlico Today” lost a recent court case in his quest to get a copy of an email sent by the Oriental town manager.
On his website, editor Tony Tharp said that a judge ruled against him on Thursday, March 18th in regards to his lawsuit against the town.
Tharp had maintained that an email sent by Oriental Town Manager Randy Cahoon to a third party outside the county was part of the public record and requested a copy of it.
Cahoon and the town maintained that the email was personal in nature and therefore, did not fall under the North Carolina public records laws, which normally require such communications to be made available at the public’s request.
According to a post on PamlicoToday.com, the judge sided with the town as to the nature of the email.
“Notwithstanding the dismissal as herein above set forth, and assuming arguendo that Plaintiff’s complaint did state a cause of action (which it does not) this court has conducted an in camera inspection of the email in question and concludes that the same is not a public record within the meaning of North Carolina Statutes,” NC Superior Court Judge Ben Alford said in an email to the parties involved, according to Tharp.
The judge said under his ruling, Tharp could not recover the costs of his lawsuit from the town.
Tharp is the former editor of The Pamlico News, a longstanding paid weekly print newspaper in the county. He started posting online stories a couple of years ago and frequently reports on town and county government meetings.
According to recent and previous posts, Tharp maintained that Oriental Town Manager Randy Cahoon was criticizing Tharp in an email to a third party.
“One of the emails Pamlico Today sought was written by Town Manager Randall K. Cahoon to an old political rival in Gates County, and discussed Tharp’s online newspaper – Tharp has been told by the writer,” Tharp claims in his online posting.
Tharp said in a posting that he believed that since it had been sent during work hours on a work computer that it was covered under the state public records laws.
“The email was written by Cahoon while he was at work, on town equipment, and was in response to an email he had received while at work that asked or made a comment about his job or job performance,” commented Tharp on his website.
by Edward James, Raleigh Telegram Staff Writer