A story we published in our Sunday, Dec. 30, edition detailedthe results of an Associated Press investigation into the trueopenness of public records in 36 of Mississippi’s 82 counties.

The survey indicated that in a number of the counties, lawenforcement agencies did not understand the law and were unwillingto release public records — in this case jail dockets and arrestrecords — to individual citizens. The 1983 Public Records Actallows any person to request such records and does not restrict therelease of information for any specific purpose.

As part of the survey, the Daily Leader sent a local individualto the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department. We were delighted tofind out that Sheriff Lynn Boyte’s office was very eager andwilling to supply the requested information.

Openness of government information is important to all of us.This is not just a news media issue. Open records allow the publicto know how their government works.

We applaud Sheriff Boyte for his efforts to keep the publicinformed about what is going on in his office.