Day 135: The Silent Record—Expanding the FOIA Dragnet
- mainemoviepirate
- 7 minutes ago
- 2 min read
ACTUAL Entry - 11/04/21 - Thurs -
Up at 6:30, H/L/R drink,, doses, corrected the Bang PD FOIA will send today.
Cleaned up the library a little. In case, she does show up. Dog training class, I wonder if we'll have it with no dogs. Apparently, Mom sold the camp on the M'Keag River. I think it's a mistake, but it's her property and money. So that's that.
Dog class today, last one in two weeks. Plus Topper and Webster graduated to the new level of Neads. So they left for new adventures. Kinda sad, be a couple of weeks b4 we get new puppies. Make me realize how hard it's going to be for me to say goodbye if I get a dog. There is a reason I don't usually have pets. P being the exception. Anyway.
LUNCH: Bone-in CK, potato, gravy (?), carrot. It was pretty good.
Seems weird back in the units, no puppies. Must be tough for C.C. & E.D..
Apparently they found cell phones or some stupid shit in the law library. We lost Microwave/hot water, TVs.
They offered flu shots, passed. Not feeling it, don't want to get sick like I did previous years. Commissary today, got legal pad, really think I should write up the memorandum on the Babes - Willful factors. Good concise statements backed by trial testimony also case law.
SUPPER: Chef Salad, tapioca pudding (I think, it's gross, I never eat it), Beets - ate all, Bread - (2 in reserve, bird fund) 3 eggs in reserve, for tomorrow.
Didn't do much brain was fried.
Four Years Later -
A pretty standard day. It was sad being back in the unit with no puppies, especially since we couldn't even get confirmation on when the next batch was arriving. The entire Dog Program was in constant flux.
The other big takeaway here is the mention of the Bangor Police Department FOIA (or FOAA, as Maine's Freedom of Access Act is known). Yup, I was learning the ropes. The FOIA responses I had received up to that point were extremely mixed. The Maine State Police gave their blanket excuse: "We can't send you the information you requested because there are juvenile records involved." The Maine Attorney General’s Office gave a slightly different runaround: "We can send some stuff, but not everything because of confidentiality statutes." And then there was the Brewer PD and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), who basically just ignored me. In fact, nearly five years later, they are still ignoring or stalling me.
But you know what? I am extremely patient. I have saved almost every FOIA/FOAA request I ever sent and every response (the very few I actually received) that came back. Even those non-responses will be useful in my ongoing legal battles. Sometimes, the story is told in the silence.
Realizing this, I began sending FOAA requests to other law enforcement agencies across Maine. Because you just never know what someone might accidentally send.
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