It was bound to be only a matter time before the transparency “bulldog” attorney from Fort Smith altered his primary attentions from FOIA-violating municipal and school boards to broader arenas.

Sure enough, Joey McCutchen, with his firm, has now turned his focus to taking on the Arkansas State Police in a Pulaski County Circuit courtroom.

In the suit, McCutchen is representing another state FOIA champion, Jimmie Cavin of Conway, who filed a request seeking ASP’s records related to the March 19 shooting death in his home of former Little Rock airport Director Bryan Malinowski in a raid by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Little Rock Police Department.

Although ASP did provide several related files, including audio recordings of the investigative interviews of officers involved in the raid, they didn’t include the important video recordings of those interviews.

For instance, according to Cavin’s audit, ASP failed to include recordings of interviewees; an independent analysis revealed the video had been removed from files provided to Cavin.

McCutchen contends Cavin followed up with a subsequent FOIA request seeking details about devices used to record the interviews, including make, model, and identification numbers, which ASP failed to provide.

Additionally, the ATF Operational Plan for the raid of Malinowski’s home based on alleged trafficking in illegal firearms, which details the raid’s procedures and logistics, weren’t included in the materials provided. Cavin later acquired the plan for the raid through a separate FOIA request submitted to the Pulaski County prosecuting attorney’s office.

“This raises concerns about why this important document was withheld despite ASP’s possession of it,” McCutchen said.

I find it difficult to fathom why our state police wouldn’t provide all information required by state law under any legitimate FOIA request and wind up in court to justify withholding it. Even Congress was seeking information about this high-profile shooting.

Was there some kind of internal miscommunication? By filing this suit, McCutchen and his law partner Stephen Napurano obviously believe otherwise.

They emphasized as much in their recent news release: “The Arkansas State Police holds itself out to be the premiere law enforcement agency of the state and has a core value of trust — to hold themselves to a higher standard of accountability. Arkansans should be able to trust the ASP to be transparent. If we can’t trust the ASP to provide all legitimate public records when requested, who can we trust? This is one reason we need to strengthen, not weaken, our Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.”

Now we will wait patiently together and see how this interesting transparency case turns out, valued readers.

MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGH?

Promising research shows a single blood test could detect or predict over 60 different diseases, from multiple myeloma to celiac disease, years before symptoms appear.

Reports say researchers analyzed data from over 40,000 UK Biobank participants, identifying specific protein “signatures” in blood that can signal the presence or risk of 67 medical conditions. For many diseases, these protein markers were more accurate predictors than traditional clinical assessments.

A brave new world awaits our young.

BONA FIDE HERO

Some may recall the column a year or so about Basia Berner of Bella Vista who, as a young woman, bravely fought the Nazis as an active member of the Polish underground.

She recently returned at age 93 from an expense-paid journey to her native country to be honored in Warsaw on the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising by President Andrzej Duda for her remarkable service as a teenager in defending her homeland.

What a richly deserved experience, one that must flood her with many memories of heroic times alongside equally devoted colleagues in defending Poland.

It’s fodder for real-life Hollywood and documentary films, without question, and without need for cartoon superheroes in Spandex pants.

Her deserved honor did not go unnoticed at home by Ret. Lt. Col Jim Parsons, forthright leader of the Bella Vista Patriots, who has widely supported Berner’s past achievements, along with Arkansas’ U.S. Sen. John Boozman, who sent a personal letter and certificate of honor congratulating her. Boozman said how proud he was for Berner’s bravery during the fierce Polish resistance.

Parsons even arranged for a well-deserved welcome home celebration at the airport for this remarkable woman.

We can only hope our own nation still has enough youth with such devotion to their own nation and the hard-fought and preciously earned freedoms gained for its citizens.

Never forget: “Strong convictions precede great actions. One who believes is strong, but who doubts is weak.”