Sounds like you should complain to the local congressman. You would be surprised what congressman can shake loose. In Illinois, you now have a congressman that is speaker of the house. Much as people hated ole Newt being speaker, the locals kept votong him in - specifically for that reason. You would be surprised what the Speaker can shake loose. Newt had an entire phone-bank taking public complaints and handling them. Contact the speaker and complain. Also, I wonder if you could get a court order compelling her to cooperate. I think the FOIA applies to state records as well as federal. There may also be an Illinois "Open Records" law you could use. I believe you can file a lawsuit if they refuse an FOIA request. If they say they "Found Nothing", you can challenge this. If the county has to spend money to fend off FOIA suits, the commissioners may put their thumb on her. Sounds like she's using this as a money scam. Contact a local Real Estate Appraisor. Counties are required by law to allow Appraisors full access to property records. That may be a wedge to get your foot in the door also. TRVLTAILR@aol.com wrote: > > I know in Hamilton Co. the County Clerk will not let any look ups to be done > by the public. In fact, she won't even let the Mormons come in and record > the data. Also, she will not release the information to the IL State > Archives. She makes you send her $5 and the exact name and date. If what > she finds is not the exact name or the exact date, she will tell you she > found nothing. IT MUST BE EXACT! And we all know that in the 1800's the > people's spelling left a lot to be desired. It makes me mad enough to spit. > I pray everyday that there is not a fire and all of those records are not > destroyed forever! If she does let someone look at the record books, they > are not allowed to bring in a lap top computer or anything. You can only use > a pencil and paper. But she rarely ever lets anyone look at the books.