With all this controversy, I just had to write. Almost a year ago I started what I would call WAVES in Washington County. It included writing to Representative Luchtenfeld, the Washington County Courthouse, and to the newspaper (my letter seemed to have disappeared somewhere). I did not stop there, which would have confined it to Washington County. I wrote to State Senator Evelyn Bowles, Mr. John Daly(Director of the Administative Section of the Illinois State Archives) Illinois State Representative: Steve Davis Illinois State Attorney General: Mr. Jim Ryan. I accused the Washington County Courthouse of being in violation of the Freedom of Information Act. Evelyn Bowles personally got involved with this and even called me at home. I was even called a rabble rouser by the City Clerk, (which is OKey-dokey by me). He even told me that they locked up rabble rousers there. :-) Anyway, The results of my efforts can be found at: http://www.iltrails.org/Washington/#probate These probate files give you estate records, land records, wills, etc......All you have to do is write the courthouse, give them the number (which is after the name), the type of file that it states, and the NAME....they WILL copy your file, and send it to you....(Remember this, Washington County Courthouse officials are not researchers, they will not deciper what you need out of the box, they will just copy the whole of the folder for the person that you are asking for). This is not a new idea...everyone needs to remember that having the files copied by IRAD is totally voluntary on the part of the Washington County Courthouse, as well as the rest of Illinois. They do not have to give them up, have them copied, microfilmed or whatever....They are not telling you that you can not copy the materials, or have copies made.... They are just limiting what you can and cannot do within their courthouse. Of course, I am still in the mindset that they are in violation of the Freedom of Information Act. Write those letters....the more the merrier... (Believe me, there is more than meets the eye in Washington County).(Someone should try and get in the basement!!!) Marci ----- Original Message ----- From: "Martinson" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, June 24, 2000 10:25 AM Subject: Re: [ILWASHIN] 1831> 58 Marriage Book > Martha- > Your idea is long overdue. What about the names and addresses of > Washington County officials also- we can truly make a campaign of this > issue and we are bound to get some attention. The County officials > change periodically, but we need them to know that other counties in the > majority of the states have allowed access to records. Whoever > originally set policy is/was from another age where "protecting" may > have been acceptable. > > Linda in Washington State