It's not as complicated as it looks.

Don't let this scare you.

I made it all the way to the end of the flow chart, but it did cost $7000 for the PA Supreme Court to tell me that they wouldn't hear the Petition for Allowance of Appeal. We don't have the Right To Know where lethal weapons are being discharged on Mt. Lebanon private properties. 

Called it.

By Lian Bunny and Stacey Federoff  –  Pittsburgh Business Times

Feb 23, 2018, 4:58pm EST Updated Feb 23, 2018, 6:21pm

The City of Pittsburgh appealed today the Pennsylvania’s Office of Open Records decision that ordered the city to release its Amazon HQ2 bid to the public, according to a statement released by the Allegheny Conference on Community Development.

The city had until today to reveal the details or appeal the decision to the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas.

If Pittsburgh is anything like Mt. Lebanon, they will laugh in the face of the PA Office of Open Records

Steinhauer's Affidavit | Job Posting Modification

On May 24, 2017, I filed an appeal with the PA Office of Open Records concerning a Right To Know that I submitted to the School District. Mt. Lebanon submitted a position statement, which included a request to deny my appeal, as well as affidavits from Dr. Timothy Steinhauer and the administrative assistant from the department of Human Resources.

Notice who notarized the affidavits. Jeanine Szalinski is the school district's Open Records Officer (ORO) as well as the superintendent's administrative assistant.

The OOR has until July 24, 2017 to make its Final Determination.

Not what I asked for. UPDATED 3 TIMES

On May 15, 2017, I filed a Right To Know seeking "All records, including but not limited to emails, texts, and interoffice memos related to modifying the job posting dates for Middle School Social Studies Teacher - 8th Grade US History - Contract 2016-2017 JobID:471. Dates modified include: Date Posted & Closing Date."

Here is what I got.

Response Letter They located a copy of the job posting as it currently exists. No kidding!

The records sent (redacted, yet free of charge. How about that, Keith McGill and Bonnie Cross?!!)

The cover letter from MTLSD  - check out all the people who were cc'ed!

And finally, my response to the MTLSD ORO. I enclosed the original and modified job postings.

Timmy is not giving up the information!

Update May 22, 2017 6:12 PM If you read the fine print at the bottom of the redacted emails, it appears that M Mikesell applied for the position. According to the staff directory, Matthew Mikesell teaches Grade Six Social Studies at Mellon. http://www.mtlsd.org/page.cfm?p=632 Elaine Cappucci's son won out over an internal hire, a social studies teacher from Mellon.

Update May 23, 2017 5:46 PM I wrote back to Jeanine Szalinski, Timmy's administrative assistant/Open Records Officer asking for clarification concerning my RTK.  Well, that's all she wrote. That is all I am getting, even though it is not what I requested. So here are my options. Accept it at face value or appeal it to the PA Office of Open Records. Been there, done that. Still waiting for the PA Supreme Court to hear my case on the last appeal. I lost too much money on that deal, thinking that we have the right to know where lethal weapons are being fired in Mt. Lebanon. Ha! OR one of the million attorneys in Mt. Lebanon that isn't on Team Timmy can get a subpoena, or help me FOR FREE. I can file an appeal with the PA OOR, but their decision means nothing to Mt. Lebanon.

Update May 25, 2017 5:53 PM I decided to file an appeal with the PA Office of Open Records. Here is the correspondence MTLSD and I received today: the email and the confirmation letter from the Office of Open Records. I agreed to a thirty day extension, so their final determination will be on or before July 24, 2017.

Think before you vote

I am frequently asked about the status of my Right To Know case before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. My case is concerning the identities of archers and the locations of the private yards where killing deer is taking place.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court is the highest court in the Commonwealth. It is also the oldest appellate court in the United States. There is no guarantee that the PA Supreme Court will hear my case. My attorneys had to file a request, known as a Petition for Allowance of Appeal, that explains why my case is important enough to justify review in the Supreme Court.

I understand that approximately 2000 Requests for Appeal are filed each year.  The Court grants review in 2-3% of these cases and is decreasing every year.

The PA Supreme Court has not decided yet if they will hear my case.

Why am I saying all of this? There are two candidates running in the 2nd and 4th wards' commission race who want more killing of deer. Steve Silverman voted to appeal the PA Office of Open Records' Final Determination and wants to keep all records sealed about killing deer in Mt. Lebanon. We don't have the right to know if our neighbors are granting access to archers and those with high powered rifles being discharged in their yards. Craig Grella is afraid of deer, but has no problem with anonymous killers with lethal weapons in undisclosed private properties.

Unfortunately, this decision is in the hands of Ward 2 and Ward 4 voters only. 

There is an election that is community wide, which is also critical. The Timmy Ticket (Caste, Cappucci, Remely, and Birks) will continue to block transparency and open government with their backroom deals and shenanigans. 

Please mark you calendars to vote on May 16.  I am spending my own money to appeal the courts' decisions to keep records private. Let's get Mt. Lebanon back on track to open government. 

Goliath won UPDATED

The deer haters and killers will be happy to hear...

O R D E R AND NOW, this 9th day of December, 2016, the decisions of May 23, 2016 of the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas in the above-captioned matters are AFFIRMED.

Saving everyone from eleven pages of legalese, here it is - short and sweet:

What these means is that residents and visitors are not permitted to know where weapons are being fired in Mt. Lebanon, commissioners can wash their hands of any responsibility because it involves private individuals and not "government actors," and police officers like Officer James Hughes, who had an arsenal of 120 weapons too large to store in the Washington County Sheriff's Office and has a temporary PFA against him, can remain anonymous because he, if he was an archer, was donating his time to kill deer. We do not have the right to know where killing is taking place. We don't have the right to know who the killers are.

Mt. Lebanon police officers are exempt from any media reports, it appears. Had Officer Hughes been on some other police force, it would have been all over the news.

To appeal this decision, I would need to go to the State Supreme Court, IF the Supreme Court would hear the case. Small detail here - I don't have the funds. Mt. Lebanon commissioners won. They used our tax dollars to contract out the dirty work. Think about that when the commissioners vote to increase our taxes on Tuesday.

I tried my best to force the Municipality of Mt. Lebanon to be more transparent and make our neighborhoods safer, but their loyalty remains with the ten archers and twelve private property owners who "donated" to this deer killing program. The hell with the rest of us.

Update December 9, 2016 4:00 PM The Post-Gazette wasted no time publishing this.
Appellate court says Mt. Lebanon deer cull participants can remain private Still waiting for them to spill the beans about the Mt. Lebanon police officer, a member of the Dormont-Mt. Lebanon Sportsmen's Club and had his arsenal of 120 weapons confiscated by Washington County Sheriff's Office. We will never know if he was/is one of the archers.

One year later...

Facebook reminded me of this "memory" from one year ago.

State orders Mt. Lebanon to provide locations of deer hunt

On Tuesday, the state Office of Open Records granted Ms. Gillen’s request for all communications to and from the municipal government concerning the controlled archery hunt. The information is to be released within 30 days. 

A Mt. Lebanon spokeswoman said the municipality had received the request but would not issue a statement until commissioners and staff could meet next week. The next commissioners meeting is scheduled for Dec. 8, but Susan Morgans said the Right-to-Know request will probably be discussed sooner.

Susan Morgans leaked the commissioners' decision to the PG, that they decided to take it to the Court of Common Pleas. I read about it in the newspaper.

The commissioners, of course, voted to take this to the Court of Common Pleas. From there, it went to Commonwealth Court. Knowing our commissioners, it will probably go all the way to the Sate Supreme Court, if they will hear it.

Mt. Lebanon wins UPDATED

Even after two final determinations that the PA Office of Open Records granted in my favor, Judge O'Brien ruled in Mt. Lebanon's favor. Unfortunately with no legal background, residents don't stand a chance when they appeal. You have to be a lawyer to win.

Gillen Decision

Mt. Lebanon lost on the personal security issue.

But won on the donation aspect. So call anything, no matter how small it is in value - a donation, and Mt. Lebanon can get away with anything. I absolutely hate it here. Probably the municipality is planning another dinner using taxpayers' money to celebrate and will invite all the "donors, " commissioners, Triple J, Dave Franklin, and Cori Viperman - all those who encouraged Mt. Lebanon to appeal.

This is a real blow for transparency in Mt. Lebanon. Unfortunately, it was a very expensive lesson for me.

I want to thank those of you who contributed to my fund. The rest of you, well...

Update May 24, 2016 7:39 PM As for the email in which a woman supported the deer killing, here is the judge's decision. Gillen Decision 2 I agreed to the redaction of the woman's place of employment. As respondent, I did not object to that redaction. Note to self: being reasonable gets me nowhere.

Back to public

Lebo Citizens has reverted back to being a public blog, putting the hundreds of posts that were published since going private, in draft form. The comments have been preserved, and I can go back to private status again at any time and the comments will not be lost. Members will not have to sign up again since Blogger keeps the list.

It has been almost a year since Lebo Citizens went private. I published a few posts that were from that period. Quite a bit has transpired since then. Of course, 219 deer were killed. All of "my" deer were killed. I haven't seen any deer since March. I won two appeals with the Office of Open Records, and because of that, Mt. Lebanon has decided to take me to court.

Encouraging the commissioners to take me to court were Cori Vipperman and Dave Franklin. Ms. Vipperman's libelous statements include threatening phone calls occurred, harassment, and threats made to families. Ironically, Ms. Vipperman speaks of harassment for daring to disagree. Reading the comments in any newspaper article pertaining to the killing of deer illustrates the maliciousness that anti-deer killing folks have had to endure for "daring to disagree."

Dave Franklin's letter to the commissioners, encouraging them to take me to court is available here. Mr. Franklin has spent an enormous amount of time checking the Lebo Citizens website from work since he sent that email.  The closer to the time to read the judge's decision, the more frequent the visits. Dave, it should be any time now. Talk about cyberbullying, you're one of the best.

Thanks for encouraging the commissioners to take legal action against me, causing me to hire an attorney at the cost of $4,000. I do have some friends who were able to contribute $2,000 toward the expense. I am truly grateful for them.

I want to report that the commissioners do not respond to any of my emails. Right To Knows are virtually denied every time. They put me through the wringer on other issues. I have had unwelcome visitors at my door. All because I dare to disagree.

Oh, I am back to not accepting anonymous comments.

PS This post is dedicated to Tom. Wow. It's been eleven years.

Just seventeen pages

Today was the judicial review. There was no testimony, no press, nobody in the room except Mt. Lebanon's solicitor (not Phil Weis), my attorneys, three friends, and myself.

The judge had requested all withheld emails for both dockets for in camera review. It turns out for both of my appeals, there were a total of seventeen pages withheld from me. One page was blank, so sixteen pages of emails from less than fourteen residents.

In total, I was able to raise $2200. Thank you to those wonderful and generous people who supported my fund. There weren't many of you. I was really disappointed since I have had thousands of visitors on my website and blog- over 83,000 users!

Lebo Citizens Blog All Time Visitors. It went to "invite only" status on July 5, 2015.

Lebo Citizens Website All Time Visitors

Look at how many times Mt. Lebanon Municipal visited. Notice how many hits came from our school district, represented by the numbers listed next to "allegheny intermediate unit." Both local governments kept close tabs on me. Now they found the perfect way to shut me down.

All I was able to raise by a few very generous folks, was $2,200. The judge will rule in a week or so. For sure, it will be going to Commonwealth Court. That is, if my attorney will do it pro bono. He said no, which is sad because I'm tapped out. So no matter how it goes in Common Pleas Court, Mt. Lebanon will ultimately win. And that will be the end of any government transparency in Mt. Lebanon. 

 For over five years, I was doing this for all of us. Exposing the back room deals, the reckless spending, the corruption, the municipal staff deciding what we need to know - and thinking that we work for them.

Thanks to the few people out there who believed in me. It's been fun, but I think I am done.

Very weary

This anonymous comment really got me down:

"Are you saying that Elaine should not have to contribute at all to her defense? You say that she has not received donations to cover round I. Should other people pay for her entire defense? I think she has received enormous financial support from her gofundme effort. People are getting tired of her constant demands for money. 

As far as I know, Amy Castor did not have a gofundme and did not ask anyone for money. I think she spent thousands out of her own pocket.

Elaine CHOSE to pursue this case against the municipality. Amy was dragged into it. Either way, people need to take responsibility for their own actions.

I wish Elaine well and am grateful for her efforts. But she needs to stop laying the financial burden (which you concede is at a very drastic reduced cost) on others.

If people want to contribute to Amy's financial recovery, maybe they could send her a check via her lawyer.

March 31, 2016 at 8:26 PM"

First of all, I was not charged with anything. No citations were issued. I did not commit any crimes or charged with anything. My sin is that the PA Office of Open Records ruled that the information is public, so Mt. Lebanon must comply and provide the information that I requested. Twice. Mt. Lebanon decided to appeal and in so doing, I had to hire an attorney to fight for my rights, all of our rights. 

I have received financial support from thirty people, twenty-two of them are readers of this blog.  I was so discouraged to read the above comment, since I have been maintaining this blog for over four years, and my website will be five years old on April 24. I started these sites to inform our community of the happenings - both good and bad, and to provide a forum so that people have an opportunity to express their opinions. I went from requiring names to accepting anonymous comments. The trolls got the best of me, so I changed the blog to invited readers only. 

In the time that I have had these sites, I have had unexpected visitors at my door, was bullied by "He Who Shall Not Be Named" - also an unexpected visitor, threatened with two lawsuits, and was forced to hire an attorney to protect my assets. Yes, that was my choice, but I don't think that my children should pay the price for their mother expecting transparency from our local governments.

The "hearing" is going to be held on Monday, April 11 in room 705 (7th floor) of the City County Building at 10:00. It will be nothing like the cattle call that Amy Castor had to sit through. This is for the Mt. Lebanon v Gillen litigation only. It is open to the public, so I am hoping to see some friendly and supportive faces there. 

Sorry 8:26 PM, here is where I ask for money. If you haven't contributed and have relied on my website and/or blog for information over the years, please consider contributing to my fund. https://www.gofundme.com/thefightforthertk 

A little bird told me...

that Mt. Lebanon plans to appeal if I win on April 11, which means that they are taking it to Commonwealth Court!

Mr. Steve "It is free" Silverman thinks that this litigation is not costing Mt. Lebanon taxpayers any additional money, but wait till the retainer fee goes up next year with how they are keeping our solicitor busy this year.

I guess my gofund me will be staying up longer than I expected. Mt. Lebanon sure is sticking it to me.

MTL is appealing again

No surprise here. Mt. Lebanon is appealing the Office of Open Records' Final Determination for my second RTK which was granted in my favor. Here is the new docket.

Mt. Lebanon has no problem putting my address all over the place. This will be consolidated with the first case. The court date is still April 11.

I am not even half way to my goal. Please consider contributing. https://www.gofundme.com/thefightforthertk

An anonymous commenter once wrote:

"It is pathetic if citizens must get a lawyer and file legal suits to have our "public servants" comply with transparency laws. These politicians are not serving us. Instead they are protecting corruption and cronies. I agree that citizens and activists need to keep the heat on. There cannot be too much transparency when it deals with the actions of bureaucrats and politicians. "

I won the second appeal. McNeilly is back in. Final - Final Archery Report UPDATED 2X

No surprise, but the Office of Open Records granted my SECOND RTK appeal today. The second appeal is identical to the first appeal, just different dates. They cited Gillen v Municipality of Mt. Lebanon in their final determination.

McNeilly Park is back in the shooting plan. Two pickup trucks were spotted at the entrance to McNeilly Park today, a white pickup truck with PA plates and a grayish pickup truck with out of state plates. There is only a sliver of land that is outside of the 1000' Federal Gun Free School Zone. Clearly, they are shooting there for the numbers, not to reduce deer/vehicular accidents by 50% in five years.

Last night, Jody Jodi Joe D. Maddock gave a final report via telephone. As reported in The Almanac, Mt. Lebanon posted his final report here on the municipal website.

High-percentage female harvest cited as success in Mt. Lebanon archery hunt

Sharpshooting for Mt. Lebanon deer cull could begin this week

I love what "Southside Slopes" wrote in his/her comment: "Sharpshooters killing wildlife. Police arresting jaywalkers. Taxes sky high. Plot for a new apocalyptic movie? Nah. Just Mt. Lebanon circa 2016."

Update February 24, 2016 6:38 PM  Office of Open Records sides with Mt. Lebanon resident

Update February 24, 2016 6:54 PM It looks like Tony DiNicola made a boo-boo on the final Final Report. Plus, no info on the bait or in which QUADRANT the deer were killed. Here is the correspondence I had with Keith McGill.

Good evening Elaine,

I spoke to Tony and he indicated that the omission of the Conservation District from the final archery report was an oversight on his part and he apologized for the error.

The final reports from 2006-2008 were provided by USDA. The municipality currently tracks deer/vehicular collisions by location. This information is useful in determining where to post deer crossing signs. I'm not sure what the statistical correlation would be between where deer have been removed and deer/vehicular collisions given the municipality's open deer population and typical range that a doe or especially a buck will travel. In my email response to you on February 4th I wrote:

Good afternoon Elaine,

The information posted to the website today for the archery program represents the final deer removal numbers for the program. There will be another a final report that includes additional information related to the program. Since we have not yet received the report I am unable to provide you the specifics as to what that other information will be.

I did not indicate that the report would include locations. The report as posted is final. I will add a note regarding the use of the Conservation District.

As to the type of bait being used or the method being used to place the bait, this is an operational issue and as such Chief Lauth or Deputy Chief Gallagher may be a better resource to provide a response.

Keith 

On Wed, Feb 24, 2016 at 4:45 PM, egillen476@aol.com <egillen476@aol.com> wrote:


Hi Keith,

Thank you for posting Jody Maddock's final Final Report on the municipal website. http://mtlebanon.org/DocumentCenter/View/13897


There are a few issues that I would like to bring to your attention. I do not see the Conservation District listed for the archery program. At Election Day, I spoke with Temp Smith (Steve M., you may have been standing there at the time) where as of Election Day, they killed sixteen deer from the Conservation District behind his house. Temp lives onWhite Oak Circle. He said that the archer was courteous and even asked him if he wanted any meat. Temp's only complaint was that at one point the coyotes had gotten to the deer before the archer had a chance to get it. You will have to check with him directly on that. My point here is that the Conservation District was not mentioned at the meeting or in the final Final Report.


Second, in the first two years of deer killing (2006-2008) the summaries included where the deer were killed. The first year was rather specific. The second year, the deer killings were plotted by quadrants. In order to track the deer/car collisions, it is necessary to know the number of deer killed from which areas. Keith, you had stated that the information would be in the final Final Report. The records from the previous years are still available on the municipal website. Would you please get that information from White Buffalo and have them or the municipality plot which areas the 104 deer were killed being consistent with past years?


Finally, what kind of bait is being used for the "sharpshooting?" What is the method used for spreading the bait?


Thanks in advance, Keith.


Elaine Gillen

Hearing Updates

Castor Appeal

Amy Castor is the Massachusetts resident who decided to walk on the path at the end of Thornwood in early October and ended up getting slapped with an $1100 fine from Blaise Laratonda for not deleting photos of police officers, dead deer, and Aaron Gander's truck.

Amy Castor’s appeal will be heard on Tuesday, March 1, at 8:15 AM, in courtroom number 21, on the eighth floor of the City County Building on Grant Street. Senior Judge Lester Nauhaus will preside over the hearing. Amy will be represented by ACLU appointed lawyer, Jon Pushinsky.

I am sure that Amy would appreciate it if Lebo Citizens readers attended the hearing. Thanks for your support.

"Gillen Litigation" as listed on several Executive Session Agendas

Tuesday's Executive Session is listed as "Legal Advice." http://www.mtlebanon.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/2572

Here is the update on my case. I had appealed a second Right To Know, similar to the first which is being fought in Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, but the date is from July 31, 2015 - November 25, 2015. The Office of Open Records expects to issue a final determination in my second case next week. Attorneys from both sides agree that this does not leave enough time for them to consolidate the two matters in time for the hearing/argument now scheduled with Judge O'Brien for next Friday, 2/26/16. Therefore, the attorneys have requested that it be rescheduled for the next available date. This could mean a month from now. I will keep everyone posted here.

Is this payback over the turf project?

Dave Franklin wrote to John Bendel and Dave Brumfield, to ask for their support in moving forward with the appeal. The one in which the Office of Open Records ruled in my favor.

Dave had blamed me for the delay of the toxic turf project, when in reality, the delay was because of Gateway's blunders.

I guess payback is a bitch.

Served! UPDATED

No drama. Just happened to look out my front door today and a very large envelope/package was sitting on my front porch, like when telephone books are delivered. No door bell rung. No sheriff. Nothing. I was hoping to give a pleasant Merry Christmas, but I was denied the opportunity.

Municipality of Mt. Lebanon vs Gillen

Mt. Lebanon served me when there are two - three day holidays in the twenty days that I have to respond. Nice people.

Off to Court UPDATED 3X

Mt. Lebanon has decided to appeal the Office of Open Records Final Determination. I just read about it in the Post Gazette. Mt. Lebanon to appeal open records decision regarding landowners' addresses, deer management program

I sent an email with the link to this article to the Office of Open Records and copied Phil Weis. I was not notified of this decision. I asked the attorney who made the final determination if she had been notified, as required. I'll let you know what I hear.

Update December 2, 2015 4:21 PM Boy, Susan Morgans must be in her glory. She even contacted the Trib with the news. Mt. Lebanon to appeal order to release deer cull records She never tells Rick Wills anything.

Update December 2, 2015 7:38 PM The hunters are all over this. I had this email exchange yesterday.

From: dewrite <dewrite@comcast.net>
To: egillen476 <egillen476@aol.com>
Sent: Tue, Dec 1, 2015 3:22 pm
Subject: Re: interview

Hi, Elaine - No relation to the Weisbergs you mentioned. I found you through coverage of the open records matter. As I understand it, Mt. Lebo refused to provide names of property owners you sought, so you successfully appealed to state open records to force Mt. Lebo to provide you with copies of emails that might contain those names?

---

From: egillen476@aol.com

To: "dewrite" <dewrite@comcast.net>

Sent: Tuesday, December 1, 2015 2:24:32 PM

Subject: Re: interview

A day? 

I grew up with ....................... Weisberg in Mt. Lebanon. Any relation?

How did you find me?

Elaine

-----Original Message-----

From: dewrite <dewrite@comcast.net>

To: egillen476 <egillen476@aol.com>

Sent: Tue, Dec 1, 2015 2:18 pm

Subject: Re: interview

Elaine - sorry to hear you are ill. I'd prefer a phone interview over an email interview. But if no one responds, that may be our only option. How much time should I give awaiting a response>?

---

From: egillen476@aol.com

To: "dewrite" <dewrite@comcast.net>

Sent: Tuesday, December 1, 2015 1:26:41 PM

Subject: Re: interview

Hi Deborah,

Thank you for contacting me. Unfortunately, I have a bad case of bronchitis and have no voice. Can you email me? Or if you want to do a phone interview, I have blind copied some people and they can respond if they want to do a phone interview with you.

Thanks.

Elaine Gillen

-----Original Message-----

From: dewrite <dewrite@comcast.net>

To: egillen476 <egillen476@aol.com>

Sent: Tue, Dec 1, 2015 1:17 pm

Subject: interview

Hi, Ellen - I'd like to interview you about the deer cull for Pennsylvania Outdoor News. Are you available for a phone interview? Thanks. Deborah Weisberg

*****

While I'm on the subject of Right To Knows, here is more crap from Mt. Lebanon.
I filed a Right To Know the other day for all the emails that Coleen Vuono emailed to me while she was in office, from both her personal email account and her mtlebanon.org account. Here is the response I got today.

So then I sent this:

From: egillen476 <egillen476@aol.com>
To: bcross <bcross@mtlebanon.org>
Cc: philip.weis <philip.weis@bipc.com>; kmcgill <kmcgill@mtlebanon.org>; repmiller <repmiller@pahouse.net>
Sent: Wed, Dec 2, 2015 5:35 pm

Subject: Legal review

Bonnie,

Let me get this straight. You need a legal review to see if the emails that Coleen Vuono SENT TO ME are public information. I just want duplicate copies to what Coleen has already sent to me, to make certain that I have not inadvertently deleted any of them. Do you seriously need to do a legal review?

Elaine Gillen

Update December 3, 2015 12:22 PM When did this place get so ugly? I heard back from Bonnie Cross.

From: Bonnie Cross <bcross@mtlebanon.org>
To: egillen476 <egillen476@aol.com>
Cc: Weis, Philip <philip.weis@bipc.com>; Keith Mcgill <kmcgill@mtlebanon.org>; repmiller <repmiller@pahouse.net>
Sent: Thu, Dec 3, 2015 9:46 am
Subject: Re: Legal review

Ms. Gillen,

Yes. We believe at least some of the records you requested are not public records, will fit within an exception, or will require redaction.

Regards,

Bonnie Cross

On Wed, Dec 2, 2015 at 5:35 PM, egillen476@aol.com <egillen476@aol.com> wrote:

Bonnie,

Let me get this straight. You need a legal review to see if the emails that Coleen Vuono SENT TO ME are public information. I just want duplicate copies to what Coleen has already sent to me, to make certain that I have not inadvertently deleted any of them. Do you seriously need to do a legal review?

Elaine Gillen

--

Bonnie Cross

Assistant to the Manager

Mt. Lebanon, PA

I WON THE APPEAL!!!!!! UPDATED 3X

According to the PA Office of Open Records, only 20% of all appeals are granted. I beat the odds. My appeal has been granted!! Here is what I sent to the media:

Breaking News

The PA Office of Open Records has granted the appeal by Elaine Gillen on behalf of herself and all other safety-concerned Mt. Lebanon residents.

On July 30, 2015, the Request was filed seeking “[a]ll communications to and/or from municipal staff and, all communication to and/or from the commission concerning Anthony DeNicola’s archery program from June 18, 2015 to the present.” 

This decision would have prospective application to any properties that would be signed up for the anticipated day and night rifle killing slated for February 1, 2016, to be finally voted on January 23, 2016, as well as any future municipal-sanctioned hunts.

The Requester’s appeal is granted, and the Municipality is required to provide all e-mails within thirty days. This Final Determination is binding on all parties. Within thirty days of the mailing date of this Final Determination, any party may appeal to the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas. 

Gillen v. Mt. Lebanon

Update November 24, 2015 10:57 PM Open records office orders Mt. Lebanon to release deer cull emails

Update November 25, 2015 6:46 AM The PA Office of Open Records has updated their website to include my appeal. Final Determinations of the Office of Open Records

Update November 25, 2015 6:55 PM Mt. Lebanon resident granted right-to-know request

Who knew there was a second page? UPDATED

While reading the Mt. Lebanon FAQ page, culling the deer | what you need to know, I discovered a second page. When was this added? It is particularly interesting to me since I am appealing a Right To Know on this very issue, in Harrisburg.

Gillen v. Municipality of Mt. Lebanon, Docket No.: AP 2015-1938

Here is the scoop. I filed a Right To Know on July 30, 2015:

All communication to and/or from municipal staff and, all communication to and/or from the commission concerning Anthony DeNicola's archery program from June 18, 2015 to the present.

I got Steve Feller's usual 30 day extension for a "legal review" on the fifth day.

After the 30 day extension, I received this from Mr. Feller:

Feller's Right To Know decision

I didn't like what Mr. Feller had to say, so I filed an appeal with the Office of Open Records in Harrisburg. Filling out the paperwork and sending the required copies to Steve Feller, we heard from the OOR immediately. Here is Mt. Lebanon's Legal Argument. The OOR emailed me upon receipt of MTL's legal argument, asking for clarification. The link to my response is here.

Harrisburg accepted the appeal and will make a Final Determination on or before November 17, 2015.

Which brings us up to today. This Saturday is "Second Saturday," a new event which occurs during the Farmers' Market. The hours are 9 AM to noon. David Manchester will be playing music by WesBanco.  All of the farmer vendors will be in full force. Eden's Market, a family owned business located across the street from the fountain at 99 Alfred Street, has given us permission to distribute  "Not In My Yard" signs in front of their store. Since the Commission meeting is this Tuesday, where the commissioners will be voting on "sharpshooting," I am looking for volunteers to set up a table to distribute "Not In My Yard" signs and answer passerby's questions. Please email me at EGillen476@aol.com. I am unable to do it since I will be working. I would greatly appreciate the help.