Missouri's Sunshine Law gives citizens the impression that open government laws protect citizens but according to Kelly Trimble nothing could be further from the truth.
Contact with Kelly Trimble came after the City of Branson rummaged through six boxes of open records request and deleted a substantial amount of public files. Some of the records seem to be missing altogether. The shocking censorship effort by Branson's city government is nothing new says Trimble who is one of the few citizens that has actually taken legal action against government bodies that have blocked his requests.
"I don't even bother trying with the city of Branson, some municipalities in rural Missouri run their offices like kingdoms blocking access to public records without consequence". notes Trimble, whose faith in open government laws has been completely diminished.
Trimble elaborates the Missouri Attorney General's office advises government officials on how to evade information requests.
The censorship was noted as document during a study being conducted at Branson City Hall on how people use the Sunshine Law to access public documents. Branson's custodian of public records was summoned to address the deletion of several documents responding with, "all the records are still available that you're allowed to see.
