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Mail Tribune enters Opp Mine fray By Melissa Martin The Mail Tribune delivered a letter to U.S. District Court Judge John Cooney on Thursday stating its opposition to a requested gag order and a proposal to seal court documents related to the Opp Mine case. "We believe this is not a private matter, but a very public matter, one in which the public deserves full access to the information," wrote Mail Tribune Editor Bob Hunter. "We believe there is no greater need for openness in government than in cases such as this, in which the conduct of public employees is questioned." The case centers on a dispute over a permit to allow the current owners of the historic Opp Mine to extract and sell rock and gravel from the property. Cooney was not in his chambers Thursday but a court clerk accepted the letter. Portland attorney Bob Newell had asked Cooney to prevent media access to court records related to a $50 million lawsuit that Medford attorney Bob Robertson filed against Jackson County and the city of Jacksonville. Newell is representing the county in the lawsuit. Cooney responded in writing that "the sealing of public matters is a serious matter" and that such requests must be made in a formal motion. A U.S. District Court clerk in Medford said she had not received a motion as of Thursday afternoon. On April 6, Newell filed a motion requesting a gag order, stating that Mail Tribune stories about polygraph tests could prejudice Jackson County�s right to a fair trial. He also cited letters that Robertson wrote to Jackson County counsel, among other incidents. Property owner Frank Hardin and his attorney have said they took and passed polygraph tests last month. They challenged county officials to do the same as a way to determine the truth about a private meeting held last March. Hardin alleges that county officials promised him a mining permit if he would drop his appeal before the state Land Use Board of Appeals. County officials have said they never promised a permit and couldn�t have made a promise that would have violated the state�s public hearing laws. County officials would not take the polygraph test because they are not allowed as evidence in court, their attorney said. Cooney is scheduled to hold a telephone conference on Monday about the gag order � a motion that would silence all witnesses, including property owners, attorneys, city and county officials and Jacksonville City Council members named in the lawsuit. Robertson filed a motion Wednesday opposing the gag order, arguing that the defendants are public officials and therefore open to public inquiry, and arguing that the motion is too broad and vague. "Even if the court allows a gag order in the future, such a gag order has to be very narrow and very specific in order to prevent infringements upon constitutionally protected activity," Robertson wrote. Jackson County can�t prove that media reports threaten its right to a fair trial, he argued. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.