The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1921-12-07
RECORDS ALWAYS
OPEN TO PUBLIC
Citv Engineer Says Man
damus Action Un-
necessary
yOUNCAN ADVISED HIM
Hundreds of Taxpayers in
Years Past Saw Records,
Griggs States

.rbc4o has never been n disposi-
Ala, nm the part OF the engineers
,,f,e 10 withhold any information
com interested taxpayers" City
Tvglrcer G. r. briggs declared last
,,gb, commenting on the man
sI,,Ys action of J. n. Orr to com
.ei MIN tn deliver over certain rec
IA m his office. "On the con
.,arv those who have come TO this
,fGce In sincerity have always been
c,yep the information they sought,
"a employees of my office. have
Iken the time 10 help them dig up
lecords and figures.
or X Hughes came to my office
dov before Yesterday, and uu-
Known TO me obtained the profile
~ sewer district 40. 1856. lie was
messing over it and copying It whom
/ discovered him. ! Objected--and
! will always objcct--to such an
gpderhanded way of obtaining in
formation from my office. II
trugbes had come TO me like a
Gentleman and asked for what M"
wanted I would gladly have helped
him find 90. TO be frank about it,
let him know he wasn't wanted IN
"An original drawing Of this ma
lure il easily shiled. My own en-
moves are instructed against using
/, and are advised to use a blue
print made from Il for their work
around the office. So It is not sur
uriSng that ] objected to its use by
stranger to the office.
About noon Tuesday a letter was
handed 10 me while | was in the
commission room discussing sewer
lids with members of the city com
mission. barely glanced at II and
vas unaware Of its contents. ! eX-
pected TO read Il as soon as / re
turned 10 my office. When I did
return. / discovered II was a notice
" mandamus, and that from the
time II was delivered to me | had Is
minutes in which to appear at the
courthouse and answer 81.
"Mr Orr came to my office and
together We discussed sewer district
No. l6G. assured him he was wei.
come TO see any records in my Of
flee and showed him a blue print
of the profile OF No. 1866. which was
on my desk. having been dug up
NAltt w NfAf AlAhAAiks
In the meantime / had seen CITY
Attorney Frank h. Duncan and his
assistant w. r. Robinson. asking
them for advice regarding the notice
Of mandamus. Duncan instructed
me not 10 turn over any records
Until Robinson could go over to the
courthouse and find from District
Judge Hunt what the mandamus
was about
II asked Mr.. Orr TO wait until
Robinson returned from the court
house with the desired information.
Orr at first indicated he would. n, d
appeared satisfied with my IN
tentions, But a few minutes later
he left the office, and the next
thing | knew a deputy sheriff ap-
peared with the writ OF mandamus
and informed me | was under ar.
rest, ami that costs OF the action
had been assessed against me.
The blue print OF the profile
orr desired was lying on my desk
al the time, was ready for delivery.
and II did not seem to me to be an
unreasonable request to ask Mr.. Orr
10 help me carry out the city attor-
ney's advice and remain few min
utes before delivering Il TO him.
lt might be OF interest for the
public to know that the original
contract for this project was let by
the Hubbard administration.
have been city engineer In
Tulsa for about three years. Isn't
II surprising that until today none
OF the hundreds Of taxpayers who
nave obtained Wformatlon of all
sorts from my office have ever
round II necessary to start man
damus proceedings?