Ohio court to weigh greed vs. public right to know

COLUMBUS (AP) — Timothy Rhodes says he was wronged by New Philadelphia’s destruction of the 20 years of 911 tapes he requested from the city police department in 2007.

The city says he didn’t really want the records, he just wanted to collect the financial penalty.

The Ohio Supreme Court will decide after oral arguments today whether Rhodes was “aggrieved” under state public records law by the city’s failure to retain the thousands of daily tapes it made between 1975 and 1995. They were routinely recycled every 30 days.

If the high court decides in Rhodes’ favor, he could collect $84,000 or more in penalties. His lawyer says it would also be a victory for government transparency.

New Philadelphia says a ruling in his favor could have financial devastating consequences for Ohio governments.