Court to decide access to 9/11 tapes
/The state's highest court heard
arguments Wednesday in a two-year struggle over access to a trove of
city transcripts and tape recordings from Sept. 11, 2001. At issue
before the Court of Appeals is access to tapes of 911 calls, Fire
Department dispatches and transcripts of interviews with hundreds of
firefighters who responded on the day of the attack. The New York Times
filed the lawsuit after the city declined to release the items. The
paper was later joined by relatives of civilians and firefighters who
died at the World Trade Center. In fighting the suit the city has cited
privacy issues, concern over the emotions of the grieving and the
ongoing terror prosecution of Zacarias Moussaoui in Virginia. In
arguments yesterday before the seven-member panel, the case appeared to
be destined to become a pivotal test of the effectiveness of the
Freedom of Information Law. About two dozen relatives of Sept. 11
victims journeyed to Albany to attend the hearing. "If the city has
someone who was against releasing the tapes we should have heard from
them," said Russell Mercer, the stepfather of firefighter Scott
Kopytko, 33, who died on Sept. 11. When one judge asked what the Fire
Department was most concerned about, Hogrogian said, "Opinions and
recommendations addressed to Fire Department practices and things that
did not work that day or were not implemented." "How does criticism fit
in?" Judge Victoria Graffeo asked. "I believe that would have been an
opinion," he said. "That's a rather dangerous way to describe an
opinion," Graffeo replied. There was no decision issued yesterday. [more]
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