From the Greenville Daily Reflector (6/25/10): State officials are considering whether to release text messages that prompted a high-ranking North Carolina Highway Patrol trooper to resign.
The News & Observer of Raleigh reported that Maj. Everett Clendenin sent the text messages to a female co-worker on a state-owned Blackberry. Media have requested the messages under the state’s public records law, but officials say they’re reviewing whether they’re required to do that.
A lawyer for the North Carolina Press Association says the messages definitely qualify as public records. Attorney Hugh Stevens says it’s not a complicated issue.
Clendenin resigned Wednesday after 22 years with the patrol.