Public

It's hard to believe that a Jefferson County case, which looks like it ought to be open and shut, will have to be decided by the West Virginia Supreme Court.

The Observer, a monthly newspaper in Shepherdstown, has asked the court to declare that petitions given to local officials are public documents. The newspaper took the step because the Jefferson County clerk refused to release the petitions and Circuit Court Judge David Sanders refused to make her.

The clerk claims that the petitions, which called for a referendum on a new zoning law, were prepared by private groups and are not public documents, even though they were presented to Jefferson County officials.

Certainly people have a right to know who signed petitions that could sway public policy. This is not top secret, national security stuff.

If citizens' petitions to government aren't public documents, then you may as well drive a tractor over freedom of information laws and plow them under. If that's the case, the Legislature should reconsider the present state code as soon as possible.