East Oregonian : E.O., August 17, 2019, WEEKEND EDITION, Page 10, Image 10

A10
NATION/WORLD
East Oregonian
Saturday, August 17, 2019
Sealed records on Dayton gunman,
Betts, pit safety against privacy
By JULIE CARR SMYTH
Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio —
Disturbing behavior that the
Dayton gunman reportedly
exhibited in his youth may be
detailed in law enforcement
and school files so far off limits
to the public, records that could
shed light on whether author-
ities properly handled early
warning signs.
The measures used to shield
24-year-old shooter Connor
Betts’ school records and what-
ever is on his juvenile rap sheet
were intended to protect peo-
ple’s privacy as they move from
childhood into their adult lives.
But could erasing youth-
ful bad behavior from the pub-
lic record limit insights that
could protect public safety?
And might such measures also
serve to insulate school offi-
cials from having their deci-
sions questioned?
“Obviously, it’s a very, very
complex issue,” said Rachael
Strickland, co-chair of the
Parent Coalition for Student
Privacy.
Betts was killed by police
after opening fire Aug. 4 in
the city’s crowded Oregon Dis-
trict entertainment area, killing
nine, including his sister, and
injuring dozens more.
High school classmates
have since said Betts was sus-
pended years ago for compiling
a “hit list” of fellow students
he wanted to harm. Two of the
classmates said that followed
an earlier suspension after
Betts came to school with a list
of female students he wanted to
sexually assault.
Police investigators say they
now know that Betts had a
“history of obsession with vio-
lent ideations with mass shoot-
ings and expressed a desire to
commit a mass shooting.” The
FBI said it uncovered evidence
Betts “looked into violent
ideologies.”
On Thursday, the Montgom-
ery County coroner said Betts
had cocaine, alcohol and an
antidepressant in his system
and more cocaine on his body
at the time of the shooting.
Authori-
ties have yet to
publicly iden-
tify a motive,
and the shielded
records could
provide insights
into Betts’ pre-
Betts
vious
activi-
ties both in and out of school.
Dayton police said Tuesday
that they’re divided on one of
the more vexing questions:
whether Betts intended to kill
his sister, Megan, or whether
her death was inadvertent.
His school district, Bell-
brook-Sugarcreek
Local
Schools, has denied media
requests for access to Betts’
high school files on the grounds
that such “records are gener-
ally protected by both federal
and state law.” News organi-
zations, including The Asso-
ciated Press, CNN, The New
York Times and others, have
sued.
Likewise, his juvenile police
record has been expunged,
which makes it off limits to the
public.
Strickland said her coalition
mostly focuses on protecting
children from the lifelong ram-
ifications of systematic mon-
itoring of their social media.
She said the group opposes “as
a matter of principle” govern-
ment surveillance of children
without due process, saying it
takes staff and police hours to
carry out while “unfairly label-
ing kids.”
That was part of the think-
ing of those who championed
the Family Educational Rights
and Privacy Act, the federal
law that protects student edu-
cation records, back in 1974.
The act does give districts the
option to release a student’s
records “in connection with an
emergency,” however.
“The mandate to Ohio
schools is that we must not
divulge confidential student
records without clear con-
sent from the student or par-
ents and we have not received
such consent,” Liz Betz, board
president for Bellbrook-Sugar-
creek Local Schools, said in a
statement after the shooting.
“We know everyone is trying
to make sense of the devasta-
tion that occurred, but we can-
not bypass the law, plain and
simple.”
While the U.S. Department
of Education holds that fed-
eral privacy protections cease
upon death for those over 18,
the school district is arguing
that Ohio law provides broader
protection.
The
district’s
lawyer,
Tabitha Justice, said that if the
protections expire, as the media
organizations have argued, that
would mean “that the fami-
lies and estates of all students
who pass away, regardless of
the manner of death, would be
entirely without recourse with
respect to those records.”
In their complaint, the news
outlets also argued the records
can make a significant con-
tribution to local and national
debate that has followed the
shooting.
“Respondents’
failure
to comply with their legal
obligations under Ohio law
should not be tolerated,” the
complaint said. “This com-
munity and the country at
large deserve to know why
this tragedy happened, what
might have led to it, and what
may be done to prevent future
tragedies.”
Michael Miller, a former
longtime Franklin County
prosecutor, said expungement
is also a tool aimed at helping
people — even well into their
adulthood — avoid lifelong
negative consequences for the
mistakes of their past.
Lawyers sometimes offer
to expunge a person’s record
as part of their service agree-
ment or, if the offense is
minor, some magistrates do it
automatically, he said.
Miller said he puts no stock
in a person’s bad behavior as
a teenager being a predictor of
future violence.
“They’re all over the map
on why they do these things,”
he said. “It’s virtually impossi-
ble to think that if we do this
or that, we’ll stop violence and
killing people. It’s been going
on since the beginning of time.”
AP Photo/Felipe Dana, File
An aerial view of large icebergs floating as the sun rises near Kulusuk, Green-
land.
Greenland to Donald Trump:
Thanks, but we’re not for sale
By SETH BORENSTEIN AND
ZEKE MILLER
Associated Press
TASIILAQ, Greenland — Green-
landers are giving Donald Trump the
cold shoulder.
Although amused, they’re defi-
nitely not warming up to the U.S.
president’s talk of buying the semiau-
tonomous Danish territory.
“We see it as an expression of
greater interest in investing in our
country and the possibilities we
offer,” the Greenland government
said Friday in a short statement. “Of
course, Greenland is not for sale.”
Reports that Trump had spoken
about the notion of buying the land
mass, which lies between the Atlan-
tic and Arctic oceans, were good for a
laugh, residents said.
“He has nothing to do with Green-
land,” said 28-year-old Martina
M.D.D. Tay, who was born and raised
in Tasiilaq, a coastal Greenland town
of about 2,000 people. “I think it’s
a ridiculous idea. I think it sounds
stupid.”
Lars Loekke Rasmussen, who
served as Danish prime minister until
June, weighed in on social media,
tweeting “it must be an April Fool’s
Day joke” that was out of season.
A Trump ally told The Associated
Press on Thursday that the Republi-
can president had discussed the pur-
chase but was not serious about it. And
a Republican congressional aide said
Trump brought up the notion of buy-
ing Greenland in conversations with
American lawmakers enough times to
make them wonder, but they have not
taken his comments seriously. Both
spoke on the condition of anonymity
to discuss private conversations.
“Because of the unofficial nature
of the news, the government of
Greenland has no further comments,”
Greenland said on its website.
The White House has not com-
mented on the reports, but it wouldn’t
be the first time an American leader
tried to buy the world’s largest island.
In 1946, the U.S. proposed paying
Denmark $100 million to buy Green-
land after flirting with the idea of
swapping land in Alaska for strategic
parts of the Arctic island.
When she heard that Donald
Trump wants to buy Greenland, Tina
Joergensen laughed.
“I thought it was a joke,” said Joer-
gensen, a native of Denmark who was
flying from tiny Kulusuk on Green-
land’s eastern coast to the larger
Tasiilaq for a new job as a nurse. “He
can buy anything I guess, or this is
what he thinks he can. But you can’t
— sorry. In my view, you can’t buy a
country. It’s very respectless.”
Jakob Ipsen was less than
impressed with the possibility Trump
may want to purchase his nation.
Ipsen has something in common with
the U.S. president: Both run hotels.
Ipsen’s hotel is smaller than a
Trump one and provides hands-on
service, such as finding boats and
driving guests around. Ipsen noted
there’s a history of outsiders unsuc-
cessfully wanting to take over the
giant, mostly barren island.
“Never going to happen. They
tried in 1867 without luck. They tried
after World War II,” Ipsen said. “It
didn’t happen then and it’s not going
to happen now.”
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