Linn County, Iowa, Courthouse Closed Indefinitely

The Iowa state Judiciary announced today that the Linn County Courthouse in Cedar Rapids will be closed indefinitely. The courthouse, along with city hall, is located on Mays Island in the Cedar River. Reports say that these buildings as well as the federal courthouse were severely damaged in the recent flooding. Emergency procedures are now in effect for the Linn County District Court, which include relocating its clerk's office to the Jones County Courthouse in Anamosa, Iowa. Other court-related facilities information can be found at this link.

National Czech and Slovak Museum & Library

As the days go by, we'll learn of a number of historical, cultural, and genealogical resources which have sustained losses or damage due to the Midwest floods. One such resource is the National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. There is no telephone service to the facility as of now. Here's what it looked like yesterday:



Here's a statement from Gail Naughton, President and CEO of NCSML which appeared on their website:

A statement from Gail Naughton, President/CEO

National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library

News coverage of this week’s events has demonstrated to the world the indomitable

spirit of eastern Iowans. Our local community of Czechs, many of whom live in neighborhoods surrounding Czech Village or whose families settled in southwest Cedar Rapids generations ago, have endured countless losses. Our hearts go out to them and to everyone in the Cedar Rapids community who is coping with outcomes of the disaster.

The staff of the National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library does not yet know the extent of the damage to the Museum and we will not know for some time. We were able to remove many items from the collection to safety before flood waters came. The board and staff are holding emergency meetings to begin coordination of our plans for disaster recovery.

We have received messages of support and concern from Czechs, Slovaks, and museum members around the country and the world. It is gratifying to know their hearts are touched by what is happening here in our community. Thanks to 21^st century communications, Czechs in Prague and Slovaks in Bratislava are quite aware of what is happening in Cedar Rapids and to their Museum.

The Czech and Slovak peoples have endured many devastating events in their history and have survived to become stronger. Iowa is filled with the strength of those who settled here and built the Cedar Rapids community. The museum will rise again from above the flood waters to continue as the touchstone for Czech and Slovak cultural heritage in the United States.

Callers will not be able to reach the Museum through our listed telephone number. For the latest information on the Museum go to the Museum’s website WWW.NCSML.org which will be periodically updated.

Iowa Floods Exact High Toll

Yesterday, we ran a piece about how the Iowa floods had shut down NewspaperArchive.com, a site that many family historians visit frequently. Today, Jeffrey Kiley, general manager, left a comment on that post. It's so compelling that I thought it should be up front. Here it is:

Thank you very much for your concern. We are slowly bringing our systems back online, and we should be back to providing a consistent and stable user experience by the end of the day.

I appreciate your understanding. These have been trying times for all of us in Eastern Iowa.

On a personal note:

I was born and raised in Cedar Rapids. This city is the home to my High School, where I met my wife, where I’m raising my children. Where I had the best moments of my life. Where I have been a part of building the world’s greatest digital newspaper archive. And I am shocked and devastated by the destruction in and around this city I love.

As most of you probably know, the Cedar River, which snakes through the heart of Cedar Rapids, rose almost twenty feet above flood level, causing a disaster on a never-before-seen scale. The water is just beginning to recede, and the damage is unbelievable.

A team of dedicated employees and myself made our way into the heart of the disaster on Friday to move our hardware to a better location. The pictures on the news don’t begin to tell the story. As we crossed skybridges linking office complexes in downtown, and watched the raging river below sweep through what once were streets, I realized that a lot of things I love are gone. The Chrome Horse, a local saloon where I took my employees in celebration of a great month just a few weeks ago. Blend, which has the best Prosciutto appetizer in Cedar Rapids. The National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library, the science station. All gone. One of our closest clients, the Cedar Rapids Public Library, was mostly under water on Friday. I’m not too proud to say that a few tears were shed.

But I wanted you all to know that even though cleanup will take months, the Midwest Spirit is amazing and Cedar Rapids will emerge even better than before.

I’m very proud of my community right now, the way we have helped each other rather than waiting for help. The deep – and I’m sure exhausting – coverage of the event by our publishing partner The Cedar Rapids Gazette and their TV affiliate KCRG has been at the core of disseminating news quickly and completely, and can be credited with saving lives. The paper was delivered daily, even after their printing press was flooded. Their websites were updated by the minute as the situation progressed.

And I’m proud of my employees. They worked long and difficult hours to rescue our servers, carry them through a mile-long “ant trail” and relocate them 60 miles away at a dry and secure location. My IT staff has been especially heroic, spending the entire weekend rewiring all of our hardware and preparing the website.

Thank you for your patience through all of this, and for your thoughts and prayers as we rebuild our great city.

I will be posting this (or something similar) on our site later today....just to say thank you and update those who have been affected.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey C. Kiley
General Manager
Heritage Microfilm
NewspaperARCHIVE.com

As a native Midwestern, I know what Jeffrey says about the Midwestern spirit is true. The folks in Iowa have prayers.

Flooding Shuts Down NewspaperArchive.com

I received the following message early Sunday morning, June 15, 2008 (Central Time):

Dear Valued Member,

The situation in Cedar Rapids has reached levels never before thought possible. The flood waters surged past the 500-year flood line yesterday and continued to rise to catastrophic levels. A large portion of the downtown area is underwater and will continue to be so until the waters recede.

As we mentioned in yesterday's email, the infrastructure of our digital archives is kept downtown. While the servers are several stories above ground and are safe from the waters, power is and will be indefinitely out. Trucks with fuel for generators cannot get downtown, leaving us without even backup power in that building.

We want to assure all of our members that everything that makes our website and microfilm business possible is completely safe. Besides our servers being on high and dry ground, our physical newspaper microfilm and papers are all kept in our Heritage Microfilm building, several miles from the river.

We ask that your thoughts be with the thousands of displaced residents, including many of our employees, as we work through these trying times.

We will send occasional updates to keep you informed of the situation.

Thank you for your understanding,

The NewspaperArchive.com Team

NOTE:

To read more about the historic flood in Eastern Iowa, please visit the website of the Cedar Rapids Gazette, our local paper and one of our publishing partners:

http://www.gazetteonline.com/

"Open" State Vital Records: The Bad and the Ugly

One of Several Posts about Open Government Laws and Genealogy

Previously, we spotlighted several states that are particularly "genealogy-friendly" concerning access to state vital records. Now we wade into the swamp of vital records-access horribles.

At the edge of the swamp are states that have unreasonably long (100 years or more for birth records; more than fifty years for death records; or any period for ordinary marriages and divorces) confidentiality periods. These states include:

• Alabama: 125 years for birth records!

• Alaska: 100 years for birth records; fifty years for marriage records

• Arkansas: 100 years for birth records

• Delaware: 100 years for birth records

• Hawaii: 75 years for death and marriage records

• Idaho: 100 years for birth records; 50 years for marriage and divorce records

• Iowa: 75 years for death, marriage and divorce records; even then, records are simply open for inspection and copying; no copies issued by the state except to persons of a certain relationship.

• Louisiana: 100 years for birth records

• Michigan: 100 years for birth records (on the other hand, anyone can have access to Michigan death records).

• New Jersey: 50 years for marriage records

• New Mexico: 100 years for birth records, but not prior to individual's death (but see below).
  

• New York: 50 years for marriage records AND both husband and wife are known to be deceased.

• Oregon: 100 years for birth records

• Rhode Island: 100 years for birth records

• Wyoming: 50 years for marriages and divorces

Vital Records Access Hell

• Georgia: Birth certificates appear to be available only to (1) the person whose record of birth is registered; (2) either parent, guardian, or temporary guardian of the person whose record of birth or death is registered; (3) the living legal spouse or next of kin or the legal representative of the person whose record of birth or death is registered; (4) a court of competent jurisdiction upon its order or subpoena; or (5) any governmental agency, state or federal, provided that such certificate shall be needed for official purposes. This is my reading of Georgia Code section 31-10-26(a) & (e). The law appears to prohibit the issuance of informational or uncertified copies of birth certificates and even abstracts or indices of birth records. If I'm reading this incorrectly, will some Georgia genealogist or lawyer please set me straight.

• Indiana: Birth and death records are closed to the public and may be disclosed only (1) to an applicant having a direct interest in the matter recorded; (2) when the information is necessary for the determination of personal or property rights or for compliance with state or federal law; or (3) in any extraordinary case that the state registrar determines is a direct tangible and legitimate public interest. That's my interpretation of Indiana Code section 16-37-1-10. If I'm reading this incorrectly, will some Indiana genealogist or lawyer please set me straight.
  

• Kansas: One of the worst! "Currently, the Office of Vital Statistics does allow requests for genealogical research. Pre-1940 records may be requested by an individual related as at least a cousin. Post 1940 records must be requested by an immediate family member." Kansas Department of Health and Environment vital statistics website (viewed 3/27/2008)
  

• Mississippi: "Vital Records are not considered public access documents. Certified copies of records in the custody of the Department of Health may be obtained by persons having a legitimate and tangible interest in such records." Mississippi State Department of Health Vital Records Rules and Regulations (viewed 3/27/2008). The statute says:
• Records in the possession of the Mississippi Department of Health, bureau of vital statistics, which would be of no legitimate and tangible interest to a person making a request for access to such records, shall be exempt from the provisions of the Mississippi Public Records Act of 1983; provided, however, nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit any person with a legitimate and tangible interest in such records from having access thereto. Miss.Code 1972, 41-57-2 (1983).
  

• New Mexico: "New Mexico Vital Records are restricted access records and are only issued to immediate family members or individuals who demonstrate tangible legal interest," so says the New Mexico Department of Health's website. But, that seems to contradict the statute, which says that records may be disclosed 100 years after birth (but not before person's death) and 50 years after death. See N.M.Stat. 24-14-27. So the Land of Enchantment makes the hell list not only for being unreasonable, but for confusing people as well.

• Pennsylvania: Vital records are not open to the public. Eligible requestors are (1) person named on a birth record; (2) legal representative of decedent's estate; (3) immediate family members; (4) extended family members who indicate a direct relationship to the decedent. Pennsylvania Department of Health vital records website (viewed 3/27/2008).
  

• South Carolina: Entitled recipients: (1) the person named on a birth certificate (if eighteen (18) years of age); (2) the parent(s) named on the birth certificate; or the guardian, or a legal representative of one of these persons. On the other hand, any applicant may be provided a statement that a death occurred, including the date and county of death. South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control vital records website (viewed 3/27/2008).

There are several states (some listed here, some not) that say that records are open to persons with "a direct and tangible interest," or a "legitimate interest," or words to that effect. Without some mitigating factors, this should be enough to consign a state to Vital Records Access Hell. These phrases frequently have no definition, leaving a requestor to the whims of a vital records clerk. It certainly seems to me that genealogical research is a "legitimate," "direct," or "tangible" interest!

Special Place in Hell for Online Records Sites

This series has not been focused on online records. A state can earn kudos without having online acess to its records. But if a jurisdiction is going to have on-line access, it should be convenient and affordable. Alas, such is not the case with the Caddo Parish (La.) Clerk of Court's office, so they are awarded this year's SPIHFORS. The Caddo clerk's online marriage records search function frequently doesn't work properly. And then there's the matter of fees for the other databases: a $100 "setup" fee and $30.00 a month to view images! Outrageous! Just about fifty miles west of Shreveport, the seat of Caddo Parish, in Gregg County, Texas (much smaller in population than Caddo Parish), the County Clerk provides free online access to some of the same types of documents for which Caddo wants exorbitant fees.