http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061203/NEWS/612030382/1001/NEWS

ACLU picks Miss. for 'strategic investment'
By Julie Goodman
jgoodman@clarionledger.com

The American Civil Liberties Union, despised by many in this conservative state, is using an infusion of new funds to beef up its efforts on everything from overhauling Mississippi's public access system to informing the homeless of their rights.

The ACLU's New York headquarters has designated the Mississippi affiliate as one of five "strategic investment" sites in the country, along with Texas, Florida, Montana and New Mexico.

That means more money, more staff and possibly more lawsuits....

..."People don't know about open-record laws in Mississippi. People don't know about public-meeting laws. So when we have a government body that says you can't speak or you can't attend this meeting, we want to be able to identify those places and challenge them if we can," she said....

...Public access in Mississippi is "horrible," said Cox, who moved here from Florida. "They fight tooth and nail to keep the public from knowing what they're doing," he said....