Just bein' silly

What part of "public property" does this man not understand?

Access to information -- for all -- has long been under assault. We have to fight more than ever for access to meetings, public records from City Hall, the school district, the police department, the federal government ... and with fewer resources with which to do so.

As reporters we're not entitled to any privileged status, but exercising the legal entitlements held by every citizen is part of our job. This is the fundamental stuff of democracy here -- how to know what the hell your government and the people in it are doing.

Yet we grow increasingly indifferent to these notions and shrug off our Duty to exercise our Rights. We are to blame for allowing it to happen. Freedom is like that novice writing advice: Show me, don't tell me. Talkin' about ain't no substitute for doin' it.

If you don't like it, move to Myanmar.

In that vein, my first ever Banana Republic Award goes to this security guard, who works at Indymac on Lake Avenue between Colorado and Union, who took it unto himself to prevent Star-News photographer Sarah Reingewirtz from taking a picture from the sidewalk today as a fire crew searched for the source of a fire inside.

Sarah tried to explain the concept of a public street to the man. "Now you're just being silly," was the scofflaw's reply.