The documents I received about Mariscos Uruapan were not obtained through the traditional method. Usually, I go to the city, ask for the documents, and they are given to me within – normally – a 10 day period. No, I got my hands on these documents because the easy way: they were given to me.

But as we recently were reminded in the LA Times fiasco, just becasue the documents look the part doesn’t mean they are legit. So, with that in mind, I headed over to the Irwindale Police Department and Irwindale City Hall, and called ABC to confirm the documents were legit. They were.

Each agency was helpful, but I couldn’t help but bite my tongue when a Irwindale City employee seemed especially annoyed that I asked her to verify the validity of the documents.

I came walking in with seven pages that I asked her to verify. She greeted me with eight pages in her hands. The information, except for the extra page she had, was exactly, word for word, the same information.

“So these are the same documents,” I told her rhetorically.

“Well, they are not the same. Your copies are darker,” she told me.

“But, these are legitimate documents issued and or obtained by the city of Irwindale, right?” I told her. It was obvious that they were, but for some reason I felt that I needed her to agree. Now I realize I didn’t.

And then she told me: “You know, there are proper ways to obtain public records.”

She’s right. But this way is a whole lot easier … and faster.

And the moral of my story: If you have ever a story that you want the paper to look into, if you have the documents, and if it is a good story, it speeds up the process.