FAYETTEVILLE — Records related to a 911 call from the Jim Bob Duggar residence and related letters from a juvenile judge to Springdale city officials are subject to release under a Freedom of Information Act, Circuit Judge Beth Storey Bryan ruled Tuesday afternoon.
The Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette sued Sept. 3 in Washington County Circuit Court after Springdale officials refused repeated requests for the documents. They include the recording of the 911 call and supporting documents from May 27 and June 11 correspondence between Circuit Judge Stacey Zimmerman, who presides over juvenile court, and Ernest Cate, Springdale city attorney.
The 911 recording has already been released to the public. The newspaper filed a Freedom of Information Act request for it after the fact on June 10. A copy of the call was obtained by In Touch magazine of Englewood Cliffs, N.J., through an earlier Freedom of Information Act request.
The letters addressed the release of a certain police report and inquired as to the city’s policy on the release of police reports in the future, according to one of the city’s responses to FOIA requests.