The Ever-Shrinking Community...NC Seeks to Keep Secret Names of Little Leaguers

A frequent rant of mine is the ever-narrowing conceptualization of information that ought to be public, such as the fact that little Johnny drove in three runs in the game last night...while I see no reason to release dates of birth and the like, what about a name and an age?

Efforts to keep identifying information about children who participate in local recreational programs cleared a subcommittee on Wednesday.

The subcommittee, which is looking at a bill introduced by two Alamance County representatives - Democrat Alice Bordsen and Republican Cary Allred - along with Rep. Karen Ray, R-Iredell, also chose to recommend that the new proposed law clarify that coaches and recreation staff members could release that information if they chose to. However, they would not be required to do so.

The bill would exclude from the public record identifying information of a minor, such as the minor's name, address, age, date of birth, telephone number, name and address of the minor's parents and any other information on an application to participate in a recreation program.

Charles Marshall, representing the N.C. Press Association, requested that the name and age of the child continue to be public record to facilitate reporters and photographers who might be covering a youth sporting event.

Reps. Bonner Stiller, R-Brunswick, and Debbie Clary, R-Cleveland, argued for keeping such identifying information public.

"The worst thing that can happen is to put the wrong name under a 12-year-old or a 14-year-old who is the triple hitter," Clary said.

More here.