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  • Public Safety
    Pike County

    Woman Dies, Child Injured in Wreck

    Busted Arrests Portsmouth Scioto County Mugshots

    Busted! 09/01/25 New Arrests in Portsmouth, Ohio – Scioto County Mugshots

    🚨 Michigan Avenue Family Crisis Highlights Ongoing Struggles to Protect Children 

    West Portsmouth Shooting

    Gunfire Panic at Trailer Park: Deputies Swarm Shots Fired Call 

    🏈 Locker Room Bullying Turns Violent — Mom Demands Justice  

    Police Officer Killed After Golf Cart Hit by Young Driver 

    Portsmouth

    Who Stole the Democrats’ Seat? Exclusive NEW Details on Portsmouth’s Missing Bench 

    Gun Scare at Mound Park: Call Leads Police on Evening Hunt 

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    From Classroom to Courtroom? Portsmouth Parents Call Police Over School Clashes 

    DUI Driver Arrested After Wreck at Elementary School

    🚨 From Crash Site to Cell Block: Woman Busted for OVI in Portsmouth 

    Fired Trucker Takes Company Rig on Wild Ride Across State Lines  

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    🐾 Price of a Pup Tag Set to Climb — Scioto County to Raise Dog License Fees Amid Worsening Shelter Crisis 

    Family & First Responders Save the Day in Wheelersburg Scare  

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    Timmy’s Terror: Loose Pit Bull Sparks Dogfight, Death Threats, and Arrest 

    Police Activity

    Midnight Round-Up: Wanted Locals Learn the Hard Way

    Joseph Coby Portsmouth SWAT

    🚨 SWAT Roll-Out Over Missed Court Date: When Skipping Court Goes Too Far 

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    Suspect Busted at Mike’s Auto Sales: Drugs, Damage & a Rap Sheet a Mile Long 

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    Across Two States, First Responders Race to Protect Woman and Child Near Greenup Dam

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    Drunk, Armed & on a Lawn Mower: Lucasville Man Arrested After Wild Claim 

  • Lawrence County
  • Politics
    Scioto County Commissioner Bryan Davis

    Bryan Davis Arraignment Set, New Judge Assigned 

    Bryan Davis

    Why Commissioner Davis Staying in Office Raises Big Problems 

    Scottie Powell

    Powell Calls on Commissioner Davis to Resign 

    Scioto County Bryan Davis Scandal

    🗓 Timeline of a Scandal: How Scioto County’s Economic Development Crisis Unfolded 

    Bryan Davis

    Commissioner Bryan Davis and Wife Indicted in Scioto Scandal 

    Joey Sandlin

    Joey Sandlin Announces Inauguration Ceremony  

    Erie Canal Lock 50

    After Nearly a Decade of Talk, Scioto County Moves Closer to Restoring Historic Lock 50 

    Portsmouth City Council 2023

    Portsmouth City Council Considers More Cash for Lawsuit Defense 

    West Virginia SNAP

    🚨No More Free Pop? West Virginia Bans Soda from SNAP—Should Ohio Be Next?🚨 

    We Don’t Do Roads!: Scioto Commissioners Clarify Who’s Really in Charge of Road Repairs 

    “I’m Not Here to Replace Cathy”: New Commissioner Merit Smith Says He’ll Lead with Life Experience 

    Merit Smith

    Merit Smith Chosen to Fill Late Commissioner Cathy Coleman’s Seat 

    Scottie Powell

    “Run on Vision, Not Attacks”: Powell Offers Advice to Candidates Vying for Cathy Coleman’s Seat 

    🌿 Bamboo Gets Fast-Tracked at City Hall — But the Homeless Crisis? Still Stuck in Neutral 

    Who Will Carry Cathy’s Torch? GOP to Choose Coleman’s Replacement July 29 

    Cathy Coleman

    Commissioners Back Senior Housing Project Championed by Late Commissioner Cathy Coleman 

    “Bad and Quirky” Lucasville House Targeted for Demolition as County Cracks Down on Blighted Properties 

    ‘A Great Addition to Heaven’: Commissioners Honor Cathy Coleman, Reflect on Her Legacy and Who Might Carry It Forward 

    Cathy Coleman

    Scioto County Mourns Commissioner Cathy Coleman 

    🚨TRIAL TWIST! Horton Corruption Case on Ice—For Now 

  • Feel Good
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    Tips for Staying Calm During Police Encounters

    Cyn Mackley

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    A family of two parents and a young boy and girl are playing laser tag with vests and laser blasters in an arena.

    What Activities To Offer at a Family Fun Center

    Shawnee State University SSU

    Shawnee State University Joins New Athletic Conference, Adds Football to Lineup 

    BREAKING: Commissioners Make Shocking Decision—Halloween to Remain on Halloween 

    Escape to the Hills: A Summer Reading List Set in Appalachia 

    Scioto County Champs: Lady Trojans and Word Wizards Bring Home the Gold 

    “I Held Those Keys Tight” — One Man’s Harrowing Journey from Addiction to Hope 

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    Tips for Selecting the Color of a Quinceañera Dress

    The Day the Streak Ended: Lakers’ 1987 Record Broken

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    Night Fishing: Who Is It for and How Do You Start?

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    Cops Rescue Lost Man 

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    Kid Misses Bus, Deputy to the Rescue 

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    Hidden Gems: Community Strategies for Mental Wellness

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    Man Says He’s Trapped in Armory 

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    Portsmouth Flood Wall Stars

    Meet the New Flood Wall Stars! 

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  • Obituaries
    Janet Forbes

    Janet Forbes, 88 of South Shore

    Robert David Dean

    Robert David Dean, 75 of Piketon

    John Kenneth Kellerman, Jr

    John Kenneth Kellerman, Jr., 67 of Portsmouth

    Blenda Sue Forester Fitch

    Blenda Sue Forester Fitch, 76 of Waverly

    Barbara Williams

    Charlotte Pollitt, 79, of Piketon

    Ms. Shannon Renee Wyatt

    Ms. Shannon Renee Wyatt, 46 of Charleston

    James Collins

    James Collins 82 0f Portsmouth

    Rick L. Newsome 57 of Wheelersburg

    Anthony Carl White

    Anthony Carl White, 67 of Stout

    Samantha Kay Carver-Lattimore

    Samantha Kay Carver-Lattimore 42 of Portsmouth,

     Mildred Jean Sullivan

     Mildred Jean Sullivan, 81 of Portsmouth

    William McGinnis

    Jonathon Robert Chanti, 69 of Gallipolis

    Harold Richard Smith, Jr. , 45, of Waverly

    Barbara Williams

    Betty Jane Bowman, 83 of Portsmouth

    Kay Kelly

     Kay Kelly, 73 of Portsmouth

      Jeffrey Paul Steele

      Jeffrey Paul Steele, 49 of Portsmouth

    Zackery Hatfield

    Zackery Hatfield, 42 of Lexington

    Anthony Wayne

    Anthony Wayne Payne, 48 of Portsmouth

    James M. Lewis

    James M. Lewis, of Stout

    Barbara Williams

    Laura Frances Benner, 89 of Lucasville

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ANOTHER MAJOR SCANDAL- SHERIFF HIDES BEHIND BLACK BOXES AND LOCKED CABINETS TO DUCK TRANSPARENCY

Mark Craycraft by Mark Craycraft
5 months ago
in Public Safety
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For years, the Scioto County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO) has provided, by request of the local media, a daily “chief’s report,” a PDF document detailing the previous day’s calls and deputy responses. But what should have been a window into the office’s operations was often obscured by heavy redactions—black boxes covering key details. Local media tolerated the practice for a time, but a landmark 2022 Ohio Supreme Court ruling in Myers v. Meyers shifted the landscape, forcing law enforcement agencies statewide to open their records to public scrutiny. Now, faced with demands for transparency, the SCSO has gone to extraordinary lengths to keep the public in the dark, raising questions about accountability and legal exposure at taxpayers’ expense.

The Myers v. Meyers case, in which Ohio media publisher Derek Myers successfully sued the Chillicothe Police Department for access to incident reports, set a precedent that law enforcement could no longer withhold broad swaths of records under vague exemptions. The ruling clarified that witness statements and narratives—barring specific investigative exceptions—must be disclosed, shining a light on how public funds are spent. When local media invoked the decision to challenge SCSO’s redaction-heavy reports, the Sheriff’s Office initially scrambled to comply.

Sheriff David Thoroughman turned to Scioto County Prosecutor Shane Tieman for guidance. After reviewing the Myers ruling, Tieman’s office confirmed that the office’s blanket redactions violated Ohio public records law. But rather than embrace transparency, SCSO doubled down on secrecy. Captain Ron Davis, acting on Thoroughman’s behalf, contacted Sundance, the company managing the county’s Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) system, which logs all calls and generates the chief’s report.

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In emails obtained through public records requests, Davis pressed Sundance to remove the report feature entirely.

“I definitely need it removed as we do not use it but the media is demanding copies of it daily and it has too much on it,” Davis wrote. “Our prosecutor is saying that if it’s in our system they can request it, so removing it as it is not pertaining to us would be the only way to solve that.”

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Sundance balked, explaining that the report was a core component of the system used by dozens of law enforcement agencies. The best they could offer was to “hide” the button that generates it. SCSO seized on this workaround, claiming they could no longer produce the report—even though it still exists in the database.

Legal experts liken the tactic to locking a filing cabinet and tossing the key, then shrugging and claiming the contents are inaccessible.

“It’s a deliberate attempt to sidestep the law,” said Emmett Robinson, the Cleveland-based public records attorney who represented Myers in the Supreme Court case. “The records don’t vanish just because you disable a button.”

Robinson, a Harvard Law graduate and Jeopardy! champion, called SCSO’s actions “dishonest” and a “disservice” to both the media and the public.

“Intentionally altering a computer system to hide information doesn’t exempt the sheriff from his duty to disclose,” he said. “If anything, it heightens their legal risk.”

Under Ohio law, public officials who flout records requests can face statutory damages and attorneys’ fees—costs borne by taxpayers, not the officials themselves.

The SCSO’s maneuvers reveal a troubling mindset: a willingness to prioritize secrecy over accountability, even for mundane calls like trespassing complaints or cats stuck in trees.

By clinging to opacity, Thoroughman’s office isn’t just defying a court ruling—it’s inviting litigation that could drain public coffers.

“A court is more likely to penalize this kind of gamesmanship,” Robinson warned, noting that the intentional nature of SCSO’s actions could lead to steeper consequences.

As Scioto County residents foot the bill for this stonewalling, the Sheriff’s Office stands on shaky ground. The chief’s log remains in the system, a digital skeleton in the closet that no amount of button-hiding can erase.

What began as a routine public records dispute has morphed into a saga of evasion, exposing a sheriff’s office more interested in shielding its daily deeds than serving the taxpayers who fund it. In their zeal to conceal, Thoroughman and his team have opened the door to lawsuits that could cost far more than the transparency they so desperately seek to avoid.

Tags: David ThoroughmanFeaturedLawNewsletterOhioPoliceScioto CountyShane TiemanSheriff
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