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    Categories: NewsOpinion

Randy Travis Is Filing Suit That “No” Information Regarding His Arrest Should Be Released Under The Privacy Information Act

My prayers go out to Country Artist Randy Travis and his immediate family and friends; his health is not good according to a news report by classicalite.com. News reports have surfaced that Travis is “still” paralyzed on his right side, unable to walk, and he can barely speak.

According to reports, Travis is confined to bed or the use of a wheelchair and he must wear a helmet to protect his skull while it is in the process of properly healing. A nurse visits him daily and he has two long-term caretakers.

Travis needs the support from his fans and it is requested people continue to pray for his health condition and for his recovery. This legendary singer needs his fans support and for them to remember him as he once was. There’s nothing like being down and feeling like a forgotten soul. I for one, miss his rich voice and music. I hope the radio stations will continue to play his songs and that country television will continue to play his music videos. People must let him know we miss him and want him back on stage.

A news report after the wreck indicated Travis was arrested last August 2012 for a DWI charge, obstruction and retaliation after crashing his Trans Am, and also that he had verbally threatened police officers responding to the scene. It was stated the singer was naked at the time of his arrest, and he is now filing a law suit against the Texas Department of Public Safety and Office of the Attorney General trying to prevent them from releasing the arrest video of his arrest.

In January 2012 Travis pleaded guilty in the DWI incident and was fined $2000, received two years of probation and a 180-day suspended jail sentence; in addition to this, Travis agreed to spend 30 days in an alcohol treatment facility and to perform 100 hours of community service and to accept an installation of an ignition interlock device in any of his vehicles he operates while on probation.

WPXI reported the judge handling Travis’ case had agreed with a defense motion that transcripts of the case and the arrest video “should not” be released to the public; and it was ordered that the video be destructed.

The DPS received a written request for information about the case and sought a ruling from the attorney general, who ruled the judge in the original case did not have a legal standing to prohibit the release of the dash cam video. I ask, “Doesn’t a person have a legal right under the privacy act to keep such a personal picture out of the lime light?”

A May 3 ruling stated that a portion of the information, including medical records and motor vehicles records, should be withheld, while the rest of the request is granted. Why would anyone grant the release of nude pictures of an individual to be exposed to the press?

Travis filed suit on Tuesday May 14, 2013, which demands $100,000 and a declaratory judgment that none of the information which was requested about his arrest should be released under the public information act request.

Travis has also had several other run-ins with the law but who requires all of the information for publication in newspapers throughout the world? Again, what happens to a person’s privacy act rights? It’s my opinion that other people’s problems don’t need to be aired publicly. Many people in our society have traffic violations and other arrests too and it’s not plastered all over the newspapers or television so why should celebrities be privy for being exposed?’

It’s my opinion that “no” naked pictures of any person should be willfully made public to any newspaper or television for airing. How would anyone of us want this to happen to us? Think about families and children who might be exposed to such distasteful pictures to suffer at the hands of those wanting the pictures published strictly for publication?

Why do the celebrities have to be separated out and have their pictures plastered all over the television and newspaper? In my opinion it’s an invasion of a person’s privacy doesn’t this come under the privacy act? A person should have a right to refuse anyone to view naked pictures of them.

Barbara Kasey Smith is the writer of this article and it is based on reports from the following sources. This is the opinion of this writer only.

Sources:
1. tasteofcountry.com & information provided by WPXI
2. classicalite.com

Barbara K. Smith: Barbara Kasey Smith was born in Affinity, West Virginia. She was raised in a coal-mining town of Crab Orchard, West Virginia. Barbara worked for the federal government for thirty-one plus years. She enjoys reading, writing, the theater and her family and friends. Barbara loves to write poetry and opinion articles and she has been published in several anthologies, magazines, and Internet reviews. She has had four books published. She enjoys her husband and Jack Russell terrier, Miss Daisy, to be in the room as she writes because it gives her the feeling it enhances her ability to attain her best writing moments.
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