Fort Smith lawyer Joey McCutchen announced today a lawsuit aimed at opening records of the North Arkansas Regional Medical Center in Harrison.

Plaintiffs are Dr. Bill Ray Lewis and others in a group calling itself Transparency in Government Group of Boone County.

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The hospital corporation leases a facility from Boone County for $25 a year and receives public grant funding, McCutchen said. Thus, he argues, its records should be open under the Freedom of Information Act, but he says the hospital was refused requests for information about public grants and their use.

The law concerning access to records of nonprofits that receive public money can be tricky. Lawsuits to see Arkansas Children’s Hospital records have succeeded on occasion, but it is supported by a county property tax whose proceeds are controlled by the hospital.

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Here’s the lawsuit.

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