Now here’s an interesting showdown with potentially far-reaching ramifications.

The location: Mar Vista, a suburb of Los Angeles, California
The players: The Mar Vista Neighborhood Council, a public body of volunteer neighborhood do-gooders, certified by the city as an advisory agency for the city.
The Westmar Sun: “a Web journal of news and opinion about Mar Vista and the Westdales,” which also sends its content out as an e-mail newsletter.

The story, as reported by the American Reporter: The Mar Vista Neighborhood Council volunteers are tasked with keeping their constituents updated as to their workings in the community. Many of the council members communicate with their constituents by e-mail. The Westmar Sun demanded that the Council turn over all of its constituents’ e-mail addresses to the Westmar Sun. Westmar claimed that as the Council was a public agency, it was obligated under California law to allow any citizen to view its public records, including the list of citizen e-mail addresses. [...]