By Janice Morse
The Cincinnati Enquirer

HAMILTON - An attempt to resolve Butler County's Internet court-records dispute failed Tuesday, said Clerk of Courts Cindy Carpenter. Visitors to her office continued to complain about a judicial order to exclude domestic relations cases from Carpenter's Web site.

Carpenter said she and Domestic Relations Judge Sharon Kennedy had an hourlong meeting, moderated by Sen. Louis Blessing, R-Colerain Township. But Carpenter said she and Kennedy "sort of stayed in our corners where we have our polarized views. ... We did not come to a consensus on any of the issues."

Last week, Kennedy and fellow Domestic Relations Judge Leslie Spillane ordered Carpenter's office to remove domestic relations filings from www.butlercountyclerk.org. They cited concerns that personal information could spawn identity theft.

But skeptics think the move was intended to cut off additional scrutiny after County Commissioner Michael A. Fox issued a report titled "A Culture of Secrecy, Fear and Judicial Abuse" about the county's Juvenile and Domestic Relations courts. Fox called for more openness, accountability and fairness in those courts' procedures.

Carpenter said she is unaware of any claims of identity theft stemming from the online court information.

Spillane is on vacation, and Kennedy couldn't be reached Tuesday for comment.

But in an interview Monday, Kennedy said concerns about personal information in domestic relations cases provided impetus for the order to shut off Internet access. She said the concerns have been brewing for years, and the order's issuance after Fox's report was "coincidental."

Fox thinks not.

"It was a judicial tantrum designed to teach people a lesson: Don't you dare question the judges, because if you do, they will punish you," he said. "And in this case, they're basically punishing the public."

As a result of the judges' July 1 order, people like Brenda Clark, 49, of Hamilton say it's difficult to keep track of action in their own cases.

Clark has been acting as her own attorney in a child-support dispute. She said she was angry to find out that the cases were no longer accessible online, noting that she was never notified about an important motion in the case. "Without online access, I would have never known the motion was filed," she said.

Anyone who wants access to domestic relations files must now make a trip to Carpenter's Hamilton office.

Carpenter thinks that's inefficient and says it runs counter to open public records principles.

She says the order has created hassles for her staff, the general public and county offices.

Fox said there are more reasonable solutions. "The strategy the judges adopted was to cut off all access when they could have tried to find a way to cut off just the personal information they're concerned about," he said.

Carpenter said Kennedy wants to wait for state lawmakers to address the issue, and she fears the problem will drag on for months.

E-mail jmorse@enquirer.com