Reader, Casper, asked Columbia news, views & reviews to submit “right-to-know” requests and pay for information that should be free and open to anyone, anywhere. Information about inspections at any food serving establishment is supposed to be posted at the State’s Department of Agriculture’s Website.

If any person seeks to know the inspection results of any food-serving establishment, they can, if the municipality is following the state law.

For instance, there’s a new restaurant coming to Columbia, it has another restaurant in another part of the state. Recently, someone, evidently, registered a complaint with the State Department of Agriculture; the result was an inspection.

Click here to download the result of that inspection. 

A few months earlier, the restaurant was inspected for its opening. Here is that inspection outcome. [NOTE: Wonder whether the complaint was filed by a competitor?]

This information is readily available for free for anyone.

Why is that not true for any food serving establishment in Columbia? Why cannot the borough post its own inspections at its Website?

Is the borough so desperate for cash that it needs to extort twenty-five cents a page for information that should be freely provided?