FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:  Katherine Garner

214.977.6658

Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas Elects 2006 Officers, Directors

The Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas, a First Amendment organization that educates, protects and advances the rights and responsibilities of the public to access government information and meetings, elected its 2006 officers and added three new board members in December.

Randy Sanders, retiring editor of the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, was elected president; Timothy M. Kelly, editor of The Beaumont Enterprise, vice president and Laura Prather, attorney with Jackson Walker L.L.P. in Austin, was elected treasurer. Keith Shelton, retired journalist in residence for the University of North Texas, was re-elected secretary.

Marla Crockett, news director of KERA public radio station in Dallas; Jean Marie Brown, managing editor/Eastern Tarrant County, Fort Worth Star-Telegram; Cynthia Figueroa Calhoun, Dallas County Clerk, and Cynthia Lyons-Garcia, assignments editor, Telemundo Channel 39 Dallas, all join the board of directors.

Former board members Ralph Langer, retired executive vice president and editor of The Dallas Morning News; Brett Shipp, reporter, WFAA-TV Dallas and Gary Hardee, publisher of the Star-Telegram Arlington, now serve on the advisory council.

The FOIFT is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization supported through grants from private citizens, corporations, foundations and tax-deductible donations. For more information, call 214.977.6658, visit our Web site at www.foift.org or write to FOIFT, 400 S. Record St., Suite 240, Dallas, Texas 75202.

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