Our thirty-third president, Harry S. Truman, was quoted in 1956 as saying, “I never give them hell. I just tell the truth and they think it is hell.”

Around The Times, the confusion of truth with hell is not too surprising to us. We almost expect it. It could be from a political figure who is being questioned in an editorial; or it could be a person arrested by the police (If we had not mentioned it no one would have known about it); or it could be the coach or sports fan who does not like our report about their team losing; or … the instances go on and on.

Recently a person arrested and convicted for a crime nearly 10 years ago wanted us to take the information off the Internet. Did you do what we reported? Yes, but there was more to it than what you wrote. When I Google my name on a computer your story comes up for everyone to see, the caller said. The Internet could become a crime deterrent, I thought when I heard this story. That is one of the things people should be most cautious about; once something is out on the Web, it takes a life of its own.

We like to think of ourselves as bearers of the truth. As your grandparent might have said, “The truth hurts.” To Truman it hurt so bad sometimes it felt like hell.

People who become public figures almost always do so with the best of intentions of always being truthful with the voter. Usually they were motivated into the public arena by the lack of public cooperation between them and an official of government.

Any newspaper worth its salt exists mainly as a defender of the First Amendment of the Constitution. “Congress shall make no law … prohibiting the free exercise … of speech, or the press; …”

Our current president has promised “transparency” in his government. Georgia Governor Perdue, who has not exactly been a flag waver for Freedom of the Press, has established a state Web site to bring more sunshine to state departments, state boards and local boards of education. You can check this out yourself at www.open.georgia.gov. It is not complete but it is a good start.

We applaud both men for their actions.

Locally we need to do a better job of heeding the Sunshine Laws and exercising more openness in government. The actions of public officials, whether elected or appointed are done so as an extension of the public.

Earlier this year, a senior Georgia Attorney General Stefan Ritter spoke to the Cobb County Board of Education about open meetings and open records. To Ritter, the Open Meetings Act is pretty clear. “If there’s any doubt about openness it has to be interpreted in favor of openness.”

Lunches with a quorum are considered meetings, he told the Board. Behind door exceptions are few, he added. “No votes in closed session. All votes of all kind are in the open,” he explained.

“If you violate the Open Meetings Act everything you did in violation of the Act is void,” Ritter said.

If my boss asks me a question or wants to see a file in my office, I respond in the positive without excuses. I know who hired me and who signs my check. Our public officials need to do a better job of remembering who they work for as well.