“A Tacoma resident working with the United Nations in Pristina, Kosovo, has put the on-line resources of state government to use in helping reconstruct some functions of civil government in the Balkans. I’ll bet that the Washington State Legislature never considered that some of their provisions would make their way into the laws of Kosovo, said Rick Lorenz of Tacoma, a former U.S. Marine Corps officer currently serving the UN as Legal Affairs Officer for the Interim Administration in Kosovo, reporting by email.Lorenz used the Washington State Library Find-It! WashingtonTM web site for his Kosovo research on Public Utility Districts. Find-It! WashingtonTM is a specialty index focusing on every Washington State government entity’s electronic or web-based publications – whether state, county or city – and a pointer to their catalog print publications at http://find-it.wa.gov.I was asked a legal question about water utility rates, stated Lorenz in his email. The UN has not passed a regulation on that subject so water companies are essentially unregulated. I found language from the Washington State Public Utility code section through the Washington State Library web site.Besides serving the United Nations, Lorenz was a Fulbright Senior Scholar last year teaching in St. Petersburg, Russia. Last fall Lorenz lectured on National Security and International Relations at the Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington and will return to lecture next winter. Lorenz has been a member of the Washington State Bar since 1976.State Librarian Nancy Zussy received the email, forwarded by a business associate.It doesn’t surprise me that Officer Lorenz used our services, Zussy said. The Washington State Library provides excellent electronic services such as Find-It! WashingtonTM and Database Central directly to our customers via the Internet. We are pleased that he could use the Public Utility District information to help with the rebuilding efforts there.”