Malia Riggs
Elmore Autauga News
The Prattville County Commission met Tuesday night with standing room only where many members of the community had a chance to speak to the members of the commission regarding the newly appointed members of the Autauga Prattville Public Library Board.
“I always think it’s great when a community can come in and respond. It’s great to hear all the different views, we do have a diverse community. We appreciate the viewpoints that were said tonight. I appreciate everybody that has served the library board, they are not paid citizens and they serve on their own free will and I appreciate that,” Chairman Jay Thompson said.
The newly appointed members of the library board, appointed by the Autauga County Commission are Logan Strock, Ray Boles and Rachel Daniels. Chairmen Thompson confirmed that two of the new members are Autauga County educators and the third appointed member is a business owner in the city of Prattville.
Before the board was appointed, a string of resignations plagued the Autauga Prattville Public Library Board, with resignations as recent as last week. The only current members of the board were members that were appointed last week by the county commission.
Chairman Thompson stated that there were no recommendations for new appointees at the last commission meeting for new members of the library board. However, Thompson confirmed he received over 30 applications personally.
It has been a long discussion in the community on the battle of content in the library. Many members of both sides of the debate spoke at the meeting in light of the resignations, children having supposed access to sexually explicit content in the public library and the commission’s recent action taken with the library board.
When asked his personal stance on the matter, “Sexually explicit books do not need to be available to minors. That’s something I asked very early on. Is there some way that we can make sure that a minor does not pick up a book they don’t need to pick up?” Thompson said.
Many members of the Clean Up Alabama and the Read Freely Alabama groups were in attendance as well.
“It’s pretty obvious that Clean Up Alabama has pretty much stacked the board at this point. My biggest fear is that Clean Up Alabama is going to get their entire wish list, unrestricted, no negotiation or restraint, and turn the Prattville Library into a cautionary tale for the rest of the state,” Sam Olson, a member of Read Freely Alabama said.
Ell White II served for 25 years in three respective branches of the United States Military and has four deployments under his belt, and made his service known at the meeting.
“We should look for people that are academically sound and has a diversity for all people. I went there to help them get their democracy, so we deserve our democracy here in the United States. Parents should do what parents do. Parent. What happens when you start segregating books, you start segregating people’s rights and then you disenfranchise them. Then you tell me all the deployments I went on to help get their democracy, then what did I fight for,” White said.
However, the commissioners heard both sides of the spectrum of opinions that were in the meeting Tuesday night.
Lenny Schaefer, a member of the Clean Up Alabama group stated that he thought the meeting went well and that he appreciated the freedoms available where everyone’s voice can be heard.
“It’s important that that freedom is upheld. I like the way the discussion went tonight. I’m frustrated though, as I’m in the conservative position, and clearly our motivation is about protecting our children. When they throw in their red herring, they throw in their censorship, they throw in their racial discrimination and their religious rights, that’s not what this is all about, that’s them (the opposing argument) trying to distract the real issue. We just want reasonable identification for our children,” Schaefer said.
Wilberto Sanchez, another member of the Clean Up Alabama also spoke to the community at Tuesday’s meeting and used the “red herring” reference as well.
“It’s very important to protect our kids. I know that one side tends to say that it’s a red herring or that this is only the cover story to go against other material. But if you look at the books that we have submitted and the books that we have presented, there’s clear sexual content. People try to divide the line of ‘oh it’s not pornography.’ well if we have cartoon images of naked people for kids or minors, minors can be up to 18, its pornography material for kids,” Sanchez said.
All other resolutions on the agenda were approved.
