Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Public Meeting at Jessamine County Public Library: A Fuller, Decidedly Dramatic Account

Link to November 18 Lexington Herald-Leader article, "Jessamine library board hears public comment about book-checkout policy".

Excerpt: An evangelist yelled at the Jessamine County Public Library Board, then turned his attention to the seated crowd of more than 100: "If this is not pornography, what is?"

He had passed out photocopies of a page out of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier to each of the board's members, and he held a copy aloft as he spoke.


Earl Lee Watts, who said he evangelizes around the state but has no parish, then explained to the rest of the crowd what the picture contained: A naked woman sitting on a naked man's lap being fondled.


Bobbi Stout responded by saying that she had spent some time studying the Bill of Rights and Freedom of Speech and what her preacher daddy who fought in World War II had said about standing up for what you believe. "It's dangerous to democracy when an interest group imposes its views on another," she said. "Stand up for the Constitution."


It was not business as usual during the public comment interval of the library board's November meeting.

Then there's this curious testimony.

West Jessamine High School sophomore Alexis Kierstead brought a petition signed by 244 students asking that the board guide their reading decisions. She said they all believe that "it takes a village to raise a child." She also confessed to having hidden books from her parents.

Alexis, my guess is that the library staff is already doing this -- and much more!

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