County library ordinance returns for second reading Monday

The Saline County Quorum Court will hear the second reading Monday of an ordinance giving the county judge oversight powers over the library board of directors.

The justices of the peace heard the first reading at the June 19 meeting before a standing-room only crowd.

the proposal to amend several parts of the ordinance that created the Saline County Library board in 1978. The changes would give County Judge Matt Brumley oversight of the library board in several areas, including spending and employment. The ordinance requires a second and third reading before the justices of the peace will vote on whether or not to adopt the ordinance.

The majority of residents speaking June 19 opposed the proposed changes. There were 24 speakers at the meeting, 15 of those were opposed to the ordinance while the other nine spoke in favor.

JP Keith Keck voiced his concerns about the legality of the QC’s recent actions. He said he spent the week studying federal case law and found several cases concerning situations similar to the one the court finds itself in now.

“We need to make sure we’re not holding our library to a higher standard or holding them to something that other case law has thrown out,” said Keck.

The library controversy began when members of the Saline County Republican Women and others sympathetic to their cause approached the justices of the peace about books they deemed inappropriate which were available in the library’s young adult section.

A website spoofing the official Saline County Library website, which claims the library has X-rated book.

Of the 17 books listed on the website, nine are objected to due to their having LGTBQ content. Six books were objectional for having sexual content, and two were on the list for having race as subject matter.

The website also calls for the firing of Library Director Patty Hector.

While no authorship of the website is immediately appar

ent, it accuses Hector of obstructing “the Quorum Court, the County

Judge, the Saline County Republican Women, and private citizens” in their efforts to have books removed from where minor-aged readers could access them. The website goes on to say “It is time for Director Hector to be removed.”

Hector, since the beginning of this controversy in April, has said she is following the precedent that was set in Counts v. Cedarville School District case in 2002. In the case, Billy Ray Counts and Mary Nell Counts, parents of a student in the Cedarville School District, filed suit against the school district for violating their son’s First and Fourteenth Amendment rights when they restricted students’ access to certain books in the school library. The court sided with Counts in the decision, stating that restricting access to certain books is a violation of first amendment rights.

“What can I do? It’s illegal for me to remove materials or relocate materials,” said Hector in an April interview.

The county’s legislative body passed a resolution in April requesting the library to move certain books deemed obscene or explicit out of the children’s section of the library.

Keck said they need to be sure this ordinance is not seen as retribution against the library staff after putting them in what he described as an “awkward position” after passing the resolution in April.

“The issue becomes that this ordinance was generated out of our resolution,” said Keck.

However, JP Josh Curtis argued that the ordinance being considered Monday night had nothing to do with the April resolution requesting the library move certain books out of the children’s section.

The Quorum Court will meet at 6:30 p.m. Monday in Courtroom No. 3 of the Saline County Courthouse.