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Dear Editor:
This is in regards to the statement sent to the Hamilton County Reporter by the Hamilton County Republican Party “Massillamany condemns disruptive behavior at library board meeting.”
First of all, that particular letter does not, in any way, represent the majority of citizens, regardless of political affiliation, in Hamilton County!
I have been to many of the Hamilton East Public Library Board meetings and recently attended the meeting on July 27, although I did not see Mr. Massillamany there.
I was there for Mr. Crouch’s presentation. Although he is passionate in his opinions, I did not feel he was disrespectful. He was pointing out there are similar violent and other behaviors in the various editions of the Bible as in some of the books being moved from the teen to the adult section. He made no disparaging comments about the Bible. These were not inflammatory nor disparaging comments. He was pointing out the inconsistencies in the enforcement of the censorship policy four board members have pushed through.
The Library Board president admitted one of the reasons the meeting was changed to an afternoon meeting was an apparent attempt to avoid continued critical comments about the restrictions in their new censorship policy. Four board members want to silence public opinion of those who disagree with the current library board’s policy.
The reason there have been so many comments during the public speaking portion of the library board meetings is the majority of Hamilton County residents do NOT like the censorship policy which restricts materials teens read.
Take a look around and you will see a small group of extremists (which featured a Hitler quote in their newsletter) want to control and restrict what our children read.
Holly Beaver
Noblesville
Focusing on the extremists and activists on either side of an issue gives them the attention they thirst for and diverts attention from the true issue itself.
If the issue here is the book policy, I encourage residents who are impacted and interested to focus their time and energy on why they support or do not support the policy as opposed to people who are trying to center the attention on themselves.
I agree with the author’s viewpoint that the library boards new collection development policy isn’t reflective of what the majority of Hamilton County wants. The majority of comments at the board meetings have not been supportive of the new collection development policy even when the four board members in favor of the collection policy invited supporters who live hours away from Hamilton County to speak in June meeting, the majority of speakers in the room were still not in favor of the new policy.
Based on the policy the four board members created, the review committee recommended the book, “Why?” by Taye Diggs, stay in the children’s section. The board overruled their own policy and moved it out of the children’s section.
Also if you don’t like a book, you don’t have to read it. It is apparent from some board meetings that some library board members may not have used library or had a library card prior to being placed on the board which is a shame.
Justice for Adam!