Posted on 04/23/2007 9:40:15 PM PDT by balch3
BENTONVILLE -- A Bentonville man asked the city to pay his two sons $20,000 and to fire the library director for including what he called "pornography" in the Bentonville Public Library collection.
"The Whole Lesbian Sex Book" by Felice Newman was removed from the library shelf after Earl Adams of Bentonville complained it is "patently offensive and lacks any artistic, literary or scientific value," according to a letter he wrote and faxed Feb. 16 to Mayor Bob McCaslin.
Adams said his 14- and 16-year-old sons, Kyle and Ryan, looked at the book while the 14-year-old was browsing for material on military academies. He requested the city pay him $10,000 per child, the maximum allowed under the Arkansas obscenity law.
"My sons were greatly disturbed by viewing this material and this matter has caused many sleepless nights in our house," he said in another e-mail to McCaslin earlier in February.
Library Director Cindy Suter initially relocated the book to a less accessible location as Adams requested in his first e-mail complaint. Then Adams asked Feb. 16 for the book to be removed and sent McCaslin a letter threatening a lawsuit.
"God was speaking to my heart that day and helped me find the words that proved successful in removing this book from the shelf," Adams stated Thursday. *
Advisory board members voted unanimously April 3 to remove the book from circulation and find a similar resource book, if possible. If not, the book will likely go back on the shelf, Suter said.
Library Advisory Board member George Spence said he found the book crude and agrees it ought to be replaced with a suitable book on the same topic.
"A more sensitive, more clinical approach to same material might be more appropriate for the library," Spence said.
Adams said in an e-mail Thursday he will fight the book's return.
"Any effort to reinstate the book will be met with legal action and protests from the Christian community," Adams stated in an e-mail.
Adams asked to answer questions by e-mail because he said he feared being misquoted.
The city attorney said the book is not pornographic and the city won't pay Adams.
"There is not a valid legal concern here," Camille Thompson said. "In fact, (the request for money) made me question his motivation."
The flap about Newman's book happened shortly before Suter announced her intention Monday to resign effective May 31, but Suter said it had nothing to do with her decision.
Both Spence and McCaslin concurred that there is no connection between the two.
"I know Cindy, and she is not an impulsive person. She would not have done it without a lot of thought," McCaslin said. "Assumptions can get you in big trouble."
Suter said she needs to devote more time to her downtown business, Fusion Fine Art Gallery, which she opened in June 2005.
Suter has given most of her attention the last few years to planning the new Bentonville Public Library, which opened in October at 405 S. Main St.
Suter said the Library Advisory Board considered Adams' complaint as soon as it could and invited Adams to attend. He was not present at the meeting.
Spence, who also serves as the City Council's attorney, said the board discussed both Adams' complaint and the library's policy for reconsidering library materials.
"I thought we had a very intelligent -- I almost want to say 'high-minded' -- discussion about the book and about the policy," Spence said.
In addition to removing the book, the board asked that the policy be revised to give board members the final say on reconsideration of library materials. That decision now rests with the library director.
"In my opinion that decision should ultimately be up to more than one person," Spence said.
Spence said there was no "tug of war" over who should have final authority.
Suter supports the action.
"We had an excellent meeting and discussion. I've very supportive and pleased," she said.
Spence anticipates the City Council will have to approve the change.
Suter disagreed with Adams' conclusion that having Newman's book in the library pushes an "immoral social agenda," as he stated in his Feb. 16 letter.
The book is a sex guide deemed suitable for all public libraries, according to the Library Journal, which the Bentonville library uses to select materials.
Libraries must have a diverse collection to "meet the needs of all the people in the community," she said.
"My focus is to develop a inclusive collection and not an exclusive collection," Suter said.
AT A GLANCE
Reconsideration Process
A formal complaint about specific material in the Bentonville Public Library collections sets in motion the following:
* A committee evaluates the item and recommends action
* The library director decides whether to keep or remove material
* The Library Advisory Board determines whether the reconsideration was handled according to the stated policies and procedures.
Source: City of Bentonville
Old issues of National Geographic magazines with articles about native girls?
According to the FirstSearch Worldcat database, this title can be found in 21 public libraries in California.
yeah I bet they were disturbed. Disturbed that they ran out of Vaseline Intensive Care lotion before 3:00 pm.
that doesn’t surprise me at all.
Obviously. Everyone knows what they were doing instead of sleeping. I don't think they were "disturbed."
And another thing . . . what information regarding military academies might be found in that particular title?
” A Bentonville man asked the city to pay his two sons $20,000 and”
Somebody wants a payday. I don’t care how much a book needs to be off the shelf a $20,000 payout is ridiculous. I’d imagine that, not getting rid of the book is this guys real motivation. We are living in litigious days.
Yeah, every father should sue because they don't have the guts to simply tell their children that the book is wrong. Nevermind the fact that the librarian moved the book to a place where kids can't look at it. Nope, the guy wants to have his cake and eat it too and save everyone else from themselves. Meddling moralists are no different than liberals.
No doubt the cause of the 'many sleepless nights.' How those boys ran into it while looking for military academies, I don't know, but ok. Maybe it was in the wrong place. But sleepless nights? Traumatized by a book they didn't read? Gimme a break.
If you don't like the book, go ahead and complain. I don't believe in censorship, but they're your tax dollars. The library should reflect the community and if you feel it doesn't, file a complaint. I notice the father couldn't make it to the meeting to discuss that matter. He sure ran to the lawyers tho.
“this matter has caused many sleepless nights in our house’
And the Rutgers women’s basketball team was despondent over Imus’ remarks. Give us a break, dad. This wasn’t the high school library, public libraries are in enough trouble without having to be sanitized for the children, and your suing your neighbors (they pay for city govt} for your sexual sensitivities is inconscionable.
LOL.
You know come to think about it, the more I think of the title of the book (”The Whole Lesbian Sex Book”), I might wonder if they have one on the “Half Lesbian Sex Book”. Might pick up a few pointers.
Oh, I could tell, no, if I did, byby me.
Yes, this is excellent. Mega-dittoes.
I'm sorry, this just sounds too funny to me.
Brother One: "Oh crap, here comes Dad! Remember, we were looking up material on military academies!"
Brother Two: "Yeah, military academies! That's the ticket!"
Ha!
If they were so disturbed, I wonder why they even picked the book up and opened it?
I hope this father sticks with it. I would suggest he not make it into a “religious thing”. He should direct his argument on the accessibility fact. That any age can easily view this material and they need to be protected from this. There are legal ways to handle this. I recently requested for a book to be removed off the schools library and I had to research the laws and find the ones that they were breaking by having the book on the shelf. I did have legal help and assistance and in the end they removed the book.
I pray that he will not become emotionally charged up or angry about this. He needs to use facts and an intelligent argument. They will not remove a book because a certain religious group finds it offensive.
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