"Via Trench Reynolds’ CraigsCrimeList we find 46-year-old James Michael Stewart (pictured above) who used the Internet crime facilitation network Craigslist to advertise for anonymous people to meet him in the Easley public library branch (the Captain Kimberly Hampton Memorial Library) bathroom for an anonymous rendezvous .
A library patron, who happened to be perusing the section of Craigslist where men seek anonymous gay sex, alerted the library director to Stewart’s ad. The patron apparently had already made contact with Stewart and arranged for the restroom Romeo to show up before telling director Allison Anderson."
The Library Director in Wenatchee, WA is facing the problem head on sans fear of the ALA or the ACLU.
Unfortunately, the West Bend Community Memorial Library cozies up to the same low standards of the ALA, as our library board continues to uphold:
1. NO PORN FILTERS on ANY computers. None. If your kids have one of those "computer stickers" on their library card because you signed a consent form, keep in mind this means they are using computers that have NO SAFETY NETS. I have found that parents are often caught unaware by this information and had assumed libraries took appropriate precautions for their patrons, many of which include minor children. Not so! PARENTS ARE STRONGLY CAUTIONED when allowing their minor children to access the internet. No filtering software is in place. Guard your children's eyes and minds when considering the use of library computers. They'll be getting a whole lot more than homework information....
2. Library books for "young adults" that INCLUDE PORNOGRAPHIC SEX ACTS. Read more HERE.
Looking for more information?
Click HERE to read the full timeline of events that shows West Bend Libary Director, Michael Tyree, Young Adult librarian Kristin Pekoll, and the West Bend Library Board "stick it" to the parents of West Bend's children after they asked for assistance in identifying sexually explicit young adult materials and the placement of such materials in the adult section of the library.
Click HERE to read about other libraries who have been successful in providing the services requested by their local community, and how you can take back local control of your community library.
Click HERE to read the transcripts of an earlier Mark Belling talk radio show that lends explanation to what really happened in West Bend, Wisconsin.
Like I said in a previous post, "While the ALA continues to combat local communities, and local librarians follow in hypnotized fashion, public computers remain open and accessible to......porn. P-O-R-N. What better place to get your sick fantasy fix than your local public library? It's FREE. Since the library refuses to use filtering software for the protection of even children, the ability of the average patron to utilize the facilities (ahem!) for their "perverted personal pleasure" is a slam dunk! Remember, though.....if you get caught, Wisconsin says that viewing child pornography online is also possession."
4 comments:
The problem with libraries starts with the trend to have people with MLS degrees. The "professional librarian" is part of a culture of information elitism that is light years away from the libraries of our youth, staffed with people who loved books. It's hyper-partisan and looks down on patrons and their children.
Not long ago I was with my young teenage daughter at the WB library. We were using the internet. I was looking around at other people who were also using the internet. I noticed a man who kept looking around as he clicked on sites. Then, there it was, PORN on his computer screen. I went and reported it to the librarian, who stood and watched and verified that he was looking at porn on a public computer. She asked him to leave. He left. He went downstairs and was walking around near the magazines. It made me very fearful to let my kids alone in the library. It was very creepy, and I wish the librarian would have made him leave the library.
I also asked her why the library didn't protect the public from perverts like him. She said they won't do it, but just monitor the computers.(well, I was the one monitoring, not them.)
Yes, the bathroom is a place where sexual perversion can happen, all fueled by internet porn and other material that can sexually arouse someone.
What is wrong with us? Why won't we protect our children?
Profile - I'm sorry for your bad experience. West Bend really is a great place to live and it's a shame that our very own public library will not strive to uphold the standards and values of the people who live here. They are out of sync with West Bend, which has no interest in becoming Los Angeles or New York City.
I agree with you to an extent, Rob, about the "information elitism" that can come with being a professional librarian. However, I don't think you can say that today's librarians don't love books--and further, libraries today aren't just about books, since so much information also comes digitally. This all adds to the sticky situation of what to allow patrons to view online.
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