Posted on 01/30/2007 9:01:41 AM PST by plan2succeed.org
Sacramento Officials Refuse to Ban Online Porn in Libraries
At a public hearing late Thursday, parents and students pled with the Sacramento Public Library Authority Board (SPLA Board) to protect kids from the dangers of allowing pedophiles and other sex addicts to view online porn in libraries. One student related a personal experience of trying to conduct research while sitting next to someone viewing online porn. A number of library systems in California and throughout the nation prohibit the viewing of online porn in their facilities. However, Sacramento libraries allow adults to request that filtering software be turned off for any reason, including the viewing of porn. As a result, librarians note that libraries’ free internet access is being increasingly used to access pornography, even with children nearby.
Pacific Justice Institute urged the SPLA Board to heed the parents’ and students’ pleas. PJI Staff Attorney Matthew McReynolds wrote to the Board and spoke at the public hearing, explaining that recent Supreme Court precedent clearly allows public libraries to ban porn. Attorney McReynolds also cited recent investigative reports in Chicago, which have revealed a high incidence of sex crimes taking place in libraries which refuse to ban online porn. On the flip side, the Board also heard from a local constitutional law professor and a lawyer claiming affiliation with the ACLU, both of whom argued generally that the First Amendment protects porn but did not explain why it must be taxpayer subsidized.
In the end, a majority of the SPLA Board voted to continue allowing library patrons to view online porn. The SPLA Board is comprised of the five Sacramento County Supervisors and four members of the Sacramento City Council, some of whom designate alternates to attend the meetings. Only three Board members--Supervisor Don Nottoli; Ted Wolter, alternate for Supervisor Roberta MacGlashan; and Lisa Schmidt, alternate for Supervisor Susan Peters, sided with the families at the public hearing by supporting a ban on porn.
Poll Question: Please visit our website, www.pacificjustice.org, to give us your opinion: Should taxpayer-funded public libraries provide access to online pornography?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
The Pacific Justice Institute is a non-profit 501(c)(3) legal defense organization specializing in the defense of religious freedom, parental rights, and other civil liberties.
P.O. Box 276600
Sacramento, CA 95827-6600
Phone: (916) 857-6900
Fax (916) 857-6902
Internet: www.pacificjustice.org
I'll buy that, since religion is not science, nor is science religion, and I don't want government mucking up religion or vice versa.
Idiots. The library deserves to be severely sued (and WILL be sued) for allowing child molesters to exploit children using porn chat rooms.
The electronic trail is extremely easily documented, making this the easiest case in the world for the California trial lawyers to collect huge cash payouts.
The Sacramento Library administration are certifiable morons.
Libraries are dumping "The Classics" 'cuz nobody checks them out. Why am I taxed so people can get free DVDs and porn? Defund public libraries.
Oh, and I forgot. The libraries are also homeless flop-houses.
As for DVDs-- I guess a case can be made to have them, but I've noticed that the library that I go to has fewer of them than they used to.
As for the bums -- flush them out.
Libraries once were a public asset arguably worth taxing society for, but things are different now. With the internet, particularly, access to literature is everywhere. It's tough to make the case for the buildings, the staff, the materials, the overhead, etc., etc. Alas, I hated to see mimeograph machines go too, but it's best to let these things pass fondly into memory.
No doubt about it, things are different. And sometimes I think I'm soon to be one of those relics. I read plenty on the internet but I also like the look, feel, and smell of a book and for me, the internet is no replacment. In fact, I don't have patience to read on the internet anything that is more than two pages. If I get a long e-mail at work, I print it out.
I'm just hoping that the changes also won't mean the end of things that are worthwhile. That people who care about education and literacy will use the internet not just as a time-waster and fantasyland, but will dig to find things the library won't shelve, or maybe even things people can't readily buy. And that they will pass this along to others, especially their kids if they have them. That's what I've always tried to do with mine. I have a first-grader who is interested in the stuff all first-graders are interested in. But I've also worked to help him be interested in books -- and he is. We get them from the library. We buy them. A while back we picked up a stack of books for him and "The Old Man and the Sea" for myself. He was intrigued by the picture of the fisherman and fish on the cover, and asked me if there were other pictures. I told him there weren't. But he wanted to have a try at reading it, and he did. I told him to make sure he told his teacher that he had been reading Hemingway with his old man!
Sure are (at least down here in Savannah) I can't say for the rest of the state, but, I haven't heard of any problems.
The Fort Vancouver Regional Library District in So WA which has libraries in four counties refused to filter all computers for years until the voters got to them through their pocketbooks.
A few years ago we voted down a bond measure twice and it finally got their attention. All computers are filtered for adults and children now and the bond measure was passed. The ACLU and the ALA can go pound sand on their lawsuits, SCOTUS has ruled that filtering is permissable.
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