Anti-pornography activists in Cumberland County, North Carolina, have lost another round in their campaign to have the public library create an external selection committee as well as an adults-only shelf for material they deem pornographic. Their latest defeat came August 2 when county commissioners voted 4-2 to accept the open-access recommendations of the library board.
“Censorship doesn’t work,” commission member Tal Baggett declared. “It didn’t work in 1933 for the Nazis, and it will not work here in Cumberland County 66 years later.” After the meeting, which attracted 100 spectators on both sides of the issue, library-policy opponent George Boggs and policy supporter Paul Wilson debated outside the commissioners’ chambers. “Who defines what’s obscene?” Wilson asked. “Christians of this county will decide,” Boggs replied, according to the August 3 Fayetteville Observer Times.
Complainants said they will continue their fight to restrict materials. “This is only one step in an ultimate victory for children,” Jeff Long said.
Posted August 9, 1999.