Filter Measure Makes It
onto Holland Ballot
A week after Hudsonville, Michigan, officials enacted a pro-filtering ordinance to avoid placing it on a special-election ballot, the city council in nearby Holland reluctantly voted to put the same American Family Association-sponsored initiative on its town’s February 22 special-election ballot. The petition that forced the council to consider the measure stipulated that it either approve the ordinance outright or place it before voters.
If approved, the measure will force Holland to withhold its millage from the Herrick District Library, which serves Holland and three other municipalities, unless HDL filters all but one Internet workstation. Library board President John Meengs has stated trustees would rather shutter HDL due to lack of funds than comply.
City Attorney Andrew Mulder has warned that the measure could bring a “myriad of legal problems” to Holland for trying to regulate a separate governing authority, according to the December 16 Holland Sentinel.. Officials have not responded to an offer from the AFA’s Tupelo, Mississippi-based law center to defend the city pro bono from any related lawsuits.
Posted December 20, 1999.
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