At their July 15 meeting, Cumberland County (N.C.) Public Library trustees rejected demands to establish an adults-only section and an external selection committee. The board also voted to retain three titles that antipornography activist Daniel Barton wanted removed: Knowing by Rosalyn McMillan, and An Underground Education and History Laid Bare by Richard Zacks.
The Fayetteville Observer-Times reported July 16 that most of the 60 people attending the meeting were supporters of the library. Many wore American flags to symbolize the First Amendment. Barton, who was not at the meeting, said, “I find it very sad that people would wrap themselves in an American flag to defend pornography.”
Board Chair Kim Shaffer will report the decisions at an August 2 meeting of the county commissioners, who had given the trustees 60 days to respond to residents’ concerns over sexually explicit materials. Although Barton and his supporters plan to appeal to the commission, County Attorney Grainger Barrett told the newspaper he doesn’t believe the body has the authority to make library policy decisions.
Posted July 19, 1999.