Family-Friendly Group Hails
Video Restrictions in Oklahoma County
“Decent community values finally have a victory,” Oklahomans for Children and Families President Bob Anderson said July 16, the day after members of Oklahoma County’s Metropolitan Library System commission voted 13–3 to restrict patrons under 17 from borrowing R-rated videos without written permission from a parent or guardian. The move comes 10 months after a federal judge ruled that the library could reshelve the Academy Award-winning film The Tin Drum since it did not contain child pornography as OCAF and others claimed.
The new policy supercedes an open-access policy that OCAF first challenged in 1996. Ex-trustee Sharon Saulmon, who spearheaded the fight, told American Libraries that Oklahoma City Mayor Kirk Humphreys chose not to reappoint her or six other open-access proponents to the board in the last year, which changed its philosophical complexion. It was Humphreys, who serves as an ex-officio member, who proposed the lending-policy change.
According to library Public Information Officer Julia Fresonke, staffers will present an implementation “game plan” August 26.
Posted July 26, 1999.
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