A man who claims to represent a group of capital-area business owners has written a letter demanding the resignation of Concord (N.H.) Public Library Director Lou Ungarelli unless filters are placed on Internet computers in the children’s room. The faxed letter, received April 8 by the city clerk’s office, was signed by an otherwise unidentified David Jones, who threatened that the group would “collectively begin retracting financial support of local enterprise, and Concord municipal activity,” according to the April 11 Concord Monitor.
Jones characterized Ungarelli’s attitude towards unrestricted access to the Internet by children as “unacceptable and morally degenerate” and said that his replacement “with an individual of higher moral fiber [was] essential to the welfare of Concord city children.” The demand was in response to a March 17 article in the Monitor that reported some adults use the library computers to look at sexually explicit sites.
The Monitor reported that city officials had no idea who Jones was or what group he represented. Mayor Mike Donovan said he would pass the letter on to the library’s board of trustees for its April 15 meeting, but he had no intention of removing Ungarelli. “This is a matter for the board of trustees to resolve,” he said. “It’s not, in my opinion, appropriate for the city council to meddle in how the library is operated.”
Posted April 15, 2002.