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Texas Library Retains Selection Policy Despite Alleged ConspiracyThe latest chapter in the ongoing saga of challenges to the operation of the Montgomery County (Tex.) Memorial Library System took place July 28, when the County Commissioners’ Court voted 3–2 against adopting new acquisitions and reconsideration policies. The changes would have made library professionals and trustees accountable to the commissioners.The proposed policies also eliminated references to the use of professional review publications and collection-development lists in considering materials for acquisition or removal, deleted the American and Texas Library Associations’ freedom-to-read-and-view statements, and added age-appropriate subject matter to the selection criteria for the children’s and young-adult collection. More than 200 people attended the meeting, with some 25 voicing their opinions. “We cannot leave books in the library that encourage our kids to become homosexuals,” former commissioner Al Stahl testified. “I don’t agree with everything that is in the library, but if we start removing these materials, we will be raising a population that cannot reason sensibly,” area resident Janie Kobes retorted. “I can’t speak for the group that was here today, because they have said it isn’t over,” Commissioners’ Court Judge Alan B. Sadler said in the July 29 Conroe Courier. The issue may not be over for Sadler in another sense: The district attorney’s office is investigating whether Sadler, who was accused by the Montgomery County News July 19 of taking direction from the local Republication Leadership Council, violated Texas open-meetings law by privately sharing proposed policy changes with one commissioner at a time as he sought votes. Posted August 4, 2003. |
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