At the meeting, area resident Bonnie Beacom testified, “There are so many negative influences out there, and I really don’t think the public library should be something we have to protect our kids from.” The lone board member who dissented, Carol Gendler, responded, “It should be a parent’s decision as to what children check out at the library.”
Among the trustees voting to reinstate the original policy was Cliff Herd, who had originally backed the February revision and is one of two candidates seeking to unseat an Omaha city council member in the April 5 primary. He explained in the March 17 Omaha World-Herald that the board “wanted to respond to [the community’s] concern and not have those materials available to juvenile cardholders.”
One of Herd’s opponents in the primary, Mike Cavanaugh, has been outspoken in favoring checkout restrictions for minors, and issued a press release praising the policy reinstatement.
Posted March 18, 2005.