Applicants Wanted

 

"A little more flexibility"

By Gretchen Garrity

A local citizen has gleaned information regarding changes to the Christian County Library's bylaws in 2021. The clip below (prompted) details that a newly-drafted bylaw, Art. VIII Scope of Authority, was shared by the executive director to the board attorney and later approved by the new Board.

Here was the situation in August of 2021. Between April and August of 2021, four new board members began their terms: Matthew Suarez, Paula Bishop, Kristal Hicks, and Allyson Tuckness, respectively. Current board member Janis Hagen began her term in May 2020. The executive director was hired in April and began work on May 17, 2021.

It is interesting that the new executive director was almost immediately involved in the process of updating, changing and adding to the Board's bylaws. State statute says the board of trustees itself "...shall make and adopt such bylaws, rules and regulations for their own guidance as may be expedient, not inconsistent with law, for the government of the library and in general shall carry out the spirit and intent of sections 182.010 to 182.120 in establishing and maintaining the free county library." 

According to the board minutes in 2021, it is not until the June 21, 2021 board meeting are "Bylaw Revisions--First Review" mentioned under New Business. At that time the board approved the draft presented, pending attorney review. At the July 26, 2021 meeting, the minutes state, "Executive Director Brumett presented another possible revised version of the Bylaw revisions approved at June's regular meeting that incorporated new suggestions from the Library's attorney. As none of the changes were substantive, or would affect the legality or efficacy of the first draft, the Board was able to discuss which wording they preferred.

Matthew Suarez then moved to approve the version that incorporated the Attorney's suggestions and bring that second version to a formal and final vote at the August regular meeting." The motion was approved.

Then, at the August 23, 2021 meeting, a second reading of the bylaw revisions was voted upon with "revisions as presented." It passed.

Besides Art. VIII Scope of Authority that is detailed in the clip, there were several other changes that shed some light on how the library's staff administers the library.

According to a July 19, 2021 email obtained through the Sunshine Law, Executive Director Renee Brumett writes to Board attorney, Harry Styron, that "...the board reviewed a first reading of a bylaws revision in June. I've attached a document containing the new version and the old version. Would you be able to do a quick review and make sure there is nothing specifically illegal or inadvisable in it? Most of the changes were in response to specific requests from the board due to things that came up in the last year. Tory and I proposed a few changes to allow a little more flexibility on a few things. All of the edits or additions are highlighted."

It would be helpful to know which changes were requested from the board, and which board bylaw changes were proposed by the executive director and staff member.  

Art. II, Sec. IX is an interesting bylaw. It was added in as an entirely new section of Art. II. While the board attorney recommended different wording, the bylaw was left largely as is and passed. However, state statute says, "Vacancies in the board occasioned by removals, resignations or otherwise shall be reported to the county commission and shall be filled in like manner as original appointments; except that if the vacancy is in an unexpired term, the appointment shall be made for only the unexpired portion of that term."

That phrase, "term renewal" was questioned by Board attorney Styron in his response on July 20, 2021. He said, "I don't know of any reason to mention reappointment."

Reappointments or renewals of trustee positions seemed important to either the previous board or the administrative staff.

 

 Next, Art. III, Sec. III Quorum, Attendance & Removal, is a new section added to the bylaw revisions in 2021. The original draft described the Board of Trustees as "public representatives and administrative agents of the Library..."

Attorney Styron comments in his July 20 response, "The first sentence states that the Trustees are "administrative agents" of the Library. I do not believe that this term is consistent with the function of the Trustees as established in Article VIII, which limits the functions of the Trustees being members of a board that employs an Executive Director to do all the administration." The term "administrative agents" was removed from the proposed bylaw in the second draft.

What is important to understand is the attorney noted the other newly-drafted bylaw, Art. VIII Scope of Authority "limits the functions of the Trustees" since it gives to the Executive Director "all the administration" of the library. The implications of bylaw changes limiting the governing authority of the board itself is troubling since the board is publicly-appointed on behalf of taxpaying citizens to properly govern the Christian County Library District.

Lastly, Art. VIII, Sec. II states, "Just as the Executive Director regularly evaluates the staff, it is the responsibility of the Board of Trustees to evaluate the Library's Director's effectiveness in providing library services to the Community."

Attorney Styron commented in part, "The Board's evaluation of the Executive Director on "effectiveness in providing library services," limits the Board unnecessarily. The Executive Director could be doing well in providing library services, but might be excelling or misbehaving in significant other ways."

Despite the attorney's advice, the bylaw was passed without change. That seems to conflict with the meeting minutes: "Matthew Suarez then moved to approve the version that incorporated the Attorney's suggestions and bring that second version to a formal and final vote at the August regular meeting."

It may be there was another email exchange between Executive Director Brumett and attorney Styron that provided for a different set of suggestions for the August meeting where a final vote on revisions was made. However, the fact the board was either unaware of their responsibility to "make and adopt such bylaws...for their own guidance," or they felt comfortable passing off at least part of that responsibility to the executive director, is problematic. 

In the end, it appears in 2021 the board of trustees gave up some of their authority to the executive director of the library.

Gender Pushers

There are many books in our Christian County Library that push gender ideology on children as young as toddlers. Below this heartbreaking video is a list of close to 30 books currently in the CCL. Tonight, at the monthly CCL board meeting (6 p.m. at the Nixa branch), there will be activists who think it is evil to keep these books out of the hands of children. They will be there to call other citizens names like "Bigot," "Nazi," "White Christian Nationalist," and "Fascist." Protecting children is not for the faint of heart.

Watch:

Tragic https://t.co/CM49CXMwgu

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 22, 2024

 

• The Pronoun Books, for ages 3 and under (Tags: Gender, Gender Identity, Gender studies, Diversity, Early Reader)

• Antiracist Baby, for ages 0-4 (Tags: Social justice, activism, race relations, diversity)

• I’m Not a Girl, for ages 3-6 years (Tags: Transgender, Gender Identity, Acceptance)

• Books like My Fade is Fresh, for ages 3-7. (Tags: Gender non-conforming)

• Small Knight and the Anxiety Monster for ages 4-8. (Tags: Gender non-conforming)

• My Moms Love Me, for ages 3-5. (The baby is described as "ungendered" in a review on the Coolcat website.) Publishers Weekly, May 2, 2022

• Julian is a Mermaid, for ages 4-8 years. (Gender non-conforming)

• Julian at the Wedding, for ages 4-8 years. (Gender non-conforming)

• When Aidan became a Brother, for ages 4-8 years. (Tags: Gender, Transgender)

• I Am Jazz, for ages 4-8 years. (Tags: Transgender, Self-acceptance)

• It Feels Good to be Yourself, for ages 4-8 years. (Tags: Gender Identity, Transgender)

• It’s Okay to be Different, for ages 3-6 (Social Emotional Learning)

• Racial Justice: Let us March On! For ages 4-8 years. (Social Justice)

• I Love You Because I Love You, for ages 4-8 years (Tags: Gender Identity, Social Justice, Harmony)

• Were I Not a Girl, for ages 4-8 years (Tags: Gender Issues, Male Impersonators, Trans)

• The Young Activist’s Dictionary of Social Justice, for ages 7-12. (Tags: Social Justice, Gun Control, Gender Transition, Organizing, Climate Justice, Racism)

• Rainbow Revolutionaries, for ages 8-12 (Tags: Gender identity, diversity, pride activism)

• Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag, for ages 5-8 years (Tags: Pride, Activism, Social Justice)

• The Every Body Book, for ages 7-12 years, (Tags: Gender, Gender Expression, Reproductive Health, Sex)

• Anne: An Adaptation of Anne of Green Gables (sort of), ages 8-12 years (Tags: LGBTQIA, Relationship, Graphic Novels)

• Stand Up and Speak Out Against Racism, for ages 9-12 years (Tags: Multi-culturalism, Social issues, Race)

• A Snake Falls to Earth, for ages 10-14 (Tags: Asexual, Climate Change, Magic, Spirits)

• Identity: A Story of Transitioning, for ages 11 and up (Tags: Gender, Juvenile, Graphic Novel)

• Beyond the Gender Binary, for ages 12 and up (Tags: Social justice, Gender Theory, Gender Nonconforming, Queer Studies, Gender Fluid)

• Stay Gold, for ages 14 and up (Tags: Transgender, Coming of Age, Coming Out, Bullying)

• I Was Born for This, for ages 14 and up (Tags: Transgender, Mental Health, Romance)

• The Honeys, for ages 14 and up (Tags: Gender Fluid, Thriller, Horror, Paranormal)

• The Feeling of Falling in Love, for ages 14 years and up (Tags: Transgender, Romance, Homophobia)

The Twelve Stones Podcast: Ep. 4, Mary Hernandez de Carl

The monthly meeting of the Christian County Library Board of Trustees is Tuesday, Oct. 22, at 6 p.m., in the Nixa library. In the mean time, listen to a former teacher and current home educator describe how she got involved and why. October library agenda HERE.

The time is late. WAKE UP

 See the film 22 Words HERE.

Incredible clip from the new documentary called ‘22 Words’ which talks about the rampant s*xu*Iization of children in schools.

Watch @REVWUTRUTH get removed by security from a school board meeting by police after exposing p**nogr*hpic books available to children.

It is a… pic.twitter.com/cmiRgDRdZd

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) October 11, 2024

Library Board Minutes Tell a Story

Board Minutes of July 26, 2021

By Gretchen Garrity

The attorney for the Christian County Library Board of Trustees has sued the Board for allegedly violating its bylaws for election of officers at the August 27, 2024 meeting. See HERE. The board’s attorney, Harry Styron, is representing the board in the suit against...the board.

Although the original complaint named board Secretary Janis Hagen as the plaintiff along with the “Christian County Library District,” that has since been amended to name only the Library District, which in essence, is the governing body—the Christian County Library Board of Trustees.

While officer elections are mandated in the bylaws for December, the bylaws do not specifically prohibit officer elections at other times of the year. Indeed, when occasional vacancies and July trustee appointments occur the Board has held elections then, as recently as 2023.

It makes sense that officer elections would also occur in July since the Christian County Commission appoints library board members each year at that time, or whenever a vacancy occurs.

However, the lawsuit revolves around the attempt to prevent the newly-elected board from assuming their positions.

BACKGROUND HISTORY

At the July 26, 2021 board meeting Secretary Janis Hagen was absent, and a board vacancy prompted an election of officers that included leaving the office of President vacant until December, and to have Trustee Hagen remain in her position as board secretary.

Listed under Old Business, a vice-president and treasurer were elected, as well as a member-at-large. The minutes read exactly as follows:

“Election of Board of Trustee Officer Positions for Remainder of 2021.”

Each of five positions is then noted, with accompanying explanation. The full slate of officers (as well as the member-at-large position) was listed to be elected, although the Board decided not to elect a president due to the board vacancy. Three positions were elected and one position remained the same.

At the July 25, 2023 Board meeting, a president, vice-president, and treasurer were elected. Hagen remained as secretary. The following December meeting was a reaffirmation of the same slate.

The board attorney, therefore, has sued the board for doing what it has already been doing for several years. 

Why now?

At the September 24, 2024 board meeting, the board voted to amend the bylaws to specifically state that officer elections can occur at any time of the year, as warranted. The annual mandated election of officers will remain as well, but in July instead of December. This affirms what has already been occurring in the last few years.

Video below, scroll to about 54 minutes in for discussion of the bylaw changes.

THE MISSOURI SUNSHINE LAW

One other issue mentioned in the lawsuit is a purported violation of the Sunshine law. Because the August agenda called for a vice-president election, and not typically “officer elections,” the lawsuit claims the public was not properly notified. The Missouri Sunshine law states, “All public governmental bodies shall give notice of the time, date, and place of each meeting, and its tentative agenda, in a manner reasonably calculated to advise the public of the matters to be considered…”

Since officer shuffles often happen, even if only one officer is slated to be elected, the library staff member who wrote the agenda would have better served the public and the Board by using the term “officer elections.” The question then, was the public “reasonably” advised of a board election?

Incidentally, the library board has often elected members to the Member-at-Large position. However, that seems to have ended with the appointments of Diana Brazeale and Echo Schneider in 2023.

Media Coverage of the Christian County Library

David Rice has a three part series about media coverage of the Christian County Library Board of Trustees:

Here are parts One and Two.

State Media Lies about the Library, Part 3 by David Rice

Springfield News-Leader is famous for writing fiction. So, to help correct their narrative, I'm giving context to their misinformation about what happened at the Christian County Library Board.

Read on Substack

What is happening?

 

Did the former Library Board President use Police to intimidate the public? She swears she didn’t, but the police officer says her sergeant told her the President wanted the parking lot cleared. @SexHarassed @Right2WinOzarks @SafeLibraries @MOEdWatch https://t.co/HR6SMk4L7L pic.twitter.com/yzCoHSSNB9

— HickChristian (@hickchristnews) September 4, 2024

 

According to a reply by Dan Kleinman of Safe Libraries, this is a common tactic:

It's About Local Control

By Gretchen Garrity 

 

“So Chicago wants to retain control of Nixa.” -- Dan Kleinman

 

Sign their petition - https://t.co/3qdC6c3Aae https://t.co/g2LZq0H95b

— EveryLibrary (@EveryLibrary) August 29, 2024

The Christian County Library Board of Trustees has made a first move to restore trust and repair relations with the public. After nearly two years of refusal to engage the issue of sexually explicit and vulgar books being placed in the children and teen sections of the library, the board has voted to replace President Allyson Tuckness and to expand citizens’ ability to publicly comment.

You can see the motion, discussion and vote here beginning at the 50:40 minute mark:

 The board action to replace Tuckness caused an immediate reaction from not only opponents in the audience, but with a local progressive group, U-Turn in Education, and national groups like Every Library, a group associated with the American Library Association (which is based in Chicago), as well as the organization Book Riot.

 

This is the nightmare that was unleashed last evening. We are actively working today onward to develop a plan to address this insanity in a productive and meaningful way. https://t.co/fLXxGNRNvC

— UTurninEducation (@UTurninEdu) August 28, 2024

A reporter was also present at the library, Susan Wade, who wrote a story for the Springfield Daily Citizen HERE. The board did NOT vote “to implement a system of placing stickers on books...” as the article states. 

The board voted to have Executive Director Renee Brumett provide a list of LGBTQ+ subject headings from the Library of Congress catalog system, and potential book spine labels used by library vendors. The approved motion also requested that books already challenged be included with subject headings on the list Brumett will provide.

The board is researching the feasibility of a labeling system, it has not implemented one. Though the library does currently already use ratings for patron awareness of subject matters including genres and categorizations, this would not be a net new system change for them. More detail below.

LOCAL CONTROL IS THE KEY

There is a small but vocal and active group of locals who have opposed any changes within the county library system. They are composed of mostly progressives who are invested in a political ideology that is contrary to Christian County’s community values. Some of them have connections with larger organizations whose ultimate goal is to overturn the existing cultural and political order.

 

Reaction from: Book Riot

Here is how they work. The large and well-funded national organizations find and fund small local groups, who are activated when their political and social hegemony in schools and libraries are threatened. These small groups (like U-Turn in Education, headed by local professor and activist Elizabeth Dudash-Buskirk) call on the larger organizations for help when needed. Name-calling commences. The press is activated. Petitions are drawn up. Lies are spread. Lawsuits are commenced. 

It's how they operate. But once you see it, you can't unsee it. This is exactly what happened almost immediately after the August 27, 2024 board of trustee meeting.

Here is the petition from Fight For the First.

Here are the lies: "Not only were the actions on August 7th in violation of the bylaws, the illegal move also irresponsibly leaves the library without proper signing authorities on the bank account."

EXAMINING THE BY-LAWS

Did the board of trustees violate their by-laws by voting in a new slate of officers? The by-laws state that board officers are elected in December. But there is nothing to exclude electing officers at other times of the year, as appropriate. Hence, at the July 2023 board of trustee meeting, a president, vice-president, and treasurer were all elected. In December of 2023, when the regular election happened, the same slate was merely re-affirmed.

Since board appointments happen in July, there is often an officer shuffle. So, elections happen at other times of the year as needed and appropriate. No one seemed concerned about check signing when a new board member was appointed last July as treasurer.

 At the end of the Tuesday slate election on August 27, the executive director was (~ minute 56:40) asked to confirm if there would be a negative impact on the ability to have checks promptly signed as was implied (~ minute 51:15).  She was not immediately aware of any concerns but would research to be sure. 

The following Friday, August 30, the check signing process continued as normal (weekly signing had been occurring weekly on that day) without interruption. So instead of a question being asked of whether there might be an impact to financial operations to ensure they were not disrupted, false statements were made and have been found to be untrue.

MORE ON THE STICKERS

Horrors: A sticker

At the board meeting, one individual, Amy Hoogstraet, professed horror at the thought of labeling books with identifying stickers. You can see her speak during the public comment of the meeting video above.

This is an interesting angle, since the library itself advertises LGBTQ+ books with stickers as demonstrated below, and other identifying information. In fact, the library proudly displays books with such themes.

Another sticker

 Libraries have often identified Christian-themed books with dove stickers. There were stickers that identified mystery books, too. And books that have been honored by one organization or another. This is not new, and it is not discriminatory.

Pronoun buttons to wear seen at the CCL

 The issue is not stickers. The issue is the push to impose an agenda on children beginning as young as 0-2 years of age. The library has hundreds of books with age-inappropriate themes of sexuality, gender ideology, Critical Race Theory, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion indoctrination, and so on.

Hyped up reaction

This indoctrination is harming children, whose parents often have no idea of what is happening in their schools or what books are being laced into the libraries. Even large book publishers are getting in the local fight because it affects their bottom line. Without a pipeline from publisher to schools and libraries, it is likely many of these books would not be published and pushed on children.

Using arguments like "book banning," privacy rights, access, uncertain case law, and "free speech" these activists work in concert with local libraries and others to keep control over the content of library collections. And they are bent on selling an agenda that most people do not want their children exposed to before they are emotionally and physically capable of handling such content.

As an aside, many libraries are engaged in weeding out classic books that build character, have immense literary quality, and reinforce timeless values. You can count on one hand the number of complete Christian Scriptures in the Christian County Library's four branches. This is not a mistake.

The threat of lawsuits begins

 As the furor grows regarding the audacity of a board to reassert local control of its library, it is helpful to take with a grain of salt what activists, the media and national organizations are saying about the situation. Come to the library meetings and see for yourself what is actually happening. You might be surprised to see it is quite different than its portrayal by progressive activists.

Meetings happen on the fourth Tuesday of each month, but note November and December meeting dates are different, so always check the website here to confirm. Next month's meeting is September 24, 2024, at 6 p.m. in Nixa.

Note: In the interests of full disclosure, I am related to John Garrity, the newest board member of the library board of trustees.

Christian County Library Board Meeting Tonight

 

@right2winozarks

♬ original sound - Right2WinOzarks

 

AGENDA HERE.

Serving Up the Public

July 23, 2024 Library Board Meeting

By Gretchen Garrity

As residents continue to pressure the Christian County Library to relocate inappropriate books from the children and teen sections of the library, the staff and some members of the board of trustees continue to resist commonsense solutions.

At the July 23, 2024 board meeting, several things occurred that point to President Allyson Tuckness as a vector for at least part of the resistance. For some months now, the library has hired off-duty police officers to attend the public board meetings and to keep the peace. This has proven wise since there was a physical outburst by a citizen who had to be removed.

In an effort to keep tight control of the public meetings, Tuckness had enforced stringent rules for the public, including limiting speakers to 10, limiting speech time to three minutes, and attempting to limit audience reactions such as clapping or holding of signs. After she was roundly admonished by Rep. Jamie Gragg she has since allowed both clapping and signs, as well as sometimes allowing for more than 10 speakers:

 

Although the Missouri Public Library Trustee Manual (from the Secretary of State) states that board meetings “generally should be completed within two hours,” most Christian County library board meetings are targeted to end within one hour. They usually end on time or nearly so.

After the meeting on the 23rd, at least 12 or more citizens remained talking in the parking lot in small groups. The meeting ended a little later than usual, about 7:08 p.m. Distributed among those groups were current board of trustee members, as well as a citizen who is a constitutional coach with a nationally known organization.

At one point the security officer approached the citizens and requested they disperse. Citizens resisted and were told the library parking lot was private property. After assuring the officer the parking lot was public property the officer stepped away to consult a supervisor, only later to come back and again assert that because it was now a closed business, citizens were being asked to disperse and that it “was a little suspicious.”

“My sergeant said, ‘Yes it is a government building, but it is closed at this time, and that the president requested to disperse,'” the officer stated. So, Library Board President Allyson Tuckness was behind the manipulation of public peace officers to remove citizens from a taxpayer-funded library property.

After no less than three police cars converged in the Nixa library parking lot and conferred with citizens, it was agreed that all were peacefully assembling and had a right to be present in the parking lot, regardless of the time and the wishes of the library board president.

This kind of behavior on the part of the library board president is unacceptable. To get an idea of how she treats the public, watch July’s meeting as Tuckness refuses to allow board member Echo Alexzander to address allowing more than 10 citizens to comment. Her excuse was that the issue was not on the agenda. Later, she interacts with a citizen who had noted that the timekeeper, Tory Pegram, was starting the timer late with certain citizens, allowing them more time to speak. Forward to the public comment section at about 36:00 minutes. Tuckness specifically mentions “no raising of voices.” Watch her raise her voice when a speaker asks to reclaim time on the clock that had apparently been running while the board took pictures of one speaker’s sign. Timestamp: 43:42. 

To a great extent, the friction between the public and the library board and staff is due to an ongoing refusal to address concerns and to disrespect the public by ignoring questions and pleas about child safety within the library. Having made child safety a political issue, the board and staff are now having to deal with a growing number of citizens who insist the library must address relocating inappropriate books to the adult section, where parents may decide for themselves if they want their children exposed to them.

Board President Tuckness is politically motivated enough to sic the police on citizens, including other board members with whom she may disagree. It is to the police officers’ credit that they ultimately refused to go along with her dictate.

NOTE: This article is cross posted at Hick Christian's Substack.

Meeting tonight in Nixa

 

The Power of One

If you want to get a parent or grandparent or taxpayer up to speed about the issues with the Christian County Library, this interview by David Rice is the perfect vehicle.

One Parent Created a Movement

Not only does it give a short history of how Christian County citizen Mary Hernandez de Carl became involved in the movement to bring sanity to the children and teen sections of the library, but how the battle is going. Many very important points are shared.

Our publicly-appointed officials at the library continue to dig in and provide inappropriate materials to children. The staff seem to be creatures of the American Library Association and its chapter the Missouri Library Association. There is a lot of money and power behind the agenda to demoralize our children and destabilize our culture.

One person stood up.

Again, the Christian County Library Board of Trustees meets tonight at the Nixa branch at 6 p.m. Also, the Facebook group mentioned at the end, Pray for Christian County, can be found HERE. Also, We the People of Christian County was instrumental in giving a citizen's a voice in the effort to clean up the library.

Spending Our Money

David Rice writes about the Christian County Library's penchant for spending our tax dollars. This time with MOBIUS, a consortium of libraries (mostly academic) that charges for sharing books and resources. I wrote about it here.

But Rice has information from the executive director of MOBIUS, Donna Bacon. From his article:

"When I was emailing Donna Bacon, she mentioned that the future goals for MOBIUS include bringing Missouri Evergreen libraries into MOBIUS--increasing the costs to the taxpayer duplicating services we dont really need for Missouri Public Libraries."

The tendency to centralize everything under one system is neither good for individual libraries or for the taxpayer. Rice shares the numbers.

Read the whole thing HERE. 

Incidentally, the CCL board of trustees meeting is tonight at the Nixa branch, at 6 p.m. If you would like to speak, you need to get there early and fill out a comment form. Agenda HERE. 

If you don't keep up with your public officials, they tend to spend all kinds of your money. As Rice states, the library is ramping up to ask for yet more money to do renovations.

Funding our own demise

From: WLA, an alternative to the ALA

 By Gretchen Garrity 

Taxpayers--citizens of Christian County--are unknowingly funding the American Library Association's advocacy for overthrowing our nation. Our local library, the Christian County Library, has sent Executive Director Renee Brumett, to an Ohio ALA conference this week that...well, let them speak for themselves.

 Dan Kleinman of the World Library Association details the facts. I've drawn shamelessly from his article.  Read his article (and do read the whole thing, there's lots of similar quotes from the main speakers):

 

"So the "Big Ideas" for public librarians to learn on the public's dime are anticapitalism, with a side helping of racism and hate.  This is what librarians are learning as Big Ideas to kick off their day at an ALA conference with an inspiring speaker sure to challenge their minds and spark their creativity.  Then they come back to the local communities and implement the anticapitalism and racism and hate they just learned.  All taxpayer funded.  All of it.  Memberships, conferences, travel, meals, incidentals, all of it."

 

The PLA, Public Library Association, IS the ALA.

Now do you see why citizens have been petitioning the CCL for over a year to no avail? When your librarians and a majority of board members are activists, courtesy of the Marxist ALA, you will get nowhere with an appeal to decency, child protection, and community values.

When the library budgets $30,000 for staff and board travel, not to mention thousands for "training" and whatever else they have stuffed into the budget under innocuous sounding categories, it's time for a review.

And it is long past time for the CCL to sever any and all ties with the American Library Association and its chapter member, The Missouri Library Association. There are alternatives to the Marxist ALA such as Kleinman's WLA.