LIBRARY: Voters, consider safety

Interesting to read that censoring anything at all as a library trustee might disqualify a person from consideration, yet one of the candidates for the position openly, and rightly, states that making the libraries “safe” is a primary concern.

So exactly what makes a library safe? Certainly safety from physical harm seems reasonable. What about something not as blatant, but just as damaging, like pornography? Some might argue that an adult has a right to view porn in our libraries. Should porn be censored? What if it includes physical harm?

Then there is the question, which shouldn’t really be a question, as to whether our children should have the same access to the same material? Interesting how the title library “trustee” is so fitting for this discussion. We have seen how policing in Portland and Seattle does, or doesn’t, work.

I for one am thankful that our community has chosen a different strategy for policing and would say that we are safer because of it. In the same way, voters need to decide if we are going to run our libraries differently.

Instead of succumbing to the “loud” people, will we vote for library trustees who have the courage to make decisions which make not only our libraries safer, but our community safer?

JIM COOKE

Coeur d’Alene