LIBRARIES: They should welcome everyone

The Majority Board has launched an assault against a trusted and very public institution in the CLN that serves ALL our community. Libraries should NOT discriminate against any particular slice of society be it religious, blended family, LGBTQ, child or senior citizen or homeless person.

ALL people in Kootenai County, permanent or transient, need full access to the Library System whether searching for a home, a job, a specific subject/author or a respite from extreme heat or cold. Our libraries serve a full cross section of the populace and the Board Majority is displaying extreme prejudice against parental rights, basic freedoms, staff expertise and youth access to library resources. Andrew Carnegie between 1886 and 1919 spent $40 million ($743 million today) to construct 1,679 libraries across the USA. A rags to riches industrialist grasped the concept of libraries that could lift the society up — a noble act the Board majority fails to grasp and grasps to fail. 

The targeted dismantling of the Library framework of access and hours, personnel and training is the dumbing down of an institution that defies the ignorant actions being taken. Paying more money for attorneys and insurance than books and technology is irreprehensible. The board majority through ignorance, religious self-righteousness and political far rightness are determined to follow the NIC Board majority to destroy yet another county jewel. 

LYNN FLEMING

Coeur d’Alene