Austin’s Daily Commentary – Columbia County Library Plans

Austin: You would think that a community as sophisticated as Columbia County could find common ground on the topic of how to run their library, but apparently there is some disagreement among some citizens and the Columbia County Board of Commissioners as to exactly how the Columbia County Library should be governed.

Now, first of all, let me say for the record that no one that I know of in the government or affiliated with the government is into banning books, curtailing a person's reasonable choice of library materials or anything else that could be considered as either draconian or prudish or over the top when it comes to censorship, none of that. But for some strange reason, a group of citizens seems to think that because the government of Columbia County wants to maintain its independence from certain other political entities and groups when it comes to library choices, that they are somehow becoming what's the proper term for it? Protective, overprotective, perhaps again prudish.

Folks, I'm here to tell you nothing in the world is further from the truth. There is a degree of independence that is being sought by Columbia County Commissioners when it comes to the way the county library is run. Guess who's been appointed to the library board in an effort to help, you know, continue those conversations? Yours truly.

And that should be quite an adventure. But the bottom line, I want everyone to understand I've done as much primary investigation into this as I can before actually getting to be a part of the board officially. And I can tell you that there is absolutely no campaign underway to curtail anyone's choice or access to conventional materials, literature, that type of thing in the Columbia County libraries.

Again, haven't had my first meeting yet. Looking forward to meeting everyone associated with the library board. But at this point, there is no conspiracy to curtail your choice when it comes to library materials in Columbia County.

Stay tuned. Not going to be a lot of drama, I promise, but maybe some eye-opening revelations when it comes to the real agenda that all these folks happen to have. Stay tuned.

It should be interesting. And that's the comment. I'm Austin Rhodes, 95.1 FM, News Talk, WGAC.