On March 20, Ada County Commissioners will decide whether to let the public vote on the future of the current Meridian Library District. The library district and its new director have been stonewalling parents and ignoring their requests to move obscene (some say pornographic) material away from the easy reach of small children. After much effort at getting their concerns addressed, a group known as Concerned Citizens of Meridian has filed a petition asking for a vote that the board be dissolved.
Citizens need to know the petition was submitted only after multiple attempts for reasonable discourse with the Library Board were stonewalled or turned down.
Timeline of events
In essence, the Meridian Library Board has been marginalizing citizens who are concerned that children have free and open access to pornographic material at Meridian libraries. A timeline of events leading up to the petition to dissolve the current board is as follows:
- In fall of 2021, a parent and child came across two books at the Meridian Library: Flamer and Pumpkin. Both books contained sexually explicit images and writing and were readily accessible to small children.
- At the time, a sexually explicit book titled Gender Queer was in the news because of its availability in libraries across the country. Any child was able to order this book online and have it delivered to his or her home via the library’s delivery service without parental permission. It was delivered directly to the home in a brown bag, and parents were never notified.
- In Meridian, parents and community members began attending Meridian Library trustee meetings to communicate their concerns. They did not ask for the pornography-laden books to be removed. They simply asked that the materials be moved into a section that children could not enter by themselves, or to set up a system that would require parents to physically check out the materials for their own children. The purpose of their request was to remove direct access for minor children of sexually explicit and obscene (some say it pushes being X-rated) materials. The board heard the requests but provided no feedback and took no action.
- In May 2022, the group met with the Board Chairman, a trustee, the assistant library director, and the interim Library Director. The Board provided the group the library’s collection policy and told them the Board is under no obligation to consider community input on what appears in the Meridian libraries. The Board took no action on the group’s request.
- After Nick Grove was appointed the new Library Director in July of 2022, one of the founding members of the group met with Grove to discuss the matter. Mr. Grove said the library would not be moving the sexually explicit materials. Grove stated that no changes would be made – the obscene (again, some say pornographic) material would remain available to young children.
- In August of 2022, a trustee meeting garnered media attention after a Meridian City councilwoman, Liz Strader, recruited a large number of people who did not live in the Meridian Library District to attend the library board meeting and testify in favor of the pornographic material being available to children, thus preventing actual district residents from being able to testify against the material. Stradler, who was registered Democrat in 2018 before running as a Republican (presumably to win election to the to City Council), testified that those asking for the sexually explicit materials to be moved from direct access of children were “right wing extremists.”
- Throughout the summer of 2022, the board of trustees had an empty seat to fill and was looking for applicants. Several of the Concerned Citizens of Meridian group applied for the position in yet another attempt to have a voice.Then, in July, trustee Tyler Ricks stepped down. This created two openings.Rather than seeking new applicants, the board chose Josh Cummings, who had donated heavily to the Meridian Library through his position on the board of Friends of the Meridian Library.
The Board also chose Destinie Hart, who happened to work for Megan Larson in her position at Compass, a community planning organization. At the time, Larsen was also the Library Board Chair. A screenshot from Hart’s social media pages shows that Hart supports Trans kids.The Concerned Citizens of Meridian asked the Library Board to provide the rubric and/or screening method used by the Board to select the replacements. The Board indicated it would provide that information, but has not done so.
- In November of 2022, the Library Director declared that comments from the public would no longer be heard during the public meetings. Only emails would be accepted. This declaration by the Library Director violates the Meridian Library District Board of Trustee By-Laws, which states that accepting comments is at the discretion of the Board Chair, not the Library Director.
The Board also chose Destinie Hart, who happened to work for Megan Larson in her position at Compass, a community planning organization. At the time, Larsen was also the Library Board Chair. A screenshot from Hart’s social media pages shows that Hart supports Trans kids.The Concerned Citizens of Meridian (CCM) have made it clear that their decision to petition for a dissolution of the Meridian Library District Board of Trustees was not made lightly. The group informed True Idaho News that they have sought every possible method to get a redress of grievances, but the Board has been ignoring and or stonewalling their concerns.
They said rather than getting valid concerns addressed, they have been vilified publicly for attempting to protect children from obscene graphic images and stories.
Criminal charges if a citizen gave these books to a child
One member pointed out that everyday citizens could be criminally charged if they gave these same materials to a neighbor child. Despite being accused of desiring censorship and wanting to ban books, CCM is not asking that the books be removed from the library. They just want the sexually explicit materials and obscene stories to be inaccessible to children without parental consent.
The following from the group’s petition lays out their intent:
Upon dissolution of the Meridian Library District, we ask that the Ada County Commissioners appoint an interim board of trustees to re-organize the library entity in order to re-instate public discourse and comments, change the bylaws to decrease trustee terms to three years and segregate sexually explicit material from access by minors.
The three Ada County Commissioners will decide at their Monday, March 20 meeting whether the people of Meridian will have the opportunity to vote on the fate of the Library Board. As one concerned citizen said, “The Commissioners will decide if democracy will be on the ballot come August.”
Any materials that citizens want the Commissioners to consider must be received by the Ada County Commissioners no later than close of business on Wednesday, March 15. The email for sending pertinent material is bocc1@adacounty.id.gov. or dropped off in person by that date at the Commissioner’s Office, 200 W Front Street in Boise, on the 3rd floor.
Data submitted will be viewable at https://adacounty.id.gov/commissioners
The Commissioners will meet on Monday, March 20 to discuss the matter.
