Library board: Challenged books can stay

Oct. 21—After reviewing the three current books challenged at Cullman County Public Library's main branch, the board on Thursday, Oct. 19, decided each should remain within their previously designated sections.

The three books in question — "Prince and Knight" by Daniel Haack, "Heather Has Two Mommies" by Leslea Newman and "Lily and Dunkin" by Donna Gephart — were challenged by Vinemont resident Shirley Arnett who addressed the board during last month's meeting. Ahead of the board making a final determination it heard from community residents on either side of the debate.

Arnett reiterated her concerns over the "alternate" sexuality and gender ideologies contained within the books as well as "graphic language" she felt "promoted child sex mutilation." She also echoed statements she shared during last month's meeting detailing her disapproval of a portion of sales profits from the sale of "Prince and Knight" being donated to LGBTQ organizations by its publisher.

The board also heard from two local residents, Lance Conn and Krysti Shallenberger, who advocated against the wave of recent book challenges being submitted to public libraries throughout Alabama. Shallenberger said she grew up in what she described as a conservative household which frequented the library as a supplement to her homeschool curriculum. She said she has personally reviewed each of the books in question in their entirety and found the only common denominator to be their representation for the LGBTQ community.

"In the decades I have spent living here in Cullman, Alabama, never have I seen such a concerted effort to remove books targeting a specific community despite the baggage this town has carried from its past," Shallenberger said.

Shallenberger also read an email, not independently verified by The Times, she received from a local family. The sender — whose name Shallenberger did not disclose — said her children have faced discrimination over the fact that "they also have two moms."

"I believe that most who know us would say we are a kind and generous family. My boys are wild, funny and adventurous, but they often wonder why some people are so mean to our family. They are told their moms are going to hell, that their family is gross etc. We then have to go and try to defend those people. We have to tell our boys that we live in America and while our family believes 'x,y,z' other families do not. But we know God has called us to love our neighbors as ourselves and even when they are cruel we should show them the love of God," the letter said.

"Relocating these books from the children's section send a vicious message to this family. It says that a public library does not have room to represent them based on the beliefs of a very small minority in a community of tens of thousands. Do they not have the same constitutional rights as we do and do they not pay the same taxes?" Shallenberger said.

Board member Jill Meggs — who was only appointed on Tuesday, Oct. 17, by County Commissioner Gary Marchman to replace former Place Two seat holder Lea Scott — chose to abstain from the vote on the presented challenges due to not having been able to review the books, but instead offered her general take on the issue.

"I think one common ground that every person in this room has is that we all feel very strongly that literacy is super important. It is the thing that bonds each person here together. We believe that education and reading is the key to the future for children specifically," Meggs said. "I am extremely conservative, I'll put that out to the world. I'm not ashamed of that, but my personal opinion is that it is a parent's right to choose."

Meggs said while "the books on the shelf at the library were the least of [her] worries" as a parent to two young children, she felt as though middle ground was possible and proposed creating some type of labelling system to universally identify books featuring a variety of content from religious themes and sexuality to descriptions of suicide which parents might want to review before allowing their child to read.

Judge Rusty Turner, who also holds a board seat, agreed with Meggs and said while the library could potentially find ways to make parents more aware of which books could be questionable, he felt as though governmental oversight should not supersede individuals parents' abilities to decide what their children read. He summed up his feelings with a quote from American economist, author and social commentator Thomas Sowell.

"When government takes away options, it is bound to make some people worse off, even with intrinsically good intentions behind that government intervention."

During her statement Arnett indicated the potential for future book challenges.

"I started this search several months ago and had a list of 100 questionable books. While ultimately I didn't find those books on the shelf, you have hoopla that any child with a library card access and look at," she said