Protesters met at noon Tuesday across the street from the Garfield County Administration building in Glenwood Springs. Against a backdrop of blooming trees, they carried signs with slogans such as “close the book on our commission,” “a restricted library is like a book without a page” and “let freedom read.” They chanted and cheered when vehicles, including a RFTA bus, passed by and honked.
“Books should never be banned or censored for anybody,” said Pat from New Castle, who told The Sopris Sun that she’s been in various protests since the 1960s. “If you do not choose to read it, don’t read it but don’t take that choice away from others.” Her sentiment pretty much summed up the purpose of the protest, which started an hour before a much-anticipated special meeting of the Garfield County Commissioners (BOCC).
In late February, the BOCC decided to take control of the entire Garfield County Public Library District board of trustees appointment process and eventually scheduled a special meeting for April 30 to interview candidates. Adrian Rippy-Sheehy, president of the board of trustees, joined all three commissioners Tuesday to interview nine candidates.
County attorney Heather Beattie, county clerk Jackie Harmon and county manager Fred Jarman were also in attendance. All candidates were from the 81650 ZIP code and included Deb Grizzle, Jaime Roark, Cherri Wall, Laura Colby, Trish O’Grady, Kirsten Clancy, Hanna Arauza, Lydia LaBelle de Rios and Myrna Fletchall. LaBelle de Rios attended via Zoom.
Commission Chair John Martin commended the protesters for exercising their rights and for their polite demeanor as they entered the building and took their seats for the meeting. The crowd of close to 80 people, most dressed in red, filled the room and spilled into the hallway. Three panelists, excluding Martin, asked the same two questions of each candidate for a total of six questions per interview.
Questions ranged from what motivated each candidate to apply for the position to the essence of the Library Bill of Rights and the candidates’ willingness to uphold them. After prefacing a question with how federal and state law and library bylaws require that children be protected from certain internet information, Commissioner Tom Jankovsky asked, “Do you believe there should be the same reasonable policies for children’s access to books that are designated for mature audiences only?” Some candidates said they’d need more information before making that decision. Others were reminded of certain Japanese manga books found in the Silt Library last year that have been at the center of a months-long community debate about censorship.
Candidate Cherri Wall told the BOCC a story about her experience with the manga books. She said a librarian took her to the back of the library where the books were housed. “There was a sign there that said ‘adult graphic novels,’” she explained. Neither she nor the librarian could find the manga books so Wall asked the librarian what she would do if she saw a 10-year old standing in front of the books. Wall said she felt good about the librarian’s response to steer the child to juvenile graphic novels.
But, other candidates weren’t so accommodating. Jaime Roark and Trish O’Grady, a vocal opponent of the manga books, the American Library Association and certain Garfield County library policies, applied mainly to keep the manga books and other adult materials out of the hands of children. Roark said he would not support a trustee board decision if he disagreed with it and that he would not support “drag” events at the library.
For Hanna Arauza, Tuesday was her second time interviewing for this particular library board trustee position. She was the sole applicant last fall and after being approved by the library board, she was denied by the BOCC. She took time Tuesday to respond to why she was denied last fall and to ask the BOCC why they chose to alter the process for trustee approval.
Martin said he didn’t think they had altered anything. “We took more of a hands-on approach still within the guidelines that we have to appoint people,” he explained. “We also interview people. This just happened to be a little more formal interview and we felt that there needed to be more applicants so we could get a more rounded applicant base to make our choice.”
Arauza told The Sopris Sun that she was not satisfied with Martin’s response and that she would have preferred that the BOCC acknowledge that they changed the appointment process. The BOCC will deliberate on the candidates during their regular meeting Monday, May 6. Rippy-Sheehy said she will bring the library board’s choices to Monday’s meeting to be incorporated into the discussion.