Victoria Cobb of The Family Foundation of Virginia, the state's largest and oldest pro-family organization, explains that the residents of Front Royal wanted the Samuels Public Library board and librarian to do something about the access minors had to sexually explicit books.
Parents launched a grassroots initiative to expose the many age inappropriate books in the library and to urge local leaders to order the books removed or cut off the institution's funding.
"The battle over content in libraries is not new," Cobb acknowledges. "It even goes back to when they fought over filtering when computers arrived in those buildings. Resistance comes from the American Library Association and those librarians trained under their anything goes ideology."
When the Wharton County Board of Supervisors voted on a plan to prevent youth from accessing pornographic materials, Cobb says library Director Michelle Ross was resistant to protecting children from the filthy material, and days after the new parental controls were implemented, she resigned.
"The library has introduced a Juvenile Limited Card and Young Adult Limited Card, and both are designed to give parents options and control over the literature and reading materials their children have access to," a press release detailed about the new system.
"Wharton County officials deserve to be commended for doing their job and responding to community concerns," Cobb submits.
"It appears this librarian was not supportive of the tiered card access by age to sexually explicit materials that had been implemented. It was a system they were just putting in that made sense," the family advocate continues. "It simply said … kids don't need access to these things."
In Cobb's opinion, any adult who thinks children should have access to pornography does not belong in any position of authority over minors.
