Stachurski Concerned
About Library Censorship
A letter from Dan Stachurski to the
"Ocean Pines Gazette" and "OceanPinesForum.com"

10/22/2004
Mr. Jim Adcock:
 
I read, with both great interest and growing trepidation, the article headlined, "Library Nixes Documentary on Iraq War," written by Cara Dahl and printed in "The Gazette" on October 20, 2004.  I am absolutely dumbfounded by the fact that the library staff (and the library board who sets their policy) can censor the content of meetings held in library meeting rooms.  This action and the policy behind it are, in my understanding, in direct violation of the First Amendment of our United States Constitution.
 
In your article, Library Director Mark Thomas is quoted as saying, "...the cancellations were just a case of following a long-established library policy which prohibits the use of library space, such as public meeting rooms for 'partisan political...purposes.'"  It is interesting to note, however, that the library does permit quarterly town meetings for one of our Republican county commissioners, not to mention the fact that they permitted an Ocean Pines community association to host pre-election debates in the meeting facility.   And I'm sure we'll find biographies or books detailing the specific political actions taken, advocated, or rejected by Presidents like Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Dwight David Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, and William Jefferson Clinton on the shelves in the main hall of the library.  Not to mention the ideas of Karl Marx and Max Engels...   So, it seems, at least to me, that the library believes itself to be uniquely empowered to not only censor expression within their walls (under "long established library policy"), but also to be very selective about just what is censored or not censored.  Or can we really say that functions held by political parties or elected political officials contain absolutely no shred of "partisan political...purposes?"  Not in my book, you can't.
 
The residents of Worcester County who pay taxes provide the funding for our library system under the administration of the Worcester County Commissioners.   So, agree or not, we're paying for policy and practice that is simply not allowed in the United States.  Furthermore, the library buildings do rest on land that is part of the United States (at least the library system has not been able to secede from the union the last time I looked).  Therefore, how can they propose to engage in censure of any kind?
 
On raising this subject with one county commissioner, I was told that, although the county (read: all of us) picks up the tab for all library operations, the County Commissioners who approve the budget and disbursement of county funds do not influence the policy of the library.  That, according to this commissioner, is established and controlled by the Worcester County Library Board -- in much the same fashion as the School Board runs the schools.   Personally, I'm a strong believer in the golden rule:  he who controls the gold rules!  I cannot believe that the elected group of partisan politicians who run our county have no influence in how county facilities that are paid for by the county operate, particularly when it comes to the protection of the Constitutional right to free speech with which we're all blessed.
 
Our library system offers folks in Worcester County a wealth of ideas in the media that they lend from their shelves.  And  we enjoy the use of much-needed meeting facilities that we have paid to include in this system.  It is high time for ridiculous policies to be examined and exorcised.  Our libraries should be beacons from which all ideas can radiate, partisan political or otherwise.   Sorry, folks, if a bit of bright light hurts your eyes, but if you sit on the Library Board, work in the library system, or sit on the County Commission, it's time to clean out this dusty corner on which "The Gazette" has thrown a spotlight!
 
Dan Stachurski
Ocean Pines, MD