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DEL.ICIO.USLibrary activists to go national
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A Suwanee mom with a reputation for driving county library board members to distraction has been tapped to head a conservative national advocacy group called Family Friendly Libraries.
Last week, the organization announced that Denise Varenhorst has been named president of FFL.
The group also named Judy Craft, a conservative political activist from Norcross, to be the organization’s vice president. Craft, a political activist, co-founded a local chapter of FFL.
The organization, founded in 1992, has dedicated much of its efforts to keeping Internet pornography out of local libraries.
Varenhorst, some may recall, is the Suwanee mom whose complaints about rude treatment by the library system’s former director led to the resignation of the then-library board chairman and prompted an apology from the former director.
When the library system announced plans to sell its DVD collection, Varenhorst, who argued that the DVDs were vital to home-schoolers, spearheaded a campaign to keep the collection on the shelves.
Permalink | Comments (7) | Post your comment | Categories: Gwinnett Insider
Comments
By JustMe
March 12, 2007 10:55 AM | Link to this
For goodness sake! Why cannot people like Judy use their abundent energy and time to help solve social ills such as homelessness/poverty or even world hunger? Why must they use their resources on things such as attacking free speach (that will be a useless waste of their resources)?
By MrLiberty
March 12, 2007 11:26 AM | Link to this
This kind of fascist infringement on the rights of everyone is exactly the reason why libraries should all be private. Forcing people to pay for public services like this only opens the door to witches like these two and their intollerance of anything that frightens them.
Just look at how much of our culture has been lost because we counted on the fovernment to protect it. When everyone owns something then nobody owns it. Then the influential hand of some fascist is able to come in and alter the dynamic with even basic political influence. This can’t happen with a private library.
By JustMe
March 12, 2007 1:10 PM | Link to this
Mr. Liberty -
Um, it most certainly can happen to a private library. When it is private, then the person with the most money dictates.
For example, if I was to give Emory U. a billion dollars, I could force Emory to teach something I wanted, or maybe even to throw away certain books from their library…. otherwise, they don’t get my money. Emory is a private university, by the way.
By Don Magee
March 12, 2007 1:14 PM | Link to this
Putting these right-wing book-burners in charge of a group called Family Friendly Libraries is a lot like asking George Bush to be objective about the war in Iraq - it ain’t going to happen.
They hounded Pinder out of her job. Who is next? What free-thinker are they going to assassinate? Women like this are scary.
By Penguinmom
March 12, 2007 3:57 PM | Link to this
Congrats Denise! I know you’ll do a great job keeping libraries nationwide accountable to their patrons.
Gwinnett library is continuing to improve under its new more responsive leadership.
By Robin Shoulla
March 14, 2007 11:56 AM | Link to this
As the other annoying mother who “drove library board members to distraction,” I will not apologize for ensuring government entities follow the law. The source of the former director’s apology stemmed from hostile reaction to requests for open documents. It appears to me from reading the website that the point of Family Friendly Libraries is to encourage citizens to take an active role in their library. Since when does democracy equal fascism? If you don’t like what is happening in your library/local government, pro or con FFL, you can make uneducated complaints or you can take an active role. For further information on Sunshine Laws, democracy, fascism, free speech, and taking part in your local government, please visit the reference section of your local public library.
By Dan
March 23, 2007 1:34 PM | Link to this
Free speech was never understood by the founders to mean we have an unlimited right to access pornography.