GOSHEN — The books of Middlebury Public Library continue to be the biggest topic in Elkhart County legislative meetings. Residents, mostly of Middlebury, attended November’s Elkhart County Council meeting to address grievances toward certain controversial books in the library and request of the council that they withdraw their library board appointees in favor of more conservative ones. Others are adamant, though, that the library’s acceptance of the books is more than OK — it’s a legal right.
On Thursday, the Elkhart County Council reappointed Dennis Badke to the Bristol Library Board. Badke’s term will expire in October 2028.
Councilman Steven Clark said in the last year and a half the council has only received four applications among the three library board positions they’ve appointed. For two of them, the appointee was the only applicant, and for Thursday’s Bristol library appointment, only two applications were received. The comment was part of a statement to the public marking his stance on the library controversy.
“I have lines and believe that the government should censor certain information — easy examples are state secrets, nuclear launch codes, or Social Security numbers,” Clark said. “Other, more relevant examples are books that provide active means to commit violence such as the ‘Anarchists Cookbook,’ or books that are simply meant for sexual gratification. However, the books that have been cited and are consistently discussed at council meetings are typically sex and education books.”
Clark said the argument he hears too often is that people disagree with the message sent in the books and therefore the books should be removed from libraries.
“While I personally would not use these books to teach my children, I’m also not a single mother struggling to teach her preteen son about masturbation before he learns about it on the playground,” Clark continued. “I’ve been asked, ‘Would you want your kids to read these books?’ The answer is ‘no,’ and this is also irrelevant. What I want my children to read is not the standard for what should or should not be restricted.
“Parents are ultimately responsible, and government should not be a substitute for parents,” Clark said.
In addition, Clark argues that the books in question don’t meet the legal definition of obscenity.
“If they are obscene, when this vocal group passed out the information to the council, they were distributing obscene material in violation of Indiana law, but we know they weren’t distributing obscene material and this word is simply used as a red herring argument to incorrectly invoke legal definitions and distract from the logical argument.”
Clark said he knows his opinions might be unpopular with some conservatives, but his responses are based on what he feels is right.
“I don’t care what anyone else would do. I care what we should do,” Clark said. “If I ever make decisions based on what is politically popular or might help me get re-elected rather than what I believe is right, I hope I lose the next election. I would rather lose standing on principle rather than win doing something I do not agree with.”
Clark also said there’s a difference between books in public schools and public libraries. Unlike school libraries, children cannot check out books at a public library unless a parent allows them to get a library card.
“When people spew such nonsense, it can sometimes be difficult to truly hear them and I would not be surprised if library boards feel the same way,” he said.
Clark added that he would be open to discussions of the books being removed from the children’s section, but he’s been told they already are.
“It is claimed this isn’t censorship because this information is still available, just not through taxpayer-funded libraries,” he said. “However, providing information to the public but not all information is a form of censorship. Censorship does not only mean a complete ban; suppression suffices as well. And as a conservative, any time the government is going to suppress, stifle, restrict the free flow of information, or promote certain information over other information, we must be very careful because the government has a long history of making poor decisions in this regard.”
He pointed out how in June 2023, a school district in Utah banned the Bible due to graphic descriptions of violence, incest and rape, calling it unsuitable for young children. The decision was ultimately reversed but Clark argued that the situation should be a clear indicator of what can happen when information is restricted.
Library board member Desirée Beauchamp-Boucher spoke during public comment on her own behalf. Beauchamp-Boucher said she watched the council meeting last month and felt she needed to share another view as a mother and community member.
“It was stated in the last meeting that we should use past laws in America as proof of why these are important values. It was stated that until 1962, same-sex relations was punishable by law with imprisonment and hard labor in America. This is true. It was also stated that same-sex marriage is still punishable by law in many countries. This is also true. … I wonder if the people who said these comments took into consideration the laws they were referring to in other countries that outlaw same-sex relations because those countries are mostly places like Nigeria, Pakistan, Iran, Sudan, Saudia Arabia, more places. These are places where, yes, same sex relations are punishable by stoning, life in imprisonment, death; also women can be punished in the same way. I do not in any way disparage any faith. I think all faiths when practiced with love are important but I think that we would agree that those areas are not areas that we are looking to mirror as a society when it comes to what we recognize.”
Former Middlebury Public Library director Terry Rheinhemer said the library is for sharing experiences and ideas.
“If we had just what some people want it would be very narrow and denying experiences that many people have,” she said. “I like reading mysteries. That does not mean I’m going out to murder people. … We need to be responsible for our families. You do for your family. Not for mine.”
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