WHAT'S ON YOUR MIND
By Scott Hennen
Host of “What’s On Your Mind?” Radio Show heard on KTGO-1090AM and KFYR-550AM
Co-owner of Flag Family Media and the McKenzie County Farmer
Let me ask you an easy question. This shouldn’t require you to ponder the answer. Give me a split-second response.
Ready?
Should libraries allow sexually explicit material to be seen by children? No. Hard stop. Gross. Child abuse. Horrible idea.
Who would answer anything other than “NO” you ask? Librarians are your answer. Taxpayer-funded librarians.
A bill in the North Dakota state legislature has a simple mission: Protect youth from pornography. House Bill 1205 would prohibit public libraries from “Maintaining explicit sexual material”. I’ll save you the descriptions included in the bill. But trust me, you don’t want kids to see it.
Librarians quoted in a story by C.S. Hagen in the Forum of Fargo Moorhead call this bill “Egregious overreach”. Really? Is it too much to ask Ms. Christine Kujawa, Librarian at Bismarck Veterans Memorial Public Library, to protect children? Valley City Barnes County Public Library Director Anita Tulp wants to know why legislators are “targeting” libraries when nearly all children have easy access to smartphones. That’s really rich. As if to say, “Hey they’ll see porn anyway, why not give them some more at the library”. Maybe these libraries need more supervision from the representatives of the people. Again, they are funded by public money.