Residents in uproar over controversial library board appointments
The ongoing debate over the control of the Yancey County Public Library continued Monday night
By Ed DiOrio
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BURNSVILLE, North Carolina (WLOS) — Throughout the summer, the Yancey County Commission made an effort to become more involved with proceedings for the Yancey County Public Library. On Monday night, commissioners took a step in that direction by appointing new members to the library’s board, which was met with displeasure from Yancey County residents.
“I think it’s a politically motivated move to take over the library,” Yancey & Mitchell County NAACP President Robin Ellis said.
Monday’s meeting saw people for, and against, the commission’s decision to add new members to the county library board.
“This is not right what [those opposing the commission] are trying to do,” county resident Becky Whitson said. “It’s not according to God’s word. It’s just not right.”
“It’s a library for everybody,” library member Karin Rolett said. “What you choose to read is your business.
One of the new board members spoke out against a Pride Month display at the library.
“We support the library, always have supported the library, and we’ll continue to support the library,” Yancey County Commission Chairman Jeff Whitson said. “But we want to do it in an orderly manner because the library board has been out of control for decades.”
Some at the meeting said the newly-appointed members are looking to censor materials in books. Officials from the library said there are no obscenities and all books are properly separated between adults and children.
“We don’t have pornography in our library,” Avery-Mitchell-Yancey Regional Library Branch Manager Wayne Edwards said.
But the commission sees it differently.
“What’s pornography to me might not be pornography to you,” Whitson said. “We’re not getting rid of any books. We’re not banning, nor censoring anything that the public library has. We’re making the playing ground level, and we’re not going to be putting up with any kind of religious, political or ethnic displace because it brings discord.”
Avery-Mitchell-Yancey Regional Library Regional director Amber Westall Briggs questioned the commission on a few topics. Something she’s not questioning is the support the library has from the public.
“When you see me, see that I have a community of people behind me,” Briggs said. “They are Christian and non-Christian, straight and LGTBQ+, they’re here with all of us.”
Though many spoke during the public forum, not everyone who wanted to was able to. Commissioners encouraged them to return to their meeting in October.
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