Childhood innocence and parental rights are on the Mat-Su Borough Assembly agenda for Tuesday, April 2, starting at 6 p.m. During this meeting, the Assembly will hear testimony on Ordinance 24-039, new legislation to address the obscenity-riddled children’s fiction books currently in our five public borough libraries: Big Lake, Sutton, Talkeetna, Trapper Creek and Willow. Now is the time to stand up, speak out, and fight back.
Battle lines were drawn last March at the Alaska Chapter/American Library Association (ALA) conference in Fairbanks. That’s when parental rights took a backseat to sexualizing children and normalizing pedophilia, aka “grooming.” Speaker Devin Helkenberg extolled the “necessity” of sex-themed books for youth 12 years and older “…to incorporate it into their lives.” There’s a plan for youth who come from conservative families, too. Sexualized novels are a “safe and secret source,” Helkenberg said. “They’re not as obvious as a non-fiction book on sexuality,” which means “parents would often not question the reading. The (obscene) information is kind of hidden within.”
Those quotes – and more – were first reported in the Alaska Watchman. Click here.
Devin, the librarians and the ALA weren’t joking. A fair amount of so-called “Young Adult fiction” (or YA, which is a publisher category for 14- to 17-year-old readers), is absolutely riddled with “hidden” content that some defenders actually term sex education. Sex Ed? Really? Only if the child’s education is perversion, incest, child molestation, sex trafficking, rape, sadism, substance abuse, self-harm, abortion …and on … and on. Don’t believe me? The book, “LET’S TALK ABOUT IT,” specifies “rimming” as a normal sexual act, while “IDENTICAL” has scenes of a father molesting one of his nine-year old identical twin daughters while the author describes the other twin watching in envy.
This time, they failed to silence the people.
If these books were movies, most would have a triple-XXX rating from the Motion Picture Association.
That isn’t just my opinion. Several members of the community spoke on how patently offensive they found these books at the January 18, 2024, Mat-Su Borough book challenge meeting regarding two books: “Red Hood” and “Identical.” That hearing was the fifth book challenge meeting where I’ve managed to get a hearing since I first found out about the hidden sexual content in books a year ago.
It isn’t easy to get to the hearing phase of the library challenge policy. ALA-indoctrinated librarians completely control every step. The discussion, strict adherence to a timeline, and the hearing rules are all rigidly controlled by librarians. Only ALA members and librarians sit in judgment of the complaint and make final decisions. All of the decision letters are pretty much the same verbiage, too. January 18th went exactly as the others, except this time the American Library Association-controlled librarians lost ownership of their biased, slanted, and controlled script.
This time, they failed to silence the people.
The meeting did not “devolve into chaos,” as the Anchorage Daily News reports. Watch the livestream on Politadick here. Make up your own mind. The segment continually tagged as “chaos” is actually a 45-second span where the President of the Wasilla Friends of the Library group and a compatriot did their utmost to prevent community members from speaking. Once they are removed, the video becomes 27 minutes of unrehearsed, ad-lib testimonies from real community residents about the obscene material being distributed to minors in our tax-funded libraries.
The American Library Association is a big organization. It’s been around for 147 years. They receive dues from thousands of libraries and librarians. They’ve created documents (like the one titled “Freedom to read” that has no legal standing in any state except Illinois – the ALA’s home state). These documents are used, however, to create policies and procedures for libraries to follow. ALA wields a lot of influence. It’s unfortunate that the ALA is under leadership that proudly espouses their Marxist roots.
ALASKA WATCHMAN DIRECT TO YOUR INBOX
ALA claims to be a “…non-partisan, non-profit membership organization that develops, promotes, and improves library information for all.” I’ll quote from the South Carolina State Library letter to the ALA when they split with the organization: “ALA’s actions appear to be activism for certain groups of people and not advocacy for libraries and all the people they serve.”
Mat-Su Borough Assembly members Ron Bernier, Dee McKee and Dmitri Fonov have sponsored OR 24-039 to create a citizen’s advisory committee that will wrest control of the challenge process from those who don’t just ignore public input, they disdain it. One opponent of OR 24-039 remarked at the March 19th Assembly meeting that if you want a second opinion on brain surgery (a librarian and/or advocate’s opinion), you don’t get one from an auto mechanic (a member of the public’s opinion).
Such is the contempt for those who fund libraries and pay for the books in them.
Twerking is not waltzing. Grand Theft Auto video game is not Mario Kart. The movie Deep Throat is not The Sound of Music. Community standards are a deciding legal factor on material that is harmful to children, and with this ordinance the community would get a say.
TAKING ACTION
— To speak on this ordinance in-person, go to the next Mat-Su Borough Assembly meeting on April 2, starting 6 p.m., at the Assembly Chambers (350 E. Dahlia Avenue, Palmer).
— Click here to contact individual members of the Mat-Su Borough Assembly.
— To testify during the April 2 meeting via phone, call 855-225-2326. You will hear “Joining conference” when you are admitted to the meeting. You will be automatically muted and able to listen to the meeting. When the mayor announces audience participation or a public hearing you would like to speak to, press *3; you will hear “Your hand has been raised.” When it is your turn to testify you will hear “Your line has been unmuted.” State your name for the record, spell your last name, and provide your testimony.
— To watch the meeting remotely, click here.
30 Comments
GOOD FOR MAT-SU !!! “But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” Jeremiah 29:7
Mrs Goforth is certainly a fiction writer, but the awards must be from the SLANDEROUS ATTACKERS of AMERICA. My experience with the scores of librarians both in the Mat-Su and Alaska are that they are thoughtful citizens that believe that American values are enhanced by access to information.
Please stop this woman’s fiction and attacks on all of our liberties.
So, put those books in the adult section. Porn does not belong in the childrens’ section. If a parent chooses to let their child/ children read such, fine. That is their right.
After reviewing OR 24-039 this is a great idea, only issue I see with it, is the committee only has advisory role. So the perverts running the library’s can still override any discussion they make. With out teeth this committee is useless.
Is the homonym error in the headline a Freudian slip?
I doubt most of the watchman’s readers will pick up on it. Basic literacy seems to be above theirs and the editors head.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/homonym
It’s 2024. Why do we need physical libraries? Let’s close them down, sell the assets and then use the money to build roads and bridges.
You really think shutting down public libraries would be a good thing? SERIOUSLY? That’s tremendously sad.
I think that the groomers need to fund, open and maintain their own libraries using their own money. Libraries funded by public tax dollars should be run according to majority public wishes. The majority wants the groomer books in the adult section at the least!
FOH – no, public libraries are for EVERYONE in the community, not just those use a manufactured crisis to force their minority views on the rest of us. Using your logic, and given that several studies have shown that the MAJORITY of people trust their public librarians, that the MAJORITY of people believe it is a parental responsibility to be involved in their children’s reading habits, and that the MAJORITY of people see censorship as a slippery slope that shouldn’t be started upon [https://www.ala.org/advocacy/sites/ala.org.advocacy/files/content/Voters-Oppose-Book-Bans-in-Libraries-AC-11-5.pdf], I would love to say sure, let’s use MAJORITY rule when it comes to public libraries. But that’s why challenged materials policies exist in the first place – to give a voice to everyone, because libraries are for everyone, and when used correctly, can lead to good discussions and compromise. Unfortunately, the group leading the charge against all these titles isn’t interested in discussion, facts, examples of how reading materials have positively impacted people’s lives or anything other than forcing their will on the rest of us. If Ms. Goforth and her compatriots do not approve on what’s on the shelves at the public library – they can choose not to borrow or read those books. Oh, wait, they weren’t library users to start with – they had to sign up for library cards in order to challenge books on the library shelves – they were well prepared, they had a list they found on the Internet to tell them which books were bad – pity that not all of them were actually on public library shelves in the borough….
KA, at this point, as a tax payer that wants children to be innocent until they are adults, I read your post as an echo of all of the lies that you and your ilk continually spew. I see the words in your post as, “blah…blah…blah.” We are done with the attempted robbery of our children’s innocence by perverted sickos.
This coming from the same Jacquelyn “Jackie” Ivie who writes soft core such as “the knight before Christmas” for bored housewifes
Sounds like some people could use a course and some education on what cinstitutes Adult fiction versus Young Adult fiction. You won’t find any Jackie Ivie fiction in a Young Adult section. For the same reason this fiction needs to be moved to the Adult area. It’s not for minor readers. Thank you for highlighting one genre of my published career. The Highland books were published starting in 2004 with Kensington Publishing, out of New York. The imprint is Zebra Books, Historical Romance Fiction. It includes 10 books all based in the Highlands of Scotland, all taking place In the past. They have been translated into 8 languages at last count, and appeared on best-seller lists throughout the world. The series won numerous contest, review, and reader awards, starting with the debut, LADY OF THE KNIGHT. I appreciate the promo every time my books are highlighted like this.
Waiting on a previous reply to be approved.
Ironic that Ms. Goforth uses the translation of her works and that fact that they’ve won awards as defense of them when several of the books she’d like removed from library shelves also hold the same distinctions. You know, when I signed my kid up for a library card, my signature indicated that the public library believed in the right of parents to parent and so if I was not comfortable with my child checking out books on his own, I shouldn’t sign him up for a library card. When I asked, I was told he could borrow items with my card (as long as I had a note on the card record giving him permission to do so) and that way I would always have access to know what titles were being borrowed. It’s all fine and good to say that these books are adult materials, but the truth is any child with a library card could check out Ms. Goforth’s Highland books or her vampire erotica books or buy them off of Amazon with gift cards, parents none the wiser. So, as a parent, is my work to help my child navigate the world which embodies many things I don’t agree with and find a moral path through the muck, or is to fight to keep these things from existing in the first place?
I see no issue with the proposed ordinance at all, and this committee is advisory, not judicial. They would not be making policy nor eliminating books, but would make recommendation on age appropriateness of various ‘literature’. This is not book banning, it is common sense protection of the innocence of children by cataloging books where they truly belong.
Don’t negotiate with evil, remove them all, problem solved
…and pardon the typos. I always did need a good copy editor)
I truly do not understand how advocates of parental rights think that co-parenting their children with the Mat-Su Borough Assembly and the Citizens Library Review Committee is a good idea. Let parents parent their own children! Don’t let the government–even local government like the Mat-Su Assembly–parent your children!
Because some books have obscene content that is “hidden” from the parents – just as Davin Helkenberg said. Movies have a content warning. Video games. Music. There is no content warning on a book. Why should taxpayers pay for books that normalize sex perversions, pedophilia, sadism, literal child porn, self-harm, and so much more? Did you know IDENTICAL has a scene where two adults direct and film a ten- year- old girl and boy in sex acts, then sell the images to the pedophile market? That is Literal Child Porn.
These books say they’re for young teens. With content like that? Obscenity is not protected speech under the First Amendment. It’s illegal to distribute obscene content to minors per Alaska Statute 11.61.128. if you believe the contents are not obscene – as most defenders say, then speak up. It’s disingenuous to place responsibility on the parents when books with hidden content books are in the Young Adult section. PS – that’s just one scene from IDENTICAL. There are dozens more. Rresorting to semantics and agenda-driven concepts like “book banning”, “book burning”, “censorship”, “government overreach”, etc., are useless. Some books are not protected speech per the criteria for obscenity set forth in Miller vs California 1973. The evidence was hidden, but no longer. It’s in print. On paper. For the entire Adult Community of Mat-Su to see, hear, and decide for themselves what some are actually defending.
Oh SA, I just love the co-opting of conservative beliefs and twisting it to make it sound like it what the evil believes and supports. Just amazes me every time I see this happen! To set the record straight for anyone who does not know: co-parenting with any organization is down-right dangerous and not encouraged. Parents should be raising their children as a mother and father should (or single parent as is the situation at times) – making all of the decisions in regards to the child’s education, entertainment and livelihood in general. For the record, SA has been very vocally in support of allowing children access to inappropriate reading material WITHOUT parental consent. Don’t let this 5/31/24 5:17 pm post of SA’s fool you – she is saying opposite of what she really represents and fights for.
Re: my previous comment (to which I cannot respond at this time because it hasn’t yet been approved)
Turns out the email is correct, my emails were kicked back because my email client (Protonmail) is based on Switzerland and the emails showed as coming from there, so were blocked on that basis.
IF someone has a similar issue, one can contact the clerk’s office and ask them to send younto IT, who will request your email address and then add you to a ‘white list’ for future communications.
FYI.
Good to know.. I have two Protonmail accounts, but haven’t tried to use them on this site yet.. They are good for blocking tracking/spam when needed… And free.
Who does this “clerk’s office” belong to? Maybe this white list will be used to determine how many protonmail users there are and block those protonmail accounts permanently. I would be leary of being put on any lists in this time of our world.
The people who work in the Borough libraries – Sutton, Big Lake, Willow, Talkeetna and Trapper Creek – that I have encountered are community minded-individuals, serving the areas in which they live. To call them ‘radicalized’ and imply that they are pedophiles, groomers and pushing sexualized content on children is downright disgusting. The library workers are our neighbors, our friends, our fellow congregants, not mention trained in their profession to provide materials for all points of view on an issue – not just the point of view coming out of the bully pulpits. This ordinance, if it passes, would remove local control from the challenge process. It actually grows government because there is a challenged materials process and procedure already in place [https://matsugov.us/boards/challenged-materials-review-committee]. And finally, think about this – the one thing everyone used to be able to agree on is that politicians should not be choosing which books belong on library shelves. Unfortunately, that no longer seems to be the case. So, if you think a public library with books only allowed by Joe Biden or only allowed by Donald Trump is a great idea, by all means, encourage your Assembly person to vote for this ordinance. I will be encouraging my Assembly person to vote against it; as far as I can determine, there has never been a time in history when it was the good guys banning books and this ordinance is an attempt to create a committee to do just that.
KA, I can tell which side you sit on when you use the words, “banning books.”
I’m for freedom! I want library’s shut down! Ka you are invited to pay my share of taxes to support your “preferences “! I won’t bother you again! And I will not enter the doors of these collapsing institutions! Get your check book out and write your check on my behalf!
Thank-you for this informative article; take heart that there are information professionals all over the US & Canada sympathetic to your cause – Fwiw, there’s a new organization, Association of Library Professionals (ALP), that’s seeking to provide a more moderate alternative to legacy organizations – https://alplibraries.org/
Don’t want it don’t need it! Defund it and give the money back to the tax payers!