The People of Warren County Stand With Samuels Library

I am writing this as a library-card-holding citizen of Warren County, and homeschooling, Catholic, mother of 5. As a homeschooling mom, I rely heavily on Samuels Public Library for excellent literature, homeschooling resources, and amazing programs. I find the fact that our Board of Supervisors minus Cheryl Cullers, has acted aggressively against Samuels inc. both uncharitable and problematic for our community. I wrote to all of the board members trying to understand why they were insistent on creating a Library Board made up of several people who were sympathetic to “Clean Up Samuels” the exact same group that demanded the defunding of the library and the firing of all the librarians. The goal cannot ultimately be to bring Public Governance if an aggressor like Eric Belk is going to be the face of this new Board. For public governance to work as stated, it requires there to be some unification between the Supervisors, the library, and the community otherwise you end up with what we now have, more division and  a defunded (even though our Supervisors keep telling us they aren’t defunding)  Samuels Public Library.

The response I received from Jamieson regarding the tie between Eric Belk and “Clean Up Samuels” was this: “You’ve made an unsupported conclusion that certain board members cannot objectively evaluate service options based solely on your belief about their biases.” I agree that my personal belief about their biases doesn’t matter, but the librarians and Samuels Library staff’s belief about their biases does matter and does hinder the ability of the Warren County Library Board to be able to actually oversee and work with Samuels Library Inc, the staff, and our librarians. So I can only guess that the intention of this Supervisor Majority was never to work with Samuels Inc to serve the needs of our community, or to create any kind of unity or consideration to the people who make up Samuels Inc, including our beloved librarians. Was it about control over Samuels? Or to completely push them out. Had these four Supervisors done their actual job, which is to work with the library, meeting with the Samuels Board of trustees to agree on a budget and work out their perceived issues with Samuels Inc., then actual problems could have been solved without bringing in aggressors (eg. Erik Belk) to further inflame the issues.

This is not what our community wants or needs. We need a board of Supervisors who are willing to roll up their sleeves and start fixing problems instead of creating them and feeding the flames of adversity. We have never had a Board of Supervisor majority that has acted with such antipathy towards our library that has given our community so much over the past 50 years.

In my recent correspondence with Dr. Jamieson, I told him that most of our community loves our librarians, library staff, volunteers, and programs that Samuels Inc has provided to our community to which he replied, “Throughout your correspondence, you repeatedly reference “the community” as being in uniform agreement with your perspective. This assertion is unfounded. The 2023 election results, where candidates (e.g., me) explicitly labeled as “anti-library” won with substantial majorities despite organized opposition with significant resources and visibility, suggest community sentiment is more diverse than you indicate.”  I want to note that Dr. Jamieson was the only candidate listed on the ballot in my district (we did have a last minute write-in candidate). I don’t think boasting about winning as an “anti-library” candidate on a ballot of one candidate makes his victory living proof of community sentiment. But this is likely how he sees himself.

The issue is that these four “representatives” were elected to do a job as Public Servants to serve the people of this community… Not to dictate our voices and tell us they are doing it for our own good. The only way to truly gauge where our community really stands is to give them a vote on whether they want a Library Board and another outside library service to replace our long-standing relationship with Samuels Inc. It’s really not rocket science, it’s called TAXPAYER ACCOUNTABILITY. Oh wait, that is their phrase.  It is the phrase they are using to justify their actions, destroying something meaningful to our community in the name of saving us money and giving us more of a say in library decisions.

Is anyone seeing the irony?

The truth is that pushing Samuels Inc into a corner of submission to the new Library Board (with ties to the anti-library group that started this cascade of division) or replacing Samuels Inc entirely has always been their plan. I did not want to believe  this when I spent hours of my precious time writing to them, but now I know. I received it in writing with a superfluous amount of condescending words that basically mean: “we don’t care.” This is their message to me, and to all of us.

We have a fantastic library. Is it perfect? No. Has Samuels Inc made mistakes. Yes. Absolutely. It is made up of human beings like me and like you. Human error is part of the equation of grace and mercy. But the human element is the important thing. Our library is not fantastic because of the books on the shelves or our lovely library building. It’s not because of our fancy computers. It’s not because of all of our tax dollars that we have invested. Our library is fantastic because of the people who make up Samuels Inc, our librarians, the volunteers and the community that supports, loves and invests in our library. It’s the people. The imperfect human beings that create programs specific to our community’s needs. Their ideas and creativity are not a commodity that can be replicated or easily replaced with a new library service provider, especially a for-profit service with monetary goals, and no relationship with Warren County. Our representatives have to realize this and yet they continue to move forward with their goal of defunding and removing Samuels Inc from our community.

Some people leave legacies that build community, fix problems, serve the poor, and the like, but others divide and conquer and avert their eyes from the needless suffering they create. But our community cares. people are speaking up. People are talking about it. Moms who are busy raising small, story-time-attending children are talking about it. People at the coffee shops are talking about it. I had a stranger at the park come up to me and start talking about it. My teenagers are talking about it. People in neighboring counties are talking about it. Teachers, librarians, fire fighters, police officers, everyone is talking about it, yet the people we hired to represent us refuse to acknowledge these voices. Instead they claim that they are hearing from a larger nameless so-called majority of people, scared to be identified, who want Samuels Inc shut down.

The people in our community might not be important to Dr. Jamieson, Mr. Butler, Mr. Stanmyer, and Mrs. Cook, but it is their lofty ideals and imagined virtue that cloud their ability to see the needs and desires of their neighbors and community. Regardless, our community will continue to care about each other and our library long after their tenure as “civil servants” is done. What happens next will be their legacy to Warren County. And we won’t stop talking about it.

Clare Marmalejo, North River District
Warren County

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