It’s Time to Lead from the Front

In response to the recent Warren County Board of Supervisors (BOS) meeting held on July 1, 2025, in which Supervisor Jamieson went on a lengthy tirade attempting to discredit the truthfulness and transparency of Samuels Public Library’s operations, I would like to offer some thoughts.

First, Supervisor Jamieson’s effort to use George Orwell’s 1984 novel as a literary reference to support his litany of accusations against the library was the wrong choice as was deftly pointed out to him by a speaker during the public comment period. The board’s actions for the past couple of years regarding the library (with exception to Supervisor Cullers) appear to be a quintessential example of government manipulation of the truth for public consumption.  In fact, Jamieson’s dialogue seemed to solely be an attempt at trying to knit together a whole host of independent allegations that have been cast against the library by the BOS in some strangely congruent way to rewrite the public record.

In reality, the strange twists and turns that have occurred with respect to the board’s many shifts in focus for the past couple of years, coupled with their attempted justifications at the time, have been independently antagonistic and nothing more to exert personal control.  For example, the shell game that the majority of the board seems to be playing has involved an array of changing issues such as inappropriate books being the issue, management of the library being the concern, the proposed need for a private public relations firm to handle community outreach, the creation of a hand-picked Warren County Library Board (WCLB) to act as an intermediary for the BOS, solicitation of a private for-profit library service provider in lieu of pursing an equitable resolution with the current one, their perceived urgent need to cancel the funding of our community’s current award-winning library, along with other tactics, etc.  In addition, the board’s lack of engagement with the library in a publicly meaningful and transparent manner, as elected leaders obligated to serve the best interests of the overall community, is most alarming.

Secondly, Jamieson mentioned that if the library were to concede to the demands that he outlined, the board would consider providing further funding. Please remember that the board (except Supervisor Cullers) has worked themselves into this hole, against the overwhelming and consistent support for Samuels Public Library expressed by the community.  Accordingly, it seemed rather audacious to me that he (or the board) felt so impowered to place such demands on Samuels Public Library while the majority of the board has dismissed their obligations in meeting the expectations voiced by the community at large during numerous public meetings.

Furthermore, please consider that as this unfortunate situation moves forward without a resolution, our community will continue to pay a price in one way or another.  In his diatribe, Jamieson also indicated that if the library does not agree to the demands that he outlined in his commentary, funds held for potential appropriation to the library will be diverted to other critical community services such as emergency services, etc.  In addition to being an arm-twisting tactic that lacks a vision of community leadership, it also resembles a convenient diversion to offset public focus from the fact that taxpayer funds that could have already been used in support of some of these same services have been wasted to fund the board’s unprovoked attack on Samuel Public Library.

Lastly, to the members of the Board of Supervisors that have led us down this path: IT IS TIME to set aside your personal interests and bring this chapter of Warren County’s history to a close by engaging with the Samuels Public Library Board of Trustees in a face-to-face and publicly transparent manner. Moreover, the WCLB needs to be immediately dissolved given that it is overly redundant and only serves as an impediment to restoring good-faith relations with the library and rebuilding public trust. Anything less is an abdication of your ethical and fiduciary duty in serving our community fairly.

Barry Harrison
Front Royal, VA

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