Same Speech, Different Day—Enough Already

Well, there I was, once again having to spend a long Tuesday night showing up to support Samuels Public Library against the attacks of the Warren County BOS (minus Mrs. Cullers). One would think that after the library and their supporters fought off the Great Pornography Hysteria of 2023, the Board Four would have cottoned on to the fact that this county ain’t buyin’ what they’re sellin’.

Let me put this in language the Board Four will understand: Warren County is full of “smart people.” We know that the library isn’t up to its gills in “porn”; we understand that our library staff aren’t kiddie fiddlers or “groomers”; and we see that you have failed to make anything approaching a convincing case of any administrative or financial wrongdoing on the part of the library.

In the event the general lack of enthusiasm for your little Library Persecution Project wasn’t clear before the election, it certainly should have been so after pro-library candidates wiped the floor with the candidates whose support for the library was less than robust. But no. Richard Jamieson sat there Tuesday night nattering on, as if simply repeating discredited arguments which failed to convince anyone the first (or second or third) time, would somehow do the trick this time. There’s thirty minutes of my life I’ll never get back.

Richard Jamieson, you are becoming tiresome. It was hard not to laugh each time you quoted Orwell, because what you and your three colleagues (but mostly you) have done to the library and their staff over these past few years is the very definition of Doublespeak. But you seem almost comically immune to irony. You’re also apparently immune to the repeated rebukes of the community at large, since you once again failed to release the library’s funding Tuesday night.

Fellow citizens, Jamieson presented a false choice to the library — that they must knuckle under to his list of demands in order to receive the funding earmarked for library services, or the library could find a way to fund themselves as the BOS continues withholding the money. This “choice” reminds me of the choice between debate candidates in South Park Season 8 Episode 8. (Google it. Amiright?) Frankly, I’m surprised South Park hasn’t made an episode about the ongoing goat rodeo(s) in our county, this is literally that embarrassing.

I pay taxes in Warren County and because of you four, I had to pay a separate “tax” (via donation) to help keep the library going until the new Supervisors can take their seats, put your little cabal in the minority, and restore funding to Samuels Public Library (and sanity to Warren County).

To the Supervisors who will be departing in January: A wise man knows when a battle is lost. Save face. Walk away with a legacy of having done the right thing. Better late than never

Release the funding to the library. Enough already.

L.K. Henderson
Warren County, VA

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