Supervisor Majority Accused of Lying About Anti-Samuels Library Effort as Late Public Comments Become Pointed

As promised in our lead story on the May 20th Warren County Board of Supervisors meeting Action Agenda, we will cover some of the highly volatile Public Comments made on non-agenda items near the meeting’s end.

Those Comments began with three of the first four speakers addressing what some perceive as lies being told by the four-member board majority regarding finances, as opposed to a continuation of the “Clean Up Samuels” LGBTQ-based censorship effort of 2023/24, being at the root of the Jamieson, Stanmeyer, Cook, Butler-supported effort to replace Samuels Public Library.

The anti-Samuels Library county board majority, from left, Stanmeyer, Butler, Jamieson, Cook, heard a lot of pointed criticism of their motive, truthfulness about that motive, and negative community impacts from ignoring the majority opinion of their constituents due to personal beliefs. Royal Examiner Photos Roger Bianchini

Unlike the non-profit Samuels Library LLC, the targeted replacement company, Library Services & Systems (LS&S), is a for-profit private contractor that, from initial correspondences with the County, appears willing to allow the supervisors and its newly appointed library board to control content and operational decisions for the community’s public library moving forward.

It might be noted that the Samuels Library group has roots in this community dating back to 1799 when its originating entity became the second State-approved public library in Virginia. As previously observed, Samuels Library is Virginia’s current Library of the Year 2024, among other awards it or its staff have received.

But library issues weren’t all that exploded during that second Public Comment, as other speakers took on other matters. That included, first Dominic Ruibal’s highly critical assessment of Christendom College’s several year history of dumping still-polluted wastewater into the Shenandoah River directly or indirectly (begins at 1:12:43 mark of linked County video).

Things then took an unexpected turn when the fifth non-agenda item, Public Comments speaker Leslie Mathews, came to the podium (1:19:45 video mark). Mathews late Public Comments attack on Supervisor Cheryl Cullers and Sheriff Crystal Cline revolved around earlier Board and Staff Reports discussion of no parking/towing issues around Thompson Hollow near Public Parks property in the South River District.

From the tone of her criticism Leslie Mathews may be spoiling for a rematch of her 2019, 3-way race loss to Cheryl Cullers for the South River District seat on the WC Board of Supervisors. It is fairly likely were Matthews to regain that seat that she would fall in line with the anti-Samuels portion of the new board. Below, Cheryl Cullers may not have seen that personal of an attack over parking issues in Thompson Hollow coming, or did she? Husband Steven was present and had her back.

It was South River Supervisor Cullers who broached that topic regarding a meeting she facilitated with VDOT (Virginia Department of Transportation) whose roads are involved, and Warren County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO) officials who have enforcement responsibility in an attempt to develop an agreed-upon strategy regarding vehicles parked in posted “No Parking” zones in Thompson Hollow. From a historical perspective, it might be noted that Cullers defeated Mathews and Robert Hupman in a three-way race for the South River District Board seat in November 2019.

Husband to the defense

Mathews attacks on Supervisor Cullers and Sheriff Cline, the latter for heading the enforcement body with responsibility for overseeing the towing of violators blocking potential emergency vehicle access in the Thompson Hollow neighborhood No Parking zones, drew a response from Cullers’ husband Steven Cullers (1:23:50 video mark). Noting that parking was allowed in a portion of the area, Mr. Cullers accused Mathews of “muddying the waters” of long-standing issues at play to launch baseless personal and political attacks against both his wife and the sheriff.

Recently announced Fork District School Board candidate George Cline rose near the meeting’s end to question the supervisors on their collective fiscal priorities and processes, offering a scathing appraisal of their collective competence to create a sensible budget in the best interest of all their constituents and departments serving those constituents.

But let’s start our review with the pro-Samuels public comments targeting the supervisors majority’s actions and words. As noted in our Action Agenda story on the May 20th meeting, those comments begin at the 1:07:30 video mark with Happy Creek District resident Aileen Dierig’s remarks in defense of Samuels Public Library. Each speaker is allowed a maximum of three minutes.

Other speakers addressing the board majority’s library replacement initiative were Samantha Good (1:10:45 video mark); and Rebecca Althizer (1:16:30 video mark); as well as Fork District Board candidate Hugh Henry (1:26:50 video mark of his remarks beginning on other issues at 1:25:49 mark). Henry reiterated his commitment to support of Samuels Library continued award-winning partnership with the County should he win the Fork District seat.

This library switch is going to save money how?

Dierig began by noting that basic costs to the County from its planned switch of a public library servicer to LS&S weren’t yet precisely known, but were also likely to include legal costs from cross-filed litigations almost sure to be brought. It should be noted that Samuels Library has 14 years left of a 30-year lease on the County-owned building on Criser Road it occupies at a dollar a year’s cost.

As some have pointed out, those lease terms might indicate the long-term intent of previous County Boards perspective of the Public/Private Partnership on county library services with Samuels. From information circulated by Samuels officials during the escalating conflict with the current supervisors four-person majority and its appointed County Library Board, Samuels contends it legally owns all library books and support materials for programs, and likely furnishings as well, inside the library facility. That is because those purchases were made or paid off with patron contributions and Endowment Funds as opposed to county tax revenues. That would mean LS&S and/or the County will likely have to purchase all library materials, as well as provide an alternate location for LS&S to initially operate from as legal matters, including the library building lease, are argued and decided in a courtroom.

So, is it really about financial transparency and accountability as the board majority claims, or as most library supporters believe is it something else? The belief that a coverup of the real motivation is underway is based on Samuels’ supporters contention that financial transparency and accountability for Samuels Public Library operations has always existed and been available to the County. That is a contention supported by 20-year former Supervisor Tony Carter, who came out of retirement to announce his candidacy to regain his Happy Creek District seat, with one primary issue being his support of the continued County-Samuels Library Public/Private Partnership.

So, is the library turnover initiative really about finances or the continued presence of LGBTQ reading material in the library, even if moved to older patron sections under stricter access rules?

A lack of transparency – Are we allowed to say ‘Trans’parency?

“The lack of transparency from the Warren County Library Board, LS&S, and every party working to dismantle Samuels Public Library during all of this should greatly concern us all,” Dierig began, adding pointedly, “It has been clear from the very beginning that this concocted narrative about fiscal oversight and responsibility is only to cover up the fact that this attempt to undermine our community’s library was founded in bigotry, homophobia, trans-phobia, and the fact they did not want our community to be educated or to speak out in opposition to their ideals.”

Eileen Dierig opened the non-agenda item Public Comments portion of the meeting with some thoughtful questions about actual costs tied to a switch from non-profit Samuels Public Library to for-profit private entity Library Systems & Services.

Dierig cited a recently published letter to the editor in support of the anti-Samuels narrative being forwarded from various angles by various sources. “Recently one of the founders of the Clean Up Samuels movement, the book banning group that started this whole debacle, with connections to Christendom College, published a Letter to the Editor proclaiming the upcoming election is about more than libraries or imaginary Data Centers, it’s about ‘rejecting the insane ideology of the alphabet soup’, making it crystal clear what this has always been about: identity politics and banning gay books.”

Papal input

Here we might inject that during the 2023/24 “Clean Up Samuels” book removal effort some supporters of that effort self-identified online or elsewhere as religiously motivated individuals to whom alternate sexual identity lifestyles were considered sinful, even for some a quick one-way ticket to Hell. In fact, at that time this reporter was told by a more moderate member of that Catholic religious community that some of the extremists in that community believed that Pope Francis was part of a line of anti-popes controlled by Satan because he had refused to condemn gays directly to Hell when asked about their spiritual fates shortly after becoming pope. A little online research led us to the late Pope Francis’s reply when asked about the spiritual fate of gays. He said, “If a gay is of a good heart and seeking the Lord, who am I to judge?”

But back to today early in the papacy of the late Pope Francis’s successor Leo XIV, Dierig wrapped up by worrying over Christendom College’s impact, not only on public perceptions and politics, but on its recent history of violations in dumping wastewater not meeting State cleanup standards into the Shenandoah River directly or indirectly.

Holy river pollution!

“I also want to say that Christendom College needs to be held accountable and clean up their sewage leak into the Shenandoah River for the sake of our drinking water and the health of our community members, the safety of those who use our river for recreation, the health of the local eco-system and the watershed on which we rely, and for the sake of the local tourism industry … I speak tonight before the board out of great love and concern for our community,” Dierig ended as her 3-minute timer sounded.

When his turn arrived third speaker Dominic Ruibal (1:12:43 video mark) asserted that Christendom College’s violations of Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VA DEQ) standards for wastewater treatment disposal were worse than initially believed, and indicated that he was presenting documentation to the board on the school’s permitting and citations in that regard. It might be noted here that Royal Examiner’s first article on the issue of Christendom campus wastewater pollution issues appeared on April 27, 2018.

Other speakers focused on the future of public library services is this community added their perspectives to many points Dierig raised. Those included the board majority siding with a religious extremist minority portion of the community of which several of them may have direct ties.

South River District citizen and “Save Samuels” principal Samantha Good opened responding to earlier comments from Fork District Supervisor and appointed WC Library Board member Vicky Cook. “You seem so concerned about transparency that you are concerned about the lack of Transportation Board meeting minutes. Yet, the Warren County Library Board that you sit on has never posted any of their minutes.

Where’s the consistency in your transparency concerns, Save Samuels President Samantha Good rhetorically asked Supervisor Vicky Cook after pointing out the WC Library Board Cook is appointed to has yet to release meeting minutes of its discussions on a planned change in the County/Library Public/Private Partnership.

“You’re so concerned about the way Sheriff Cline spends her allotted budget. Yet you’re not concerned about the fact that the library service provider that you all have selected is not required to give you any information because they’re a private company. So, their information is proprietary,” Good pointed out, accusing Cook, and perhaps through guilt by association her three colleagues pushing the library change, of working toward their own agendas without consideration for what a majority of their constituents want for the future of this community.

“News flash, Samuels isn’t going anywhere. And we will continue to fight for them. And I am so glad to hear that you’re not going to be the county administrator,” Good closed with a slam in reaction to Cook’s earlier terming of Cullers comment she had heard Cook was maneuvering with her anti-Samuels colleagues to replace County Administrator Ed Daley upon his retirement later this year, as “Fake News”. Cook is not running for re-election this year.

Referencing her “Save Samuels” T-shirt, South River District’s Rebecca Althizer opened by observing, “I’m here, as you can tell, to Save Samuels. And a lot of the things I’m going to talk about tonight you’re probably not going to like,” she told the board majority.

She was probably right.

“But I know what you don’t like,” she continued to the four-board member majority, excluding her South River District representative Cheryl Cullers, the current lone Samuels supporter among the county’s elected officials. “You don’t like anyone who doesn’t live your lifestyle. You think you have to put your personal likes and dislikes out for other people to follow.

“I know this because of your actions, this hostile takeover of our beautiful library. I have no idea how you think you can improve upon it. You just want to get rid of any LGBQT books, no matter how insignificant.

A portion of Rebecca Althizer’s pro-Samuels comments reminded us of the old joke dating to the late 1960s, early ’70s about the first deep-space flight astronauts return to earth and reporting they had met God out there in the deep space heavens. ‘She’s black,’ they reported, causing some consternation among Earth’s male faithful, especially the racist ones.

“I do not know how to teach you how to care about other people, people who are different from you. And there are a lot of us out there,” Althizer said pointedly without specifying on what her differences from those she addressed might be, other perhaps than from having such a tolerance for other people’s lifestyle choices that might be different from her own, as long as they don’t interfere with other people’s choices.

“My main point would be mind your own business — if we all just minded our own business everything would be so much better,” Althizer theorized before moving toward the religious aspect of the anti-Samuels initiative. After agreeing with other assessments that the board majority was failing to tell the truth about the real reason for their initiative to get rid of Samuels, Althizer delved into that religious aspect many believe is at the root of the library change initiative.

“Yet another thing I dislike are religious zealots. Religion is fine. There are so many religions in our world. And everyone of those religions thinks that theirs is the best.

Unexpected variable at the Pearly Gate

“Well, I hope that when you meet your maker you can explain this to Her,” Althizer said drawing laughter from, not only the female segment of the Samuels supporters present. At that point Althizer segued from religious to political history.

“I really dislike and disrespect book banners. In Nazi Germany and many other dictator counties, first they came for the books. Keeping the masses ignorant makes them more willing to believe those lying liars. And I do hope that when you meet your maker you can explain this to Her,” Althizer reminded the anti-Samuels supervisors of their first potential afterlife complication after a lifetime of worshipping “Him”, as her timer went off.

And this is where our timer on addressing this aspect of the May 20th Supervisors meeting will go off. However, we highly suggest for those of you who got this far in reading about it, that you go, or return, to the linked County video and see all the remarks generated in the non-agenda item Public Comments in their context and entirety beginning at that 1:07:30 video mark.

And you don’t want to miss the Leslie Mathews launched criticism (1:19:45 video mark) and Cullers’ husband’s replied defense of his spouse and the sheriff (1:23:50 video mark); as well as George Cline’s critique of the supervisors collective ability, or lack thereof, to lead this community constructively to the benefit of all its residents, not a collective few some members may identify with philosophically or religiously (1:27:50 video mark).

Click here to watch the Board of Supervisors Meeting of May 20, 2025.