Tone Matters: What the County’s Words Say About Its True Intentions

Dear Board of Supervisors and WCLB:

When I first read your official response to Samuels Public Library, I didn’t just notice what you said — I noticed how you said it.

Your language wasn’t angry. It wasn’t loud. It wasn’t blatantly political. It was something more insidious: cold, bureaucratic, and quietly authoritarian.

You accused the library of “refusing to participate” in a “competitive procurement process,” as though Samuels were a misbehaving contractor, not a cornerstone of our community. You described the library’s funding as a “monopoly on taxpayer funds.” You emphasized that the library’s history and public support were “not an entitlement.” With those words, decades of public trust, civic partnership, and shared purpose were reduced to technical jargon.

Tone is never just tone. It isn’t just semantics. It reflects values. It reveals intent and strategy. It’s how power gets communicated.

The tone of your statement suggests a calculated attempt to rewrite the narrative. You want the public to believe this is about process — not politics. About oversight — not ideology. But those of us who have been paying attention know the truth runs deeper.

There was no mention of the broader political context that has turned public libraries into cultural battlegrounds — no acknowledgment of the book challenges, defunding threats, or coordinated pressure campaigns targeting materials about LGBTQ lives.

And yet, some of the very individuals who now serve on the Board of Supervisors and the WCLB — and likely authored this response — were directly involved in those efforts: submitting book removal requests and defending those efforts at Board of Supervisors meetings, writing letters to the editor of the Royal Examiner, and — when their attempts to have books removed ultimately failed — seeking office to rewrite the rules from within.

By framing this conflict in sterile terms — procurement, contracts, oversight — the Board (excepting Supervisor Cullers) sidesteps its own history and motivations. It rebrands an ideological campaign as fiscal stewardship. But the authoritarian undertones remain clear in the language: “scrutiny,” “not an entitlement,” “refused.” These are not the words of partnership. They are the language of discipline.

And in this case, the message is clear: the Board (again, excepting Supervisor Cullers) sees the library not as a civic collaborator, but as an institution to be controlled.

Warren County residents want public servants who listen, reflect, and serve with humility, not those who wield power to impose agendas the public has already rejected.

Samuels Public Library deserves better. So do the people it serves.

Cara Aldridge Young
Front Royal, VA

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