Editor’s Note: See some of Megan Fox’s previous posts about her activism to change the policies at the Orland Park Public Library. (Note here how her work even inspired a sympathetic joke on Saturday Night Live.) Today she now reports on the concrete effects of her activism and journalism as the library has changed policies and further corruption has been revealed through her Freedom of Information Act requests.
Porn, child porn, and public masturbation are big problems for public libraries nationwide. But parents who fight against these things often get discouraged and give up when met with the aggressive resistance on the part of the libraries who defend their no-rules attitude when it comes to the “rights” of sex offenders and perverts who like to view adult material around children. One year ago, it was discovered that child porn was accessed at the Orland Park Public Library in Illinois and staff covered it up for more than two years and never alerted the authorities. Several other incidents involving illegal sex acts in the library were found where police, again, were not notified. You can read about all that here. After a solid year of battle, several accomplishments were made despite an unwilling board that has dug in deeper than NORAD in their attempt to prove a point (that they are not wrong) and ingratiate themselves with the American Library Association (which is run by crazy people who think it’s okay for a six year old to have access to video games where raping and killing prostitutes and stealing cars is “winning”).
In just one year, positive changes at the Orland Park Public Library (OPPL) have been enormous. Be encouraged that you truly can bring change to your community with a little perseverance and optimism.
10. Parents are finally allowed to use computers in the children’s area
When a mother with children wasn’t allowed to used the children’s computers and was chased away by a shrieking librarian, it began the entire chain reaction that landed the OPPL in the hot seat for the last year because it was discovered that the adult computer lab was crawling with creeps arousing themselves. Since that happened, two computers in the children’s lab have been designated for use by parents who are with their children at the library. This change has been welcome and now parents are seen regularly on those computers that previously were always empty. This ensures no parent will ever be told again to take their children with them to the adult computer lab where they might be exposed to XXX material.
9. New rules to keep adults without children out of the children’s area
After alerting the board several times to the dangers posed to children in their library, the staff finally took some steps to increase safety. One of the first was posting signs that state adults without children are not allowed in the children’s section. It is a mystery why that wasn’t done before (especially considering they refuse to keep known sex offenders out of the building, according to police), but it’s a good sign that the adults in charge are now focused more on the safety of the littlest patrons.
8. ID required
You don’t need an ID (or even a pulse) to vote in many states, but you do need one to get on a computer at OPPL now! A person used to be able to log on to public computers with an anonymous number and do anything online completely and no law enforcement would ever be able to trace the activity back to a person. This was asking for criminal activity like identity theft, terrorism, hacking crimes and trading child porn. Libraries are hot beds for child porn offenders because these offenders know they are untraceable. The fact that someone is now holding IDs at the desk while the computer is in use is a huge deterrent for anyone who is thinking about doing bad things at a public library. It was noted that shortly after the ID rule went into effect at OPPL that computer usage went down 50%, freeing up many computers that were previously being used by porn-watching creeps. People in the community who previously could never get onto a computer to do job searches because of all the deadbeats are thrilled to have computers available whenever they need them now. Sources inside the library also confirmed that staff members feel safer now that the “regular porn watchers” have gone somewhere else.
7. The Board of Trustees had to admit they violated free speech rights of the public
Not only did the Board of Trustees violate the rights of the public to speak at several meetings, they also passed illegal public comment rules. Both of these things were ruled illegal by the attorney general, and the board has had to change their rules to comply with the law. This ensures that going forward, no other members of the public will be stopped from exercising their right to speak to a public board about any topic they wish. Government censorship was shut down. (This is particularly hilarious because the library claims that shutting down access to porn/child porn is a violation of First Amendment rights; but they thought nothing of shutting down public speech about their porn problem in public meetings!)
6. FOIA revealed wanton government spending that is now being audited
Look closely at any government operation and you’ll find all sorts of fraud. At the OPPL it was discovered that Illinois taxpayers are footing the bill for conferences that are little more than paid vacations, mountains of doughnuts and sweet treats for staff, pizza parties, gifts of jewelry, staff lunches at neighboring restaurants and copious amounts of ice cream and Polish pastries. To make matters worse, this library just voted to raise the tax levy 12%! Meanwhile, they were gorging themselves on free doughnuts and pizza and trips to for thousands of dollars from which no taxpayers benefited. In all the expenses found, none were for books and very little was spent on patron programs. They actually spent $500 on three tablecloths (and you thought the Pentagon was bad). Now that the abuses have been discovered, the library is under far more pressure to rein in their spending and be wise with the people’s money. They know they’re being watched.
5. New computer configuration stops masturbators
All year the suggestion had been floated by the public for the library to turn the computer screens around so they all face the help desk so no one can get away with watching illegal material or masturbating. The library stalled on this for 11 months but finally has gotten rid of the computers that were tucked into a corner where men were committing sex acts. The new configuration is much more unfriendly to surreptitious behavior and will stop a large percentage of the X-rated activity.
4. OPPL finally admits to child porn and failure to call authorities
It took 11 months, but board member Diane Jennings — famous for her profanity-laced outbursts — in August finally admitted that child porn was accessed in the library and the employees did not call police. After lying about it for almost a solid year, they came clean at last. It is a mystery why these people behave the way they do regarding child porn, but perhaps one reason is the ALA has been advising librarians for years that they are not qualified to determine what is or is not child porn. Apparently, if you are a librarian you lack the ability to discern if what you’re seeing is actually…what you are seeing. This is unacceptable behavior for public employees who should be trained like teachers to be mandatory reporters of child abuse.
3. Bad board members outed themselves
The people of Orland Park now have a very clear idea of who is for them and who is against them. Thanks to sunlight shining on all the board goings-on, there is now no doubt who has to go. There is every reason to believe that people who care about good government will run to replace the bad eggs on this board. Once that is accomplished, filters will be installed on the computers and the open faucet to child porn will finally be shut off for good.
(Language alert on the following video because Diane Jennings, elected official, hurls profanities at the public on a public sidewalk.)
2. Social media can get the truth out there despite a hostile mainstream media
All year, not one mainstream news outlet would print or report the truth about the OPPL covering up the child porn and refusing to report masturbators to police. They pretended those reports did not exist, but fortunately for the public, the truth cannot be hidden anymore by the alphabet monopoly. The internet and social media outlets have made it possible for anyone (in their pajamas no less) to put information out into the public eye without so-called “professionals.” Despite a lack of meaningful coverage in the old media and enduring aggressive assaults by rabid reporters, the results speak for themselves. The library has had to make major changes, has been slapped by the attorney general several times, and is currently facing lawsuits for breaking Freedom of Information laws.
1. The discovery that watching porn in public IS a crime
From the beginning of all of this, no one could understand how watching porn in public could possibly be legal (even if it isn’t child porn), and it turns out it isn’t! But libraries count on the public being ignorant of public decency and obscenity laws and they tell patrons that because of the First Amendment nothing can be done about creepy men purposely giving themselves erections in front of children. What hogwash! This is akin to declaring that anyone has a right to defecate anywhere they please because it’s a free country, or something. Truthfully, if any member of the public witnesses creeps watching porn in a public library, the police will be happy to take them away in handcuffs under disorderly conduct laws as evidenced in Westmont, Illinois, when a man was arrested and charged for doing just that.
A Westmont man was charged with obscenity and disorderly conduct after he viewed online pornography in the youth services area of his local library, authorities said Thursday.
Unfortunately for ALA acolytes, libraries aren’t sovereign countries and must obey the laws of the land. The key is, the public must call the police when these things are witnessed because library staff have been trained to cover it up and lie to people. Don’t fall for the lies. Stand up to this nonsense and win.
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