[Libs-Or] FW: [alacoun] Library worker arrested in library after defending patron's free speech

[Rawles, Carolyn]

I don’t know how many of you saw this, but this seems pretty outrageous!

Carolyn

Carolyn Rawles
Library Director
Corvallis-Benton County Public Library
Corvallis, OR  97330

(541)766-6910

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From: alacoun-request at lists.ala.org [mailto:alacoun-request at lists.ala.org] On Behalf Of Aaron W. Dobbs
Sent: Thursday, September 29, 2016 7:28 AM
To: ALA Council List <alacoun at lists.ala.org>
Subject: [alacoun] Library worker arrested in library after defending patron's free speech

Library Worker Heroically Defends Patron’s Free Speech, Is Brutally Arrested in Library Where He Works
http://bordc.org/news/library-worker-heroically-defends-patrons-free-speech-brutally-arrested-library-works/

“For someone to be assaulted and then arrested for asking a question, in a public library of all places, is abhorrent. The library should be a place where people of all points of view can feel safe and welcome,” Steve Woolfolk, director of public programing at the Kansas City Public Library told the Dissent NewsWire.
...
“I have spent the last 10 years of my life trying to cultivate that atmosphere through public programming at the library. Library staff should be the final arbiters of what constitutes reasonable discourse at a public event held inside a public library,” Woolfolk explained to the Dissent NewsWire. Yet, when he tried to intervene on the questioner’s behalf, Woolfolk found himself arrested at an event he helped plan.
...
Woolfolk stands charged with interfering with the arrest of Rothe-Kushel. Rothe-Kushel, like Woolfolk feared, was charged with trespassing and resisting arrest. “Nobody, be it an individual or an agent of the state, should be able to take it upon themselves to silence a point of view simply because they disagree,” Woolfolk informed the Dissent NewsWire. Yet, it would appear that not only is that exactly what happened, but a librarian who tried to make sure that a public library remained a public forum was arrested, as well.


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