 So the next item is public comments. And again, we do have a significant number of people from the public that are here at this meeting. Just for those of you that haven't attended the meeting before, again, thank you for being here. Thank you for being passionate about the library. We don't typically have this kind of crowd. So please forgive us if we're kind of working our way through this. We did ask people to sign up, specifically with one of the main public comments. And the way that we work is I'll call the name of the people as they're listed. Give me if I mispronounce your name. And then we'll try to give each person three minutes to speak. I appreciate y'all being respectful. And I ask that you continue to do so when it's the person's time to speak. If we can hear from only that person that will allow the board to not miss any information from that particular public comment, you don't have to use the full three minutes because you're certainly able to. I will notify you when that three minutes is up because if you would allow the next person to speak, I'll call their name. Does that hopefully make sense to everyone? So if you can speak where you are, if you're able to speak loud enough where you can come forward, I think there may be a microphone similar to this at this chair. Again, I don't want anybody to have to yell too loud or restrain their voice. So I would be the official timekeeper, I guess, of my role up here in the front of the room. So the first name that I have on this list is for Kendra Klein. Hi everyone, I hope you can hear me. My name is Kendra Klein, I'm with an Abbots-Cartani. This wasn't the first thing I was gonna talk about, but I just wanted to say the setup of the meeting room is really inaccessible. It's really hard for people in the back to hear you guys because they're not spacing us when you're talking and you're really muckled. So if you could like, you know, make your voices a little louder when you speak in front of the time you can hear you. I'm just sort of speaking in support of the LPCU program at the library. We've had some news that there's been complaints made, especially at O'Coney about the programming, about three times they're having an inclusive programming. And I think everybody here is up here to speak in support of that program and say that we support all the LPCU staff, families and community in Athens. And we want that programming to continue in the library and we really appreciate the librarians and librarians that we now provided that programming so far. It's good, huh? Somebody might test and I want to get that. This is all new for us, so it doesn't appear to be all new. Oh, sorry. Hi, hi. It's loud. So my name's Thea Campy. I'm a teacher and a veteran and a trans woman who lives in Athens. And that's when I stood outside the Black Mutual Library as they debated whether books that represent queer youth should be available to the kids in that county. And I just want you all to imagine what it must feel like to be a queer child who knows that that's happening in your community where books that represent you are debated by the adult community. Trans youth can't find themselves in Star Wars or Harry Potter. Books that center for your experiences are often the only places that they can find shared experiences. And it's a lot of you probably know finding shared experiences in books that saves lives. And it makes living easier and better. And we should also recognize it's not happening in a vacuum. This year, this state has proposed and passed unprecedented law stripping trans youth for their rights. There's a lot of hate being thrown at these kids, making it even more important to them to find their representation in these texts. Also, anyone visibly trans in Georgia knows what it's like to be called slurs and to be harassed by strangers. So books that represent the queer community make a difference because they show that Athens stands with its trans citizens. There's a lot of voices saying, we don't belong here. We need voices that say we do belong here. I don't think I've gone three minutes, but bookbends are wrong. I don't need three minutes to say that. Thank you. Lisa Stevens. So my name is Lisa Stevens and my husband and I live in Madison County with our two boys, six and nine. I don't know who they're gonna choose to love. I don't know how they're gonna feel and who's comfortable in their skin. But I know that I will always find them places where they feel welcome and included and safe. And I just wanna thank the library for being with those places for them as they grow and for all of the kids in the community. I know that we read a ton. And there are so many books that have name calling and bullying and violence in them like popular kids series have these things that I'm in. When we read and we see these things, we talk about it and we discuss it and we talk about how it may not be right for our family and how we don't align with that. Well, we don't read the series, but I don't want to ban them so that other kids can't read them because they might love those series. So I just wanna thank you all for being on the board and for making the library system inclusive. Thank you. What's up? Is Deb Chastain? Hi, I'm Deb Maggie Chastain. I wish you all the best. And thank you all. It's, you guys were great. And we deal with what is happening with people agitating against every type of diversity. And I'm not at all minimizing LGBTQ. Plus it's every kind as well. They're the ones on the front lines, but Georgia has passed legislation limiting discussion and phrase in school, which means discussion of a lot of our history. And this is where not only can we come to find inclusion and diversity for everyone and have everything be accessible to people who are not now getting what they need, but it's just a phenomenal thing. People need truth and they need truth of all kinds and they need truth from our community and I'm super glad to be here. Thank you. Hey, my name is Gail Cowey. I live in Athens and I have been passionate about our public library since I got my first job and learned when I was 14 years of age. And that's part of why I want to thank y'all for your service. I appreciate the chance to make a short statement that echoes some of the previous speakers. My starting point for that is that all of us, regardless of our zip code, the color of our skin, or who we love, want a good education for the children in our lives. And by good education, I mean one that gives kids the skills they need to pursue their dreams and prepares them to thrive in their lives. And as you know, a public library with diverse offerings is a critical part of that kind of education. Unfortunately, a nationally funded organization and some local folks are trying to ban books and they're doing it spreading lies and misinformation about those books and the people representing them. They seek to divide us and limit the education that children in our community receive based on their personal religious beliefs, political agenda, or both. But the library's not here for just one religious viewpoint or for personal political agendas. It's here for all of us and for all the kids in our lives. So, like the prior speakers, I also encourage you that in the future, when you end, if you face any request to remove specific books or strict programs, please do not appease extremists who want to limit educational resources based on misinformation and false claims of liberty. Instead, continue to support the regional library system of staff and the quality education resources and services they provide throughout the system. Thank you for your time. Hi, everyone. My name is Sean Jamison. I'm a proud transgender man living here in Athens-Clarke County and I was moved to ride my bike here today in the heat. I grew up as a homeschool kid, a very poor homeschool kid and it was the public library that let me have the education I needed to be able to go on to college and ultimately come to a graduate program here at UGA and here in Georgia. It was also public libraries and people serving on library boards. Librarians working on inclusive programming, like the programming that is offered through the Athens-Clarke County Library that let me grow up into the adult that I came to be and that is a very proud, very, I think, pretty great adult. My friends think I'm a pretty great adult too. So I want to encourage you to resist the calls for censorship because not only is that against the spirit of libraries, it is against the need to bring up the next generation of proud, curious readers that we need for not only Athens-Clarke County and the surrounding areas, not only for Georgia, but for everyone. Thank you. Let's first off, how many members of Bombs for Liberty are here today? Too shy to admit it. Mon, you probably know this. Monster Liberty is not a grassroots movement. It's well-funded by conservative Republicans and praised by Republican governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis. DeSantis is an unapologetic opponent of academic freedom. The current increase in book banning efforts is not a massive grassroots movement. I've got a recent survey that said this, in 37 states across the country, 1,000 of the books challenged. The challenges were brought by a total of 11 people. That's not massive. I yield the remainder of my time as good old Jamie Braskin will say it. Hi everyone, my name is Janet Frick. I'm here with a large contingent of my friends from Maconi Street United Methodist Church, one of many faith communities in this city that is openly welcoming and affirming of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities. I am also, I can't improve on the comments you've heard already, so I'll put on a different hat that you haven't heard. I am a developmental psychology professor at UGA in the psychology department. I've lived in Athens for 26 years, raised both of my kids here. They both graduated from Clark County Public Schools. It is incredibly important for all of us as a community, you can see the turnout here today. These, I think everyone here had less than 24 hours to show up. I would just really offer my thanks and my encouragement for all of you to be proactive about this well-funded, well-organized movement that is attacking our freedoms all across this country and specifically attacking the freedom of libraries to provide supportive inclusive materials. As a developmental psychologist, I can tell you that four kids who are growing up queer, questioning with identities that are marginalized in any number of ways, the most important thing for them to be able to avoid the pitfalls of isolation and just a feeling of loss and loneliness is to find acceptance and community and representation. And the library is an incredibly important part of that. So I thank you for your service and I just ask you very humbly for all of you to remain vigilant and proactive in remaining a safe and inclusive space. Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Lira Reds. I'm a retired educator in the grading college of journalism. I've been a writer all my life and there are two things I want to share with you. One is when I was in the fifth grade, I wanted to read Green Mansions. The book was on the 11th grade shelf and the librarian would not check it out to me because she didn't think that it was at my reading level. I have been tested to read at college level. So my father was about to minister and had no money, bought a copy of Green Mansions and gave it to me and said, no one should ever tell you what you can read and read. The thing is very important. I carried that through to my graduate studies at Temple University in Philadelphia was asked to join a research group to look at why fourth grade boys stopped reading. So I did and went to all those schools and videotaped them. Well, it was obvious from my research that they've locked sports more than they did reading, but my research turned into reading rainbow. And I'm very proud of how a book and research and reading and being a part of a group and safe in that environment is so important to our young people of coming at them from where they are, not where we want them to be and encouraging them to read. So I thank you for being here and for having that space for all young people to come and read books. Thank you. Boston? Boston, whatever. It's my bad writing. I hear you're a bad reading. I'm Robert Foster, Athens-Clarke County, member of the Konig Street and Anna Methodist Church, professor of religion and New Testament at University of Georgia, and what has been mentioned so far, a card-creating member of the Athens-Clarke County Library. My adopted daughter is from Vietnam. And every summer, with her summer reading, we came to the library. We would sit in the cubicles upstairs and she would do her reading, and I would do my reading because I'm a nerd, so I was enjoying the time. I heard less so. Several years ago with all the things going on in race and our nation, we were on a long road trip together and I was playing the audio book of How to Be Anti-Racist by your book, Kennedy. And so we listened to that for several hours together. I'm sure she enjoyed that as well. But then we stopped it so we could have a conversation about how she was experiencing race and racism and where that was happening in her school and those sorts of things. And books provide opportunities for very important conversations in families. And it gave me an opportunity because we listened to this book together to really address her own feelings and experiences in race and racism. When I as a white adopted parent found that to be highly important. The public library provides books and opportunities and learning experiences that allow us to have important conversations as families. And I hope that you will take it to heart to continue to stand up for the rights of our whole community to have those kinds of conversations in their families, to love their children and to allow us who are allies with them to love them together. Thank you. Robin Jones. Clark County. Open by saying without a whole long story, books saved me as they say many people growing up. I'm a member of faith that has saints and holy people and the saints and holy people for today are Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Amelia Bloomer, Sojourner Truth and Harriet Ross Tubman. And I'm gonna try to channel them a little bit. I do thank you for your service. I know from volunteering at Daily Red weekly since 1985 what the library means not to all of us but to many other people on a daily basis. It means safety, it means access to a computer, it means so much. All people, especially children, are entitled to stories that represent them, all of my brothers and sisters. They're entitled to accurate history and they're entitled to that regardless of their race, their gender, their age, their sexual orientation or any other descriptor that only describes one aspect of their full humanity. Parents can and should monitor the reading of their children so those conversations can happen. We don't prepare our children for the future by keeping truth, reality and complexity from them. We deal with that on an age-appropriate basis but we have to tell them the truth so they can live in the real world. But other parents cannot tell the parents of a different child what that child may or may not read, watch, listen to, et cetera. And they certainly may not monitor or control the reading of my grandson who lives here in Clark County. Thank you. First off, I was told there would be cake. Okay. I'm an old man now but I was once a child and when I was a 13-year-old child, I had to have some significant surgery and the significant surgery left me for about 12 weeks in a cast up to my hip and I couldn't get around. I was stuck at home with my family. And it was pretty horrible. My dad was an eighth grade dropout and my mother, she did finish high school but that was where her education finished. But my parents both encouraged reading and when I went through that period when I was 13 my dad went to the library which is the first time I had known him in the library, usually my sister and I got dropped off and picked up. My dad went to the library and told the librarian my situation and she sent home a stack of books for me. The top one was titled, The Boy Who Could Make Himself Disappear. And I know that some of you remember that book and I think my father thought it was a science fiction book. I certainly thought it was a science fiction book when I saw the title. But it was really about a kid dealing with isolation and loneliness and crazy adults and how he cope with it and how he maintained his own dignity through it and how he saw the dignity of other people. I have so much respect for whatever librarian told my dad that book was a good idea. And as an adult now, as an old man now I encourage you all to have faith in the professionals who have trained and worked and experienced working with children, families, adults across the spectrum in our community have faith in their decisions because I can tell you from experience they've got some really powerful, correct insights. Thank you. Let us conclude the public comment portion of our meeting today. Hopefully everyone appreciates the time that's been given to the individual people that have taken the time to come out today to speak and even those who didn't speak that came out in support. Again, I want to thank you personally for your passion for the library and for taking time out of your day to be here. We will move forward with our agenda for today's meeting. You're welcome to stay, you know, have to stay. But we're gonna move forward to the next time we'll get agenda, which we'll have to do with the financial reports for fiscal year 2023. Thank you. Thank you.