K, I, S, S, I, N, G (insert your choice of body parts here). It seems that we’ve made a “climate of intimidation”. Who knew?
News & Record: Former library director speaks out
Hey, it’s got to be important if the N&R publishes letters to the editor on Monday, eh?
Anyway, let’s take a look at this. Paul Johnson is the former director of the Halifax County-South Boston Regional Library and was on the committee that picked Rhonda Griffin as his replacement. In his letter, Johnson throws two things. First, he throws his support to the library board and Griffin and then he throws Woodson Hughes under the bus. Gee, let’s see, he got his way with the library board and then helped hand-pick Rhonda Griffin (having known her previously in his career field). There’s no way that he could be slurping on them out of any personal feelings, could it?
Woodson’s got bus tire tracks on his bowtie thanks to Johnson’s letter, but it gets even “better”. Johnson’s letter dumps this steaming pile of “better-than-you” crap onto the dinner table.
Library board members take their responsibilities very seriously and deserve the community’s appreciation for their unpaid and thankless service. These honorable public-spirited citizens have evidently considered expert advice from state and local authorities and weighed it carefully. If board members cannot act on evidence of financial irregularities and an agency head cannot carry out her duties without being subjected to extreme public vilification, long-term damage will be done to the entire community. Few would be willing to accept appointment to any local board in such a climate of intimidation.
Dear God, what have we done?! We’re causing global unrest (and maybe global warming) by having the nerve to publicly disagree with a public body’s decision! Do “honorable public-spirited citizens” make phone calls like this, Paul? Does a peaceful organized rally constitute “extreme public vilification”? Exactly what “long-term” damage will be done to the whole community for supporting a local man who’s been a benefit to the library system? Have we destroyed the local governmental system forever by making our feelings known?
As a librarian experienced in reference materials, Paul Johnson obviously knows the meaning of the word “hyperbole”.
EXCELLENT.
I also noticed the letters on a MONDAY.
Is the Earth still on its axis?
This whole thing is SAD and I still do not get it at all. What the heck happened to justify THIS.
Any chance of it changing, …I do not see it.4
He is certainly keeping up the Board’s stance of Stout Denial. Apparently they believe if they say “We didn’t do it” often enough it will become true. In his letter to the paper, Johnson only repeats a half dozen of the already proven untrue statements made by the Board, such as that Woodson’s dismissal was the result of a “unanimous” vote.
What of the list of questions submitted to each Board member by Curtis Waskey, in which he asks about several apparent violations of the Board’s own by-laws? What of the questions asked by Curtis Brauda regarding the seemingly imaginative bookkeeping and use of “phantom numbers” to jack up the amount of money Woodson supposedly “embezzled”? How is it that $6000 in fines were allegedly waived by the Halifax branch with no disciplinary action taken there? Not one of these questions, nor any of the others that have been asked, have been addressed by the Library or its Board. Until such questions are answered Paul Johnson has no right to be acting like a martyr.
Excuse us, Mr. Johnson, for not bowing down to the library board. We were obviously under the mistaken impression that they worked for us, the people of Halifax County.
If current board member feel they aren’t being appreciated, they are welcome to step down. I, and about 30 other people, will gladly step up to fill any vacated board seats.
WE THE PEOPLE…. what a concept!
Ron,
I appreciate your concern for Woodson, but in your advocacy are you not jeopardizing the hand that feeds you with regard to the Convergence Art Guild in Halifax? Yes, I completely understand that you do indeed have the right to speak for Woodson, and in that right, in that battle you chose, you may be inadvertently alienating those that provide for the Convergence Art Guild. Presently you are juggling two roles in this Halifax County community. Despite the scandal around Woodson’s departure from the library, Woodson will recover due to his family, his Church and his many supporters. But what about the Convergence Art Guild?
Liz
I have no idea what you are referring to, Liz. In what way is the Library or the Library Board or even Halifax County associated with the Guild? We get neither funding nor direct support from any of these organizations. I will, of course, ignore the veiled threat that advocating fair treatment of Woodson or transparency in the Library Board’s procedures might result in some vindictive action taken against the Convergence Art Guild. If there are those in the community would choose to punish an innocent party such as the Guild for something I have done…well, I suppose there are such people out there in the world.
As a long-time – albeit long-distance – friend of Woodson Hughes, I’ve been following the various instalments in this saga with close attention and only wish I could have been there in person to wave some banners at the protest march and ‘honk for Hughes’.
One of the people in the video that is now on You Tube summed it up the best: “Take out the trash, bring back the class.”
Andy, Ron and others – keep throwing buckets of water at the wicked witches of the East and West. I’ll be cheering you on from the other end of the world. To paraphrase a song from another movie, “They have it coming!”
I’ve stated many times, In my eyes the South Boston Library is bigger than Halifax Library, I’d say maybe 3 times bigger. That being said, if Halifax waived $6,000 and South Boston waived $17,600, thats 1:3 ratio. So in proportion, the fees are equal, why in the Halifax Library Manager not being treated the same?
Easy. Because they were looking for an excuse to force Woodson to resign and that’s the best thing they could come up with. It had nothing to do with reality. If it hadn’t been that they would have invented something equally ridiculous. I can only suppose they figured people around here are simply too dumb to go “Huh? Say what?”
Why did they want Woodson out so badly? Was it personality conflict or what?
There are some pretty horrifying stories circulating about the plans Rhonda and the Board had cooked up for the libraries…and how Woodson’s dismissal tied into these. It might be best, though, if someone more directly privy to this information were to come forward and let us know about it in detail.