The crowd is on its feet, chanting, pressing against the stage. Beefy, close cropped security guards are on full alert. The announcer blasts, “Are you ready to rock? Get ready for The Ally Echoes!” (He says it like this: Allllyyyy Echooooooooooes!!!)
A tsunami of cheers resembles a hurricane force roar, as the Ally Echoes take the stage. A plethora of laser lights stab through fog as fans strain for their first glimpse of Ally and Echo, founding members of the notorious rock band.
Just like real rock stars
Indeed, though the opening paragraph is fiction, the rock star status of the Christian County Library Board of Trustees is as real as it gets. Indeed, Ally (Allyson Tuckness) and Echo (Echo Alexzander, I mean Schneider) are now just like real life rockers from the classic rock band Journey, founders Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain. Schon and Cain were embroiled in an epic, public legal battle during their recent tour with Def Leppard. Cain accused Schon of blowing money (like a rock star) on the tour, and breaking the bank. But hey, what’s a million bucks on a platinum AmEx among friends? Penthouse suites and room service ain’t cheap!
But “don’t stop believin'” fans (sorry, couldn’t resist) Cain and Schon have kissed and made up. The two reportedly worked out their differences for the good of the fans. Everybody say, “Awwww.” Click here for that story.
Meanwhile, those of us here in Christian County are crossing our fingers and hoping the Christian County Library Board of Trustees can mend their fences as well!
The battle has been brewing for years. Click here for the background story.
You see, everything is rock star conflict right now in Libraryland. Board meetings, once boring and routine, are now the highlight of the month, with standing room only crowds at the Nixa Library. The band, erm, board of trustees, is run by President Echo Alexzander— wait, Schneider… yeah, that’s her new name… (Did she marry that guy from Dukes of Hazzard?)
No. She didn’t have to. She’s a rock star without a TV show or a band. You see, Echo (I love that name!) was installed as President of the Library Board in August. But, that pissed Allyson Tuckness, who had been president, off. (I have never seen the word “pissed” and “off” so far apart in a sentence!)
So, Allyson got a kindred spirit on the board (Janis Hagan) to side with her and file a lawsuit against the other board members, claiming they didn’t follow the Sunshine Law which says you gotta declare in writing in advance before any new elections or appointments.
Click Here for a list of the board members and their office positions.
Big, fat muckety-muck in the news!
So, it’s this big fat muckety-muck. The regular news media got involved. Click here for an outside story. Click here for another one. But it makes for good viewing. I mean, they have Tuesday night shows, erm, meetings, at the Nixa Library each month. It’s standing room only. There’s no laser light show, no fog machines, but it’s still better than anything on TV!
Yeah, if you get in early, tickets are free to the public. Otherwise, you may not get a seat. Come along next month when the lawyer and the judge will have something more to say, perhaps, about who’s in charge? Allyson even took the reins at a special 4 p.m. meeting Tuesday prior to the regular 6 p.m. meeting. Echo, being a classy gal, allowed Ally to do whatever.
The lawyer on hand said they prolly (Millennial/Gen Z for “probably”) shouldn’t have elected all the new slate of officers and booted Allyson until October (guess that’s a better month to boot someone than August?) but that backpedaling and trying to reset the old slate of officers would “show weakness.”
If there’s anything entertaining about showing weakness, it’s a good fight among library board members.
What it’s really all about
The County Commission learned that legally they could interview, vet, and appoint library board members a couple years ago. Before that, the old guard just let the library people handle things. Well, word got out the library people were promoting LGBTQ books to children, as well as other books with sexual content and nude pictures.
The new County Commission appointed library board members that didn’t like the dirty books being pushed in the young adult and children’s area of the libraries.
That’s when the regular old library team and their cronies started calling the new team book banners, Nazis, etc., But truth is, no books were banned or sent to the Nazi burn pile. New board members just wanted sexually explicit books labeled so parents could be aware. Just like in the real world of labels for minors and obscene material, or tobacco, or alcohol, or… you get it.
Not sure why the old library people, Allyson Tuckness and her counterpart, named a plaintiff in the lawsuit (Janis Hagan) want kids to view and read adult style sexual content. Creepy.
But, some parents are good with creepy stuff, and that’s why they’re still free to check out the creepy stuff for their kids, as long as the creepy stuff is labeled accordingly.
Makes sense to me.
What say you?
Bring your popcorn and camera to the next meeting. I can’t wait to hear what the judge says! Rock on, Libraryland!