Spunky Libraries Host 'Hot' Topics (But Not in Hamptons)

Spunky libraries, spurred by the American Library Assn., are hosting public discussions of topics such as the Muslim culture. Hampton libraries are ducking such a role so far.

The Smithville, Texas library endured “angry” patrons who made the staff “fear for their safety” but they hosted a program anyway on Muslim culture, winning an award of the ALA.

Staffers were also praised for “standing up against censorship” by the Smithville City Council. They won the 2014 Gordon M. Conable Award of the ALA for promoting “diverse points of view” and promoting “community dialog on controversial issues.”

The ALA’s “Muslim Journeys Bookshelf” included 25 books, four DVDs and other materials on the “people, places, history, faith and cultures of Muslims in the U.S. and elsewhere.” A $4,500 grant went to 125 libraries that accepted the materials.

Opponents even stole a couple of the books from the library and bragged about it on a website, the library said.

Amina Zarrugh, sociology grad student at the University of Texas/Austin, conducted a session on The Country of Men by Hirsham Matar that was attended by 100+. The book details oppression under Muammar Gaddafi. About 30 of those present

did not support the program, the library said.

A dispute that has already cost Southampton, Westhampton Beach, Quogue and Jewish People Opposed to the Eruv more than $1 million in fees to law firms (plus their own staff time), is raging in the Hamptons but there is no sign thus far that any of the local libraries will host a discussion on the subject.

An example of a lechi, a thin black band 10-15 feet long which is attached to the entire length of utility poles, was shown to SH officials by lawyer Michael McCarthy, representing the East End Eruv Assn. The Southampton Press, which owns the photo, will not allow others to use it but it can be seen here.

ALA should Have an Eruv Package

ALA, since it fears not controversial topics, should put together a suite of legal papers, media coverage, Jewish definitions of an eruv, and editorial opinions on eruvim and offer it to libraries.

There are hundreds around the U.S. including an estimated 70 in New York state. Involvement of public property in any of them is unconstitutional and un-American. The U.S. was founded as a secular state and must fight to keep that status.

Southampton’s 138 sq. miles includes 16 communities such as WHB, Quogue and Hampton Bays. Homeowners pay taxes to SH as well as their local communities. SH has the largest library, the Rogers Memorial Library, with 126,321 volumes and a budget of $3.53 million.

An O’Dwyer correspondent delivered 260 pages on the dispute to library director Liz Burns. She said the library would file 11 of the legal papers and commentaries b y lawyers, eliminating any materials that were in the media. There would be no public notice of the file.

Accepted were the 34-page opinion of UCLA Law Prof. Alexandra Susman that eruvim are unconstitutional, the 38-page memo by Judge Kathleen Tomlinson on many details of the case, and the Jan. 6, 2015 U.S. Appeals Court decision supporting an eruv in WHB.

Not accepted were articles on the dispute that appeared on odwyerpr.com or in 27east.com of the Southampton Press. Accepted was the Sept. 18, 2014 statement of JPOE promising a continued fight against the eruv in WHB.

WHB Library Nixes O’Dwyer Materials

O’Dwyer reps attended a board meeting of the Westhampton Beach Library Feb. 11 and presented materials which the trustees said they would discuss in private. Library director Danielle Waskiewicz then emailed that none of the O’Dwyer-supplied materials would be kept at the library. No reason was given for this.

The O’Dwyer collection was provided on Feb. 26 to Hampton Bays Library director Susan LaVista who said she would bring it up at the board meeting March 10. She said the likelihood was that the “factual information” in the legal documents might be accepted but not media coverage that included opinions.

The library has 67,767 volumes and a budget of $1.7M.

An attempt is being made to set up an appointment at the Quogue Library where Christine Clifton is director. Board president is Lynda Confessore whose son, Nicholas, is a reporter for the New York Times. The last NYT story on the Hamptons eruv dispute was filed by Sharon Otterman on Feb. 4, 2013.

Otterman wrote: “Every Saturday, Eugene Milanaik, a nurse anesthetist, walks more than five miles back and forth between his Orthodox synagogue and his weekend house on Dune Road. When it rains, he gets soaked, because he cannot carry an umbrella. When his 3-year-old grandson is in town, as he was last weekend, his wife must stay home, because she cannot push his stroller.”

Use of cars and many other things are forbidden on the Sabbath. Opening an umbrella is considered work—building a tent. Opening it the day before is forbidden.

Moore Administration Under Fire

The administration of WHB Mayor Marie Moore has come under press attack in recent weeks, led by local blogger Dean Speir, a former village official, who says “There are multiple violations of municipal and open meetings law here, but the one that resonates most sharply in this affair is the blatant lack of the ‘transparency’ this administration promised.”

At another point he says, “There’s something rotten at the core of the Moore/(trustee Charles) Palmer apparat (political power structure) and it’s going to make the New York Post wonder what was so bad about (former Police Chief) Ray Dean’s compensation.”

Dean, 53, retired last year, collecting $403,714 for 15 years of unused sick, vacation and personal time. This drew criticism of the WHB from the New York Post. He also got a pension estimated at $142K yearly.

Orthodox Power Shown in Circumcision Flap

The political power of the Orthodox community was shown in its ability to force Mayor Bill de Blasio to back away from his bid to stop circumcisers of Jewish babies from sucking blood off the penises, a practice that has given herpes to more than 12 babies and cost the lives of two of them, said NYT Feb. 28.

Rabbi David Zweibel sued NYC when it passed a rule requiring Jewish parents to sign a consent decree before allowing the practice. The decree was “profoundly offensive” to Zweibel’s Orthodox group, the rabbi said.

The NYC Health Dept., according to The Jewish Daily Forward, said 17 babies have been infected since 2000 and that two had brain damage and two died.

Capital New York quoted infectious disease specialist Dr. Jonathan Zenilman of Johns Hopkins Medical School as saying, “This is an embarrassing political capitulation.”

The New York Post, a supporter of eruvim in the Hamptons, hailed de Blasio’s retreat as “a huge victory for religious freedom.”

Many Media Also on Sidelines

Hamptons libraries are showing timidity in facing the eruv issue but they are not alone in that position.

Many major media, apparently in fear of the Orthodox community or being labeled anti-Semitic, are sitting on the sidelines including, most notably, NYT whose reporter Nicholas Confessore is the son of Quogue Library president Lynda Confessore. Last NYT story on this is more than two years ago.

Kyle Campbell of 27east.com and the Southampton Press has written many excellent stories on the battle as has local blogger Dean Speir of whbqt.info.

Capital New York, an offshoot of the feisty Politico of D.C., has yet to cover it. Also ducking is thetablet.com, Jewish online media that had two extensive stories about the battle over an eruv in Pine Tree Park, Miami Beach.

Since freedom of speech and freedom of the press are involved, media, press groups and J schools should take up this issue including ProPublica, Committee to Protect Journalists, Society of Professional Journalists and especially its Deadline Club in New York, Columbia J Review and the Columbia J School, Pew’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, Poynter Institute, Investigative Reporters & Editors, NYU and CCNY J departments, the nearby Stony Brook University which has 33 teachers in its J school, patch.com local news service, New York Financial Writers Assn., and high school English and J teachers in WHB, SH, Hampton Bays and Quogue. The New York chapter of the PR Society, which hosted a lively session on PR and ethics last fall, should do the same on eruvim and their Constitutionality.