Week in Review
City Council, June 19:
Library Board
The Hillsdale library saga continued the evening of Juneteenth. After months of handwringing, we finally saw the resolution of the fifth board position. Mayor Stockford’s proposed appointee, Laura Negus, was confirmed by the council with an 6-2 vote (Sharp and Pratt against).
Ms. Negus joins the board with an impressive list of credentials. She has an array of experience in a number of “bibliotechal settings,” including no less than the children’s section of the Hillsdale Community Library itself, and also holds. . . a Master of Science—in Library Science! One would think that Ms. Negus’ master’s degree—an authoritative indicator of competency—in addition to her lived experience as a librarian would be enough to sway the detractors.
Not so. The public comment section was, as always, lively (and cheaper than a movie ticket). While those speaking in favor of the appointment generally referenced the aforementioned experience, the opponents of Ms. Negus dissented on account of what they perceive as her true role on the board: serving as yet one more proxy of the Hillsdale College right-wing deep state.1
The latter, so the argument goes, pulls the strings of local politics and intends to turn the town into a fiefdom of crazed homeschooling lunatics and anti-LGBT activists, all of whom actively work against the interests of the real Hillsdale community and probably don’t even really like El Cerritos. One speaker brought up the lack of diversity on the town’s various boards, focusing on the disproportionate number of Hillsdale College employees. Another lamented that the appointment of Ms. Negus was just another domino in the college plan to ban all books in the library that do not align with a “Christian nationalist” agenda. Coolly gliding over every single relevant plot point, the speaker assured everyone present that one little book talking about boys kissing is not a big deal. The speaker then reminded us that, lest we forget, the town doesn’t have a Pride Parade (yet).
After singing the praises of the assisted hearing device provided by the council on request, Jack McClain also pointed out that the college used to pay people to serve on the city’s various boards!
Multiple speakers additionally stated that the town may even be opening itself up to a lawsuit if the presumed mass book banning were to proceed. Their concern stems from the fact that they don’t want to see that happen due to the city’s meager budget and the financial burden that such a lawsuit would impose. Denying Ms. Negus should therefore be a mere matter of pecuniary prudence, you understand?
Alas, Ms. Negus is now indeed a confirmed member of the library board. HCR guarantees up to date coverage of future book “cencership” efforts.
—Eryx
Additional notes:
Nonpartisan insurance agent Eric Moore attempted to frighten the City Council out of appointing Negus to the library board. “As a licensed insurance counselor,” Moore expressed fear that “there could be a denial of insurance coverage” should the library board do its job. Moore, coincidentally, was one of the finalists for Negus’ seat, and may or may not have released screenshots of a text exchange he had with Mayor Stockford.2
Someone put together this delightful propaganda flier, accusing Hillsdale citizens of cencership, which, according to the city attorny, could lead to lawsuits:
BPU Board
Mayor Stockford’s proposal to move the question of BPU board compensation to Operations and Governance Committee passed. The meager compensation that board members currently receive ($20) enables circumvention of the charter, therefore allowing non-Hillsdale residents to run and sit on the board. However, its opponents argue, a significant portion (over 2000) of BPU’s customer base happen to not be residents of the city. We ask, however: Is consumer-ship really of greater import than citizenship in such considerations?
Water & Sewer Line Repairs
After pipes on the South St. water tower burst and drained for eight hours, costing the city 3.5 million gallons of water, the state has awarded Hillsdale $2 million for water and sewer line repairs.
PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) Program
The city owns about 20 acres in Three Meadows (west of town) that it would like to turn into about 12 separate properties for rental. In order to “develop” the area “economically,” the city is considering handing out tax breaks to the subdivision. The McMansions of this “neighborhood” are to be constructed by Allan Edwin Homes, and will be rented for 15 years. According to the packet, “the City of Hillsdale needs to first adopt a workforce housing PILOT ordinance [i.e., changes its laws] in order to allow the developer to apply for a workforce housing PILOT tax exemption.”3 This policy aligns neatly with Governor Whitmer’s scheme to attract Ohio’s dozens of “woman engineers” to Michigan.
The hearing for this PILOT scheme will be held on July 17 at 7:00 PM.
Juneteenth Celebrations
As the City Council labored, Hillsdale County officials took the day off to celebrate the Juneteenth holiday.
External Links
“The similarities between the persecution of Jews during the Holocaust and the contemporary treatment of undocumented immigrants in the United States are discomfiting.” Ruth Franklin reviews Ken Burns’ documentary, The US and the Holocaust.
“The testimony of well-credentialed experts, doctors who provide gender-affirming medical care in Arkansas, and families that rely on that care directly refutes any claim by the State that the Act advances an interest in protecting children.” US District Judge James M. Moody Jr. indwells the “banality of evil” in a June 20th ruling which declares that an Arkansas law banning the prescription of puberty blockers to minors violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses as well as the First Amendment.4
“The state is listening, ready to parachute in and liberate children from the only adults desperately devoted to their welfare.” Abigail Shrier comments on a California bill that would consider “a parent’s affirmation of [their] child’s gender identity” in child custody disputes.
“The U.S. is becoming an outlier among many Western nations in the way its national medical institutions treat children suffering from distress over gender identity.” Relevant lede from the WSJ.
“It’s not about making kids feel uncomfortable. It’s about telling other kids that they shouldn’t understand their own power. It’s castrating them.” Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki elicited this revealing gem from Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, who spoke in defense of transing local libraries.
“We’re working with our record-keeping system so that certain screens can’t be seen by the parents . . . The stakes are very high for trans youth. I think that requires working subversively and quietly sometimes to make sure that trans kids have what they need.” The Daily Mail has access to recordings of “an online session hosted by the Midwest and Plains Equity Assistance Center (MAP), which is funded by the Department of Education,” and which was “attended by some 30 teachers from Michigan, Iowa, Ohio, Illinois and beyond.”
“It is further declared to be the policy of the State to encourage and protect the freedom of libraries and library systems to acquire materials without external limitation and to be protected against attempts to ban, remove, or otherwise restrict access to books or other materials.” Using eligibility for state grants as both carrot and stick, the state of Illinois has prohibited every local community from selecting the books that appear on the selves of its library. See the AP’s coverage for some good quotes from the likes of Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias.
“Our findings suggest that the use of [oral contraceptives], particularly during the first 2 years, increases the risk of depression.” Summary of a study published recently in Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences.
“This issue is personal for me, and I will fight like hell . . .” Governor Whitmer has established [press release] an official LGBTQ+ Commission as part of her effort to Nesselize the state.
“Having suffered through Michigan’s legal weed for two years, I can say that it really ruins a lot of things: at the beach with the family . . . it stinks . . . walking down the street . . . it reeks. Terrible.” The poet James Matthew Wilson reflects on Michigan’s priorities.
“Public campaign finance records indicate that Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate currently stuck on the missing Titan submersible that was running a tourist expedition of the Titanic wreck, has been a consistent Republican donor over the years.” The New Republic has located the relevant Cthulu and has named the rites by which he is summoned.
“If you’re sprinting off a cliff, and I’m headed toward a jogging path that leads along the ocean bluffs, we’re going to be running in the same direction—it won’t be clear that our logic is totally different until I turn right at the trailhead and you pitch headlong into the sea.” In what amounts to a pretty smug attack on the conservative sensibility, the Claremont Institute’s Spencer Klavan attempts to explain why the “complex social policy” that permitted his same-sex “marriage” ought not to be held responsible for enabling “the perverted radicals that prowl our streets.” Genealogy for me, children, but not for thee.5
“The uber-libertarian @dcexaminer has published a critical (and execrably dumb) review of my book *two months ahead of publication*, a sad attempt to pre-frame the book before the general reader can access the text.” Sohrab Ahmari, whose dreams are structured around the name “Adrian,” can’t forgive Titus Techera for outclassing him on the question of his favorite film. Reading the offending piece, we found Techera’s insistence on what “practical people” will find persuasive to be clarifying.6
Colin Redemer and Jeremy Tate discuss the Classical Learning Test and its commitment to “diversity.”
Fauxglin wonders whether similar complaints were made during Jim Bowen’s tenure on the board.
This has caused much consternation among the FOIA-happy OMA enthusiasts, but we must say it warms the heart to see Mayor Stockford confidently dismiss such trivialities.
Packet, 86.
One can be forgiven for finding Ryan P. Williams’ defense of the First Amendment a little underwhelming.
Note that Klavan is writing in response to Dave Rubin.
We note in passing that the Integralists and their useful adjacents are currently attempting the prepare the ground for “a multiracial, multiethnic working class coalition” by attacking BAPtist anons, and any respectable institution that would publish them, on Twitter. As usual, Peachy Keenan asked the most practical question.