Guarding Truth, Justice, and the American Way--Wherein The Extremist Threat is Further Exposed
(UPDATE: new information re: missing library furniture at the end of the diary- photo from 2021, and evidence of news media being misled for first story on this)
(UPDATE 04/10/24) Another meeting at City Hall with a surprise appearance by terminated director Rosemary Baxter
(UPDATE 04/18/24) NBC online publishes In Superman’s 'hometown,' a pastor vows to fight Satan’s influence at the local library which is an excellent shorter version and hits some different points—and is written by a professional investigative journalist, which I am not. . . .
(UPDATE 5/15/20) NBC does a segment on Nightly News with Lester Holt and this week there was a new development with appointments to the Library board. Time to write Part 3!
This story begins with Part 1, which you can read here: Red, White, and Kryptonite: Christian Nationalists Target Metropolis IL . (Diary has received 451 Recommends—thank you readers!) If you read it before, or used it as a source for research leads, I would encourage a review as some details have been updated as new information was obtained. My interest is as a native of Metropolis, who still has many connections there (including a bank account in a local bank!) and as an organizer with Four Rivers Indivisible, a non-partisan progressive political group focused on defending democracy and social justice/civil liberties. Four Rivers Indivisible has had a number of active members from Metropolis and Massac County for some time, and even more since this controversy has erupted. And my late mother has a self-published book in the currently neglected genealogy room at the library, Once Upon a Childhood, which is about growing up in Springfield IL and has accounts of a relative’s major role in the Springfield Race Riot of 1908. Businessman Harry T. Loper, with one of the few cars in town, spirited the targets of the lynch mob away in his car for the sheriff and his thriving restaurant was burned down. Thankfully, former fired director Rosemary Baxter didn’t purge that with the over 15,000 books she culled from shelves “to make space”--but then genealogy wasn’t on her anti-LGBTQ+ -focused agenda.
Briefly, the controversy erupted in January when members of Eastland Life Church ( Eastland Life Church FB page) along with many members of the local Ministerial Alliance unexpectedly attended the usually quiet and routine meeting of the Metropolis Public Library Board of Trustees to express opposition to a Drag Queen Story Hour (despite one never being proposed by anyone), as well as opposition to amending the Library Bill of Rights. This amendment was simply about respecting privacy and confidentiality of library patrons, and was required under the new IL law prohibiting book banning, (First of Its Kind: New IL Law June 12, 2023) that went into effect Jan 1, 2024, so the library would be in compliance for the purposes of eligibility for state funding. That meeting was followed by a highly inflammatory and frankly unhinged screed in the weekly newspaper, Metropolis Planet (Pastor Brian Anderson's LTE). Subsequent to that, the Library Board voted to terminate the contract of Director Rosemary Baxter, following February’s Library Board Meeting where members of the public raised concerns. After the termination, a highly misleading polemic was published in Glenn Beck’s online The Blaze: A Librarian's Faithful Service is Silenced by A Secularist Takeover (by Steve Deace).
And so the story continues. Part 1 focused primarily on Pastor Brian Anderson of Eastland Life Church, and the library Director, Rosemary Baxter. Now attention has shifted to Metropolis Mayor Don Canada. It needs to be noted that Mayor Canada is friends with Brian Anderson, attends Eastland Life Church, where Anderson is his Pastor, and Brian Anderson is an Alderman on the Metropolis City Council.
The Aftermath of the Director’s Firing:
Director Rosemary Baxter was terminated on February 28th. Three employees, two of whom ran an after-school program at the library, coordinated to resign the next day rather than give two weeks notice as is customary. Their animus and allegiance to Rosemary evidently was more important than serving the public and the children. This gets to the heart of many of the problems with Rosemary Baxter—an allegiance to an agenda that was at odds with public service to the community, as she would not agree to complying with the Library Bill of Rights. Despite being terminated the night before, Ms. Baxter used the Library FB page to invite parents to bring their children to Eastland Life Church, where they could join with the homeschool co-op that meets there, and she even offered to arrange bus transportation with the local schools. The library was forced to pause the after-school program for three days until they found public school teachers to volunteer for the remainder of the school year. The parents who changed to Eastland Life Church were given partial refunds on their fees.
The Library then was moving forward, although with an obvious split in board orientation, with two members clearly aligned with Eastland and some disagreements over how various things had been handled. But they quickly hired an interim director, and set up new committees to address needs including oversight. While many people in the community remained concerned on both sides—why was the nice library lady who loved the children fired? What is Anderson’s next move going to be? —things seemed calm. But beneath the surface, much was happening.
Many people from Eastland Life Church or their contacts and relatives began reaching out to at least several different community members for help-- and asking to remain anonymous . Some wanted to leave the church but said they were afraid. Some were concerned about children from the homeschool co-op—once cheerful but now fearful, who cling to their parents when they are away from the church environment. Some were concerned about shocking statements they’ve heard directly from church members that state LGBTQ+ people need to be “gone”. As in dead. And that Pastor Brian is just “helping people” when he preaches these things. Scary stuff from someone who is also asking them to prepare for violence. “"Stand firm with me at the wall and be strong because this could get violent". (from an Eastland Life Church sermon, available on FB). And scary stuff coming from this pastor who allegedly has some things he has been trying to keep “in the family,” as church members have stated. Anonymous investigation FB page Eyes on Eastland explains: Child Endangerment at Eastland Life Church. This slide show was posted on FB March 29th. On March 30th, it was noticed that all the photos in the video were removed from the Eastland Life Academy FB page. As is typical in these cases, there is more to this story than can be reported due to privacy issues.
The Next Storm Erupts—Mayor Canada Makes His Move:
Mayor Canada decided late on Friday, March 22 to send an email to the Board, which was received by the library system, so the interim director then had to disseminate the information. This was a notification that he was terminating the contracts, effective immediately, of three of the Board members: Rhonda James (President), Kelley Sullivan, and LaDawn Bradley. He later stated in public interviews on local television that Bradley had previously come to him and shown him a letter of resignation that she was holding off on for the time being, and had not subsequently submitted. But since he “knew she wanted off the board anyway” he went ahead and included her, admittedly without contacting her first. Link to come later. He also sent a letter which was shared by the Interim Director with Rhonda James. I obtained a copy through an Illinois FOIA request to the library. Note the misspelling of interim director Colby Kennedy’s first name, someone he should be very familiar with by now, especially since Kennedy served in this role in the past-- as well as misspelling “Kelley” who has been on the board for some time. Kelley Sullivan has commented on FB that she never received a letter
There was already a meeting of the Metropolis City Council scheduled for Monday, March 25th and a copy of the agenda was obtained.
Opposition to Attempted Takeover of the Library Organizes A Response:
Immediately, there was an uproar. Why, when things were going smoothly and so soon after the disruption and chaos of February, would the mayor make this move? Rhonda James had stated publicly her term was up in June, and he would have the option not to renew her term then. Why introduce more division and chaos instead of letting things settle down for awhile? What did it mean that the letter said they were being terminated due to “loss of faith in the Board” while the agenda naming replacements stated they were for “expired terms”? Was the applicable procedure under the legal code even being followed? 65 ILCS 5/3.1-35-10 (from Ch. 24, par. 3.1-35-10)
The same informally organized group of people that held the first rally for the library, but larger now, began formulating a response and they only had the weekend to do it. Attorneys Richard Krueger and Rick Abell began researching the law to determine the legality of what Canada was doing. An online petition in support of keeping the current Library Board was posted, as well as a paper version that was available at the library’s Open House scheduled that Saturday. Petition To Keep The Metropolis Library Board of Trustees Intact. Eyes on Eastland released new video on Mayor Canada, his decision to fire the Library Board, and his actions since becoming mayor. Eyes on Eastland: Mayoral Corruption and the Library
Plans were made to rally on Superman Square by the Superman Statue at 6 pm Monday and then march to City Hall for the 7 pm meeting of the City Council. Meanwhile, the Illinois Secretary of State weighed in, defending the terminated Board members. In Illinois, the Secretary of State is “State Librarian” and has oversight regarding public libraries: “He or she may make, amend, and enforce rules and regulations in relation to library services, materials, and resources. Any rule or regulation made or amended hereunder shall be filed with the Office of Secretary of State.”15 ILCS 320/ State Library Act”
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Then the weather threatened the planned rally at 6 pm. Strong winds with dangerous gusts were forecast for most of the day, and rain was to start at 6 pm. I was concerned about driving back home in the dark, in the rain, and made plans to get there early enough before the rain and spend the night, leaving my car where I was staying. More on that later. But as the day went on, the forecast for rain was pushed back to 7 pm. We might be in luck. Meanwhile I heard that an anonymous person from Rosemary Baxter’s church stated that Rosemary had asked in the church that morning for prayer for between 6 and 7 pm.
I made five signs so I would have extras for those without signs, and others brought signs too. I was able to get some nice photos, and while it was windy, it was manageable. The Metropolis Planet reporting estimated there were about 30 gathered to protest. March 25th Metropolis City Council Meeting
It eventually started raining lightly so we moved to shelter outside City Hall until it opened.
Local radio WMOK provided live feed of us sheltering outside. Live Feed Outside City Hall.
We were ultimately allowed inside and waited in the foyer until we could be let into the meeting room upstairs. This meant more people who were arriving later saw our signs.
This is a sign I made and loaned to this person, with a 1973 commemorative edition of the weekly Metropolis Planet, issued upon opening of the first attempt at a museum, The Amazing World of Superman. I was home from college that summer and worked as a tour guide.
This photo features Board President Rhonda James holding another sign I made that included a commemorative plaque my mom had saved from the same events, celebrating Superman’s 35th Anniversary in June, 1973.
The central character in the drama—Pastor Brian Anderson-- arrived and walked past all of us. I will note that the exact same expression-- which to most of my colleagues seems best described as a “smirk”-- appeared to be frozen on his face most of the time throughout the City Council Meeting. Make of that what you will, in light of what you’ve learned so far. Here is the arrival of Mayor Canada’s friend, pastor, and City Council member, Brian Anderson:
Metropolis City Council Meets March 25th:
We all moved upstairs for the meeting, not knowing what the outcome would be. Again, the Metropolis Planet provides critical details, such as that there was a standing-room only crowd of 50 people, and block-quotes included to follow come from this link. Metropolis Planet: Council Tables Appointments to Library Board. Once the business of the agenda items relating to voting for replacement board members was reached, the mayor announced a motion to table that because of the requirement by law that he wait five days from the terminations to submit those terminations to the Council. This was Monday, he terminated them on Friday. So yeah, he couldn’t do anything yet. And no one seemed to know for sure if that meant five calendar or five business days, according to Canada’s later interview. Then after the City Attorney left his side and the room (why did that happen? no clue), attorney Rick Abell in the public section was recognized to speak and present his opinion of the legal aspects of the process. Abell indicated that not only did Mayor Canada need to wait five days, he needed to present written justification for the terminations rather than planning individual verbal conversations with each Council Member. And the Council then must be given the opportunity to either accept or reject the terminations. They could be rejected by a 2/3 vote. So it was agreed not to table it to April 8th, as Mayor Canada had just suggested, but rather to push it back to April 22nd. And then Canada was asked by Alderman Ward 4 Chad Lewis, what was meant about the “effective immediately” aspect of the terminations and Canada in turn asked Attorney Rick Abell:
The council has the opportunity to consider those charges and overrule those charges at a special meeting,” Abell said. “They’re not removed until after the council’s had the opportunity to take its action. There’s a role for everybody — there’s a role council has to play and that may include inquiry, questions and discourse. That’s how it should be exercised, just like any other body that appoints with the advice of consent. … The existing (library board) members are there until it’s a final decision.”
It seemed obvious to all that the Library Board shouldn’t be left with such an incomplete crew during this critical transition time and after the upheaval of February. So essentially, Mayor Canada’s coup plan to just slip in three new people fell apart.
The room erupted in cheers. After the rest of business was completed, the public was invited to comment. And yes, they did. There were 18 who reportedly expressed their opinion (again, Metropolis Planet). Some of what I cover here is not covered in the story in the newspaper, though. All kinds of concerning matters about the library and things that are being uncovered that happened under Director Rosemary Baxter were brought up, from missing furniture that rumor has it has been seen at Eastland Life Church and now at another location, to the concerning number of Eastland Life Church members being appointed to various city boards, to concerns about how the mayor is obtaining potential nominees and selecting representatives for the Board from his “list.”
Mayor Canada apparently took over that function from the Library Board, which used to give him recommendations, last summer in July. Note that this was after the new law prohibiting book banning was signed by IL Gov. Pritzker on June 12th. Note also that his first appointment in the fall was Cheriah Herring, who teaches in the Eastland Life Academy homeschool co-op, and her first meeting in the fall had the Library Bill of Rights on the agenda. Canada made statements at the Council Meeting implying he was going “down the list” chronologically, and that was met with disbelief from the crowd that he was not looking at ALL the potential candidates and not choosing the best qualified candidates to produce a well-rounded board with diverse sets of skills and background. Current Board Secretary Stephanie Johnson expressed concern about appointments:
. . . .Johnson said, “My concern as a fairly new board member is that the two most recent appointees voted in direct opposition to the oath. They voted against the Library Bill of Rights, which the board adopted in 2012, and they voted with the director (Rosemary Baxter). The director has to report to them. They voted against anything that had to do with library policy or state law. These appointments don’t seem interested in upholding the interests of the library.”
Johnson also told the council that “now would be the worst time to remove Kelley and Rhonda from the board,” she said. “We’ve just formed committees. We’ve got to have an audit done to find out what all is missing and the damage done to the library.”
A relative newcomer to Metropolis, Rick Allen, explained he was Director of the Illinois State Genealogical Society (ISGS) and serves on several other genealogical organizations as well. He talked about what a wonderful genealogical section was in the Metropolis Library but it had been neglected and not staffed recently. The collection is in a locked room. He also said the Society members were appalled at what they were hearing about the library and it was “not a good look” for the community.
A highlight of the comments was when the City Council was informed of the online petition to request retaining the three board members. It had gathered around 404 signatures by that night, and stands at 441 as of today. Additionally there is a paper copy of the petition, with the numbers unavailable to me at this time. The person making the comment about the petition signatures made sure to point out that the petition numbers were about 50 more than the votes Mayor Don Canada secured when he was elected mayor in 2021 with only 351 votes-- his nearest opponents being at 299 and 294. Yes, about 950 votes cast in a town of 5,900--- that’s a sad story that I don’t think will be repeated next year when he is up for re-election. If he runs, that is. That is looking more and more like something he might want to reconsider.
There seemed to be only one representative of a pro-Rosemary Baxter position. Billy Hopkins was quoted in the Metropolis Planet article cited previously:
“The library was a warehouse until she came along,” he said. “This is not the Library of Congress we’re talking about, this is the Metropolis Public Library and there’s only so much room, it can’t hold every book in print.”
Metropolis resident Kerian Brannon responded forcefully and eloquently about the purpose of a library (Metropolis Planet)
“The point is that people look at books without checking them out. Maybe they can’t take them home. Maybe they don’t know what they want to checkout until they peruse. Maybe they don’t know what to ask for,” she said. “That’s what a library is — it’s a citadel of learning and knowledge. It’s not just afterschool games and programs — those are great and wonderful, but that’s not the express purpose of a library. A library is a citadel of learning. It is where we all get our start in this world. And how far we can go depends upon our level of reading. And our level of reading makes it to where we’ll be successful through high school to university on to graduate and PhD. We start here. It’s a warehouse of sorts — it’s a warehouse of knowledge, of expression and to broaden your mind.”
Aftermath of the City Council Meeting—media response heats up:
Since Monday’s Council meeting, Mayor Canada initially refused a television interview with WPSD-6TV, but then changed his mind and sat for an interview on Tuesday. The station took the unusual step of including the full tape of the interview. WPSD6TV interviews Metropolis Mayor John Canada.
This has provided much fodder for those who can see Canada’s many misleading statements and some outright lies about events. He constantly deflected by talking about mistakes made by others in the past when asked about what he was doing right now. He complained about there being “so many cars from Kentucky in the parking lot” while admitting it is everyone’s right to attend. But I know my car from Kentucky wasn’t there, I didn’t see anyone from Kentucky from our progressive network, including Four Rivers Indivisible, and most of the people seemed to be ones from Metropolis I am aware of who have been posting on Facebook. Canada evidently doesn’t consider also that some people may have recently moved to town—indeed one woman communicated to someone I know that she was a retired librarian who recently moved here and she was going to attend. The genealogist who spoke up at the meeting might have had MO plates, having retired from a university there. Mayor Canada made many very confusing statements about errors in getting documentation from the Library Board about extensions of Library Board Member terms and at one point seems to imply most of the board may technically have expired terms by his definition, but accepts no responsibility or seems to understand that the term extensions are required to be sent to him for oversight. He’s the one responsible for clarifying any confusion or errors, which he claims has been going on since he became mayor in 2021!
He misled relating to the appointment of Eastland Life Church member Cheriah Herring last fall. She helps teach in the Eastland Life Church homeschool co-op. He said her appointment couldn’t have anything to do with the current controversy since that hadn’t happened yet. Failing to disclose that contrary to the impression he left that she was “on his list”, she did not ever ask to be on the list of board appointments. Instead, she was approached by Mayor Canada—her fellow church member-- and asked if she would join the board—and her first meeting was to cover the issues relating to the state requirement to sign onto the Library Bill of Rights. Canada used statements about hiring Herring because she knew a lot about teaching reading skills to children through her role at Eastland Life homeschool co-op, but it seems that might have been a convenient cover story. He also claimed to have no idea about his recent Board appointee Carl Johnson’s church attendance, but it is reportedly at the same small Brookport Church of God where Rosemary Baxter attends, with her husband as pastor. And there are obviously very close ties between these two churches as Rosemary is also involved with the children’s homeschool co-op at Eastland Life if you look at their photos--although now those seem to be in a process of being selectively removed. That co-op also bears mentioning as they are using the Tuttle Twins series of books, and are reportedly very thrilled with them. You might find this information on the books enlightening: Tuttle Twins --Libertarian Agenda for Children. In my opinion those books are compatible with most Christian religions, although written by a Mormon, but they are much more focused on promoting an extremist political agenda and not on bringing souls to Jesus.
Mayor Canada also made much ado about claiming Library Board President Rhonda James did not follow Robert’s Rules of Order the night Director Rosemary Baxter was terminated. He claimed she responded to a motion to postpone the termination issue until a plan for dealing with the aftermath was in place by telling a Board Member something to the effect of “now is not the time for that.” I have listened carefully to the recordings of the live feed from WMOK, both before the closed session and after the closed session, when they then voted to terminate Baxter. Live Feed Part 1 and Live Feed Part 2 . There are no motions made such as Canada described. There is only a discussion introduced by member Cheriah Herring just before the Board voted to move to closed session where she asked to discuss whether they should move to table the closed session until a plan for dealing with the aftermath of that session was in place. She was told that it can be put on the agenda for the next meeting by Rhonda James, and member Ford Loverin explained that a succession plan would be covered in the closed meeting. This was clearly a deceptive attempt by Canada at coming up with reasons to claim Rhonda James was unfit to lead the Library Board.
The daily newspaper in Paducah, KY also interviewed Canada here: Metropolis Mayor Denies Involvement. There, Mayor Canada continued to decline to elaborate on specific charges he will be describing in relation to the terminations and repeats that he believed the terms were “expired”. The following is from that article, dated March 27th.
Canada said he was somewhat aware of the proper removal process. He was not aware that board members remain in their positions until the city council gives a final vote on their removal.
“I had no intention of disrupting everything. I just think to be fair to the new director, we need a little more togetherness on the board, and we don’t have that right now,”
WPSD-6 followed up by conducting this interview with Library Board President Rhonda James on Wednesday. Rhonda James Responds to Mayor Canada. If Mayor Canada was so upset with Rhonda James for her actions bringing so much media attention to Metropolis, as she claims in her interview, I would think he probably needs to stop and look in the mirror at what he has done to escalate that. I heard on Thursday that there were so many people and reporters waiting to meet the mayor that the secretary was having to ask people to come back later.
The Paducah Sun also interviewed Rhonda James for this March 28th story: Metropolis Library Board President responds to Mayor's Claims. She refers to possible reasons for the termination
“Well, he didn’t tell us at that time we were being removed. He just told me that he was very upset with me he felt like that all of the media coverage and all of the attention was my fault. Maybe it was maybe it wasn’t,” she said.
And she discussed the issue of expired terms
She said the board discussed all members’ terms months ago when Rosemary Baxter was still director. They met, extended their terms, and expected Baxter to hand those meeting minutes over to the mayor, who would then bring it to city council members to vote on.
“I don’t know if Rosemary delivered that, those minutes to Mayor Canada or not. We just trusted her...And Mayor Canada did serve us with an FOIA request...We sat down delivered it to him and he set it aside and told us that it was, you know, that’s on his list, because he’s got a lot to do. He’s running a whole city,” said James.
New community groups are organized and conclusion—Thank you local journalists!
The opposition movement to Pastor Brian Anderson’s attempted manipulation of city boards and Mayor Don Canada’s attempted termination of the Library Board members is growing stronger and more organized. The bi-partisan coalition from the protests is now an organized private FB group, Library League. Membership in Four Rivers Indivisible is up to 162, which is pretty darned high for local progressive groups around here. I am working on a timeline of events—with a summary that includes some different details than this diary series captures, and with links-- to share in a Google Doc with the newly formed Library League group. And now there is a new FB page for the community with a goal of attempting to change the local culture surrounding this issue by planting seeds of information/truth and civic education. A place where events such as upcoming City Council or Library Board Meetings can be posted for everyone. As one resident said, “Oh, I get it, a civics for dummies type thing. Like I had zero clue about the relation of the library to the city council before all of this started.” Lois & Clark Coalition for Accountability
I want to add that I think this situation highlights the importance of local media and reporting. Kudos to all the media that have covered this-- WMOK for their extensive live feed coverage, WKMS public radio, The Metropolis Planet, The Paducah Sun, and all the local television stations including WPSD6 and WSIL3. They may not have gotten the whole picture and all the details, but they are key resources for anyone wanting to dig further. Particularly, very small papers like The Metropolis Planet are struggling to stay afloat. You can see the important level of details such reporting provides. Support them with subscriptions! I know I decided to take out a subscription even before having a chance to read this most recent reporting. Democracy dies in darkness.
Stay tuned, because this isn’t over! And April 22nd will only be the next chapter in the story.
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UPDATE: WPSD6 reported on 4/1/24, beginning on their 5 pm news and again later (The Library and the Furniture--new developments) that the missing antique furniture from the library has been located at a local church, The Refuge House.
Member of the Library League and local citizen Sumar Holt is the one that brought up questions about the missing furniture at the council meeting on Monday and had been searching for answers. Questions remain however.
The furniture has since been located at The Refuge Church in Metropolis. The Refuge Church Pastor Tony Morris said he acquired the tables a couple of years ago when the Metropolis Public Library advertised them in a Facebook post. Morris said former library director Rosemary Baxter and other library employees gave him the furniture after he replied to the Facebook post.
According to Holt, the city used about $3,500 of tax money to purchase the furniture at an auction.
"They were quite large chairs or tables, antique, pure wood, that would have to be bid on and voted on by city council, and they had went missing at the library," Holt said.
Holt said Canada has no recollection of the tables and chairs and does not recall putting out a bid or voting on their sale.
Metropolis Public Library Interim Director Colby Kennedy confirmed the antique tables and chairs were no longer at the library. He said the library board would have had to approve the furniture sale, but he can't find a record of the sale from past board meetings.
And now new reporting (Metropolis LIbrary Furniture to be Returned) indicating that Tony Morris—who previously participated with Rosemary Baxter and Brian Anderson in the Greg Dunker interview on WKYX referenced in Part 1 of this diary—misled WPSD6 in the above story:
Local 6 tracked down the location of the tables and chairs Monday at Refuge Church in Metropolis.
A different story of how they got there came out Tuesday.
Tony Morris, the pastor of Refuge Church, now said his wife was messaged directly, asking if they wanted the furniture.
This is a different story from Monday, when Morris said the tables and chairs were advertised in social media post.
In the messages, Morris said he believed the advertisement was posted to Facebook.
He said he responded and said that he would like them.
After WPSD-TV's story aired Monday, Morris said he gave us misinformation.
He said his wife was actually contacted through Facebook, saying the tables and chairs would be donated to him, if the church needed them.
Morris declined to talk on camera, but said he's reached out to Library Board President Rhonda James to arrange returning the furniture back to the library.
Here are some photos of the tables and chairs from July, 2021 when they were still in the library. Evidently the director wanted them out of the way for the children’s programming. From FB Post of Metropolis Public Library as in second photo, from photo archives.
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UPDATE 04/10/24
Since the last update, a few things have happened.
The third terminated Board member, LaDawn Bradley, did turn in her resignation, creating an opening on the board. Metropolis Planet article:
Following the stepping down of board member LaDawn Bradley, the Metropolis Public Library board of trustees held a special-called meeting Tuesday, April 2, to fill two of her positions within the board.
Board members Cheriah Herring and David Daugherty were absent from the meeting.
The first was Bradley’s role of board treasurer.
Board president Rhonda James said she’d discussed with board members about filling the role and board member Paula Shelton agreed to fill the officer position. The board approved the appointment 5-0-1 with Kelley Sullivan, Ford Loverin, Stephanie Johnson, Carl Johnson and James voting in favor and Shelton abstaining.
The newly formed social media private group Library League’s representative Kerian Brannon made a statement during the public comment portion informing the board of their formation and purpose in supporting the Library and all its goals as embodied in the Library Bill of Rights. The board also approved a motion to send recommendations to the City Council for two potential nominees.
On April 8th, in a town overrun with eclipse seeking tourists, a City Council Meeting was held that evening. There was nothing on the agenda relating to the library. It was noted that Brian Anderson’s chair was empty but he was heard voting on motions over some speaker system. No explanation was given for his empty chair. However there were two citizens who signed up for public comments, which have to be submitted by the Friday before a Monday meeting. Those were Stephanie Johnson, Library Board of Trustees Secretary, and Sumer Holt, who had been interviewed by media about her concerns regarding the missing furniture at the library.
Johnson presented information about the two potential nominees to the Mayor and Council, which included documentation about why they had approved a motion unanimously to recommend these qualified individuals. Sumer spoke briefly apologizing for any misinformation she may have contributed to leading up to media eventually uncovering the actual story of the missing furniture.
The public was asked if there was anyone else who wished to speak, and Rosemary Baxter rose. She had come very well prepared with stacks of documents and sitting in the front where she could place them on the railing platform. Of course, none of the public was expecting this, but it is not known if the Mayor was. She spoke for approximately 24 minutes based on the WMOK Live Feed 4/8/24 Metropolis City Council Meeting. Listeners at home commented on the station’s FB feed. There was much concern about the poor audio quality and frequent interruptions in the feed itself. This has been explained by WMOK as being caused by the poor internet connectivity in the City Hall building. The other issue was a lack of microphones for the public section. There is still a podium stand and microphone at the dividing rail with the Council, but it has reportedly been non-functional for a very long time. The live feed can be heard much better on playback but it was very difficult to hear what was being said in the moment.
Rosemary Baxter’s presentation appeared to be an attempt for her to vent about social media postings she felt were unfair, and included a lengthy explanation of how she only wanted to help children and families in Metropolis since moving to the community. It included how she tried to rent a building and open a community center that could provide after-school care but it did not work out. And how the opening as library director then allowed her to fulfill those dreams. Noting that no one has ever questioned that the director did not care about children, this presentation did not appear to have anything to do with City Council business. It seemed to be an attempt to get her narrative of events on the record (including in the WMOK livestream) without having to actually answer questions from a reporter. She noted she had avoided posting on Facebook, so she admits declining using that avenue to to tell her story to respond to the FB posts she said she was so concerned about. She has not given any media interviews that I am aware of, beyond the right wing radio show referenced in the first diary. She also introduced the word “cult” in reference to the newly formed Library League by talking about and turning over screenshots of FB posts in the private group (with rules against screenshots) stating her concern that it was being seen as a “cult” based on the statement of someone who joined and then was upset that the admins turned down a request to join from Library Board members Cheriah Herring and Carl Johnson due to their positions and public votes relating to the terminated director. Again it is not clear why this protected free speech and assembly of community members would be of any relevance to City Council business.
She also turned over copies of many records she had retained, and provided some opaque and to me confusing, long explanation of why she needed to get the furniture out of the library and something about how she was justified in the manner it was done without written documentation or records or written approval. She detailed how her Deputy Sheriff/minister spouse helped load up and move 5 truckloads of books out of the library. There were a number of people in the comment section of the WMOK live feed, including a former long-time Mayor Beth Clanahan, questioning the relevance of this entire presentation to City Council business and wondering why the Mayor did not shut it down once that was clear.
After her lengthy presentation, Kerian Brannon asked to be recognize to speak, and she rebutted the misleading statements about the Library League and re-emphasized the goal of moving forward to support the Library in its mission. Baxter then felt the need to speak again about comments Brannon made questioning why she was in possession and turning over so many documents and what time frame they were from.
The next City Council meeting is April 22nd. It is not known at this time if any action will be taken on the other two terminations, of Board President Rhonda James, or retired school librarian Kelley Sullivan. Meanwhile, check out the new FB page which attempts some civic education and a one-stop location to find media postings on this topic. Lois & Clark Coalition for Accountability
Stay tuned!
Superman’s battle is ON! Truth, Justice, and the American Way
