Ginny's Latest Lies

Ginny Maziarka claims West Bend Community Memorial Library, its staff and board "ignored" the requests of parents in the community, referring to her attempt to have YA materials moved and/or labeled according to her personal judgments about the materials.

How is this possible, when Maziarka was granted meetings with the Young Adult Librarian and the Library Director, as is part of the reconsideration of materials/challenge process? She recently said YA Librarian Kristin Pekoll was "unwilling to discuss our concerns." Back in February (when this meeting with Kristin took place), Maziarka seemed surprised that Kristin had pulled copies of most of the books named in her complaint and was prepared to question/discuss Maziarka's objections to them. Maziarka said, We explained that our complaint was a general complaint, not an individual book complaint. She did not want to discuss the general concept of homosexual books for youth, but we forged on regardless. She went on to say, We read an excerpt from "The Perks of Being a Wallflower." This book has a heterosexual oral sex act in very graphic detail. (Note: Maziarka either self-edited as she read or read from an excerpt printed elsewhere that was incomplete, because she left out text that gave the scene context.) Later on in the book there is a homosexual male-to-male sex act as well, all in detail. We asked Mrs. Pekoll if she felt this was appropriate reading material for an 11-year-old child. Her answer, again, was that she could not make "value judgements" and that this was simply "our opinion." We heard this over and over again. (See West Bend Library Thumbs Nose at Taxpayers for more info.)

Well, kudos to Kristin Pekoll and the library staff for not making value judgments about what is appropriate for everyone else, and for being prepared with copies of the books and review information from reputable library resources about the titles in question.

Maziarka claims that she was promised the opportunity to explain her position and concerns in a public forum without time constraints, and did not get that. Hello??? What about that public meeting she held on March 26th at Silverbrook Middle School? She complains she was only allotted the same 2 minutes of speaking time at the June 2nd board meeting at McLane Elementary. Apparently the countless newspaper articles, radio and TV interviews and that March meeting didn't provide enough opportunity to "explain." But, you may recall, Maziarka neglected to complete any new complaint/reconsideration form when she was informed, at the end of March, that her complaint was unclear and considered nullified because of all the changes (first it's about homosexuality in books, then it isn't, first it's a list of 30-some odd titles, but wait, that should include the 50+ titles in the Over the Rainbow website booklist, too, then it's about sexually explicit passages in books......) Maziarka didn't complete a new form, so there technically was no complaint submitted, yet the library board went ahead and had the public meeting in June. It still wasn't enough. It never will be.

It isn't that Ginny was ignored, it's that she was denied. She had the chance to make her case and she did, and she lost. That's the thorn in her side, and she tries to conceal her defeat with accusations of misconduct or being "ignored."

One of her latest comments to me was You keep trying to hold your head above water, but your weakness is causing you to sink.

Really? I'm not the one who has gone off the deep end.

Enough

How many people in the West Bend community is Ginny Maziarka going to be allowed to attack, harass, defile, and make innuendos about?

If you live in the West Bend area and have not yet spoken up about Ginny's actions, it is past time to say enough is enough. Ginny was against changing the language of the school district's sexual harassment policy because it would protect students from harassment concerning sexual orientation. She claimed this specificity is not needed, that protecting students from harassment about sexual orientation is not the same as protecting them from harassment about race, religion, creed, etc. She said the language of the new policy infringed on other students' rights of free speech.

Ginny is all for protecting free speech rights when it means she can say whatever she wants without any recourse. On her blog, she has gone after everyone, including yours truly, "the likes of Maria Hanrahan." She's called me the "West Bend Woman (who) says Porn is OK for Kids" and called my website/group "West Bend Parents for Free Sex...(oops! Speech.)" She's called UWWC professor Mark Peterson a liar. She has gone after West Bend East teacher Scott Lone on more than one occasion. She's called West Bend resident Kristina Smithers "maniacal" and made other disparaging remarks. She accused local pastor Pam Marolla of completing a false police report. I understand that when the harassment policy was being discussed, she went after Kris Beaver of the School Board. Within the last week she's made derogatory comments about School Board candidate Carl Knepel and Scott Lone (again.) When will it end?

I think the banner comment of the week has to be "Intellectual freedom for minor is DANGEROUS. Brings to mind the "independent thought alarm" scenario from the Simpsons. We can't have those youngsters thinking for themselves!

Ginny Maziarka does not speak for West Bend, WI. She claims to represent the majority of the community, but offers nothing to substantiate this. Its time for the citizens of this community to speak out and end her bullying of other citizens and acting in other ways that tarnish our community's reputation. I'm not saying she does not have the right to speak her opinion and take action to make changes she believes are necessary in the community. However, we don't have to remain silent (thereby indicating acquiescence) about her rantings about our fellow citizens and our community.