(Reporter's Notebook by Steven Allen Adams - Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

I’ve been reading as long as I can remember. To the point that I didn’t sleep in the dark until my late teens because I had gotten used to falling asleep with the touch lamp on because I’d stay up late reading.

I spent so much time of my youth at the Pleasants County Library checking out books about science, history, biographies, books about unexplained phenomena and science fiction. The knowledge I learned helped me co-captain my middle and high school quiz bowl teams.

In my 20s, I spent much of my time at the Parkersburg and Wood County Public Library. I used to walk from my apartment on the campus of Spreading Truth Ministries to the library to read. My first blogs were built on computers at the library on Emerson Avenue.

As an adult approaching his mid-40s, I don’t go to the library as much as I used to. I’ve embraced technology and buy most books through Amazon for download to my waterproof Kindle so I can read by the pool or in the ocean when on vacation. When I’m not doing that, I’m going to local bookstores searching for books about West Virginia politics and political figures.

But I do sometimes go to the newly renovated and expanded Kanawha County Public Library and walk the aisles looking for a book that grabs my attention. Yes, I do believe you can judge a book by its cover, and I often do.

Right now, a bill lies in wait for placement on the agenda of the House Judiciary Committee that is causing some consternation with the librarian community for good reason.

House Bill 4654 would lift criminal liability exemptions from schools, public libraries and museums displaying obscene matter to a minor when the child is accompanied by a parent/guardian. Under existing State Code, any adult who knowingly and intentionally displays obscene matter to a minor could be charged with a felony, fined up to $25,000 and face up to five years in prison if convicted.

Bills like this are part of a national movement. First Amendment and freedom of expression organization PEN America calls these kinds of bills “educational intimidation.” While not banning certain books or censoring books, these bills are meant to scare librarians and school officials, who then will tailor the kinds of books they choose.

Now, there are a number of exemptions within State Code that would largely still protect librarians. And according to PEN America and what research I could find, no librarian or teacher has been criminally charged because of having books some deem to be obscene. But that raises a question: why do this at all then?

These kinds of columns are hard for me to write, because on one hand I’m a reporter and have to keep my biases in check. On the other hand, I live here and pay taxes here and I’ve got just as much stake in the bills that pass the Legislature.

I get that this is the popular cause right now among the New Right. They are concerned about books they believe are obscene ending up in the hands of minors. In some cases, they are right. I can say that some of the books that were read out loud last week during a public hearing on HB 4654 I would not want young children reading.

Then again, if the books are so obscene, I don’t understand why these people felt comfortable reading excerpts from them verbatim into the public record. There were children present. Shouldn’t these people who read these excerpts be subject to criminal charges like the librarians they want to remove criminal liability protections from?

You see the conundrum?

My advice for people concerned about certain books in your libraries is to talk to your librarians, file a concern, get involved with your library’s board. Libraries should reflect the communities they are in. They are funded by taxpayers. But surely this can all be handled on the local level versus a state law.

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Creeping in the day before the last day of the 2024 candidate filing period last Friday, former coal baron and former failed 2018 Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Don Blankenship filed again for U.S. Senate for the 2024 primary, but as a Democrat.

That’s it. That’s all I’ve got to say about that.

Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com