Parents United representative tells Elkhart County commissioners 519 residents petition for restricted access to certain library materials

Cindy Hajcak, representing Parents United of Goshen, addressed Elkhart County commissioners during the public-comment portion of the Aug. 25 meeting to summarize a petition drive seeking new library-access standards for minors.

Hajcak said the petition asks library trustees to limit minors' access to books "with depictions or graphic descriptions of [sexually explicit] acts that include [redacted], pedophilia, adultery, [redacted], [redacted], [redacted], or [redacted], as well as books that claim gender is independent of biological [sex]," reading the petition language into the record. She said the petition does not call for outright book bans but for the books to be kept in an area where minors can access them only when accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Hajcak said the petition drive collected 573 signatures in total, of which 519 were valid for the Middlebury-area petition she described. She acknowledged five signatures submitted from out of district and said that represented an error rate of less than 1 percent. Hajcak also said she asked a school board president to provide proof of an alleged deceased signer the board president had mentioned; Hajcak said the president refused and therefore the claim remains unsubstantiated.

Hajcak framed the petition as an exercise of parental authority and urged the commissioners to consider the 519 valid petitions. Her comments were delivered during the public-comment portion of the meeting; commissioners did not take formal action on the petition at that session as recorded in the transcript.