The township voted in February to restrict Internet access. When that vote was taken, the township attorney warned it engendered the risk of a court challenge. A federal district judge ruled in late 1998 that a similar restriction imposed by a Virginia library was unconstitutional. Marianne Hartzell, executive director of the Michigan Library Association, said more than 90 percent of the state's 388 public libraries do not restrict children's Internet access. She is unaware of any library except Georgetown Township's that requires adults to use filtered terminals.
Adults clearly make a conscious decision.
If you get into a site accidentally that you find objectionable, all you do is get out of it. The library association's position on filtering software, she said, is that only parents have the right to control children's access to Internet content. But we also understand that local communities make decisions based on what's best for the community. Carlton says that since that vote was unanimous, he does not see the need for a new vote on the issue of eliminating terminals altogether. Such conservatism is not surprising in a community that has no bars and doesn't allow packaged liquor sales on Sundays.