Bruce Friedman replies to recent Letter to Editor

On Jan. 18, Clay Today posted a Letter to the Editor written by Hank A. Vitan, who had questions about the Clay County District Schools policies on challenging and removing books from libraries. Middleburg’s Bruce Friedman, who has challenged hundreds of titles, responded to Vitan’s letter.

Dear Mr. Vitan (and the CCDS community):
The decision to let a minor child read adult content belongs to the child’s parents and not the child itself, or the librarians. Parental rights outweigh the child’s desires and the librarian’s. If you want to provide adult literature to your child, nobody will stop you. There are public libraries for such moments. Also, there’s online sources; various vendors sell these books, none are “banned.”
Many parents don’t want “spicy” adult content in our schools. I’m one of them.
You also implied I threatened members of the board and admin. They know I am a man of my word. It was a promise, not a threat.
I’ve already delivered on it. Their names are mentioned in my reports, and more than before, the community is discussing book content rather than little old me. Exactly as I wanted.
As they had doxed me (“accidentally” released my home address and phone number...), I know that can be uncomfortable. I chose to not be that aggressive. FYI, they’ve also “accidentally” doxed everyone that ever challenged a book. Accordingly, I feel the process of challenging a book should be paperless and anonymous - we could fix things quicker that way.
Regarding political parties: Let’s just help each other protect America’s children. Afterwards, everyone can vote as per their heart’s desire. Free country.