Library initiative faces opposition

Friday, March 14, 2003 | 9:33 a.m.

Protesters vowed to try to stop a $50.6 million library bond initiative after a contentious meeting Thursday night.

The Las Vegas-Clark County Library District unanimously voted to endorse the bond issue. The county's Debt Management Commission on March 7 had approved it for the June 3 ballot.

The Library Board clarified language for the ballot item on Thursday. Las Vegas resident Marlene Adrian said the original language explaining the bond left voters not knowing how much higher their property taxes would go.

The initiative asks for funds to build four new libraries, renovate 12 existing ones and about $9 million a year in operating costs. Voters approved the most recent library bond proposal 12 years ago.

If approved, the bond would add an average annual $8.82 tax on a $100,000 home. Over 29 years that homeowner would pay $255.78.

About 25 protesters appeared at the meeting in the West Charleston Library, urging the board to settle a sexual harassment and discrimination suit against the district or face a campaign to defeat the bond issue.

Community activist Marzette Lewis said starting as early as Sunday, churches would begin distributing 40,000 pamphlets against the library bond. A 5-year-old lawsuit alleges that female library employees were sexually harassed by a fellow worker and that their complaints were dismissed because they are heavyset and black.

The protesters were incensed over a letter sent on library stationery and purportedly signed by Library Executive Director Daniel Walters.

However, the board met in emergency session March 5, determined the letter was a forgery and turned it over to District Attorney David Roger for investigation, Chairman Ricki Barlow said.

"If they appeal to the churches," Walters said of the protesters after the meeting, "I have all my faith that the clergy will know this administration had nothing to do with the letter."