I had to relocate out of Spokane momentarily for reasons too complex and personal to get into here. The reason for this post is simple: be careful where you sow your tourist dollars. Case in point: just take the short drive to Republic and use the computer at their library sometime. You'll immediately notice that the filtering software (the onerous BESS) is too cumbersome to navigate effectively. Next thing you'll notice is that they will NOT disable said filtering, even for adults. This is due to policy set by the North Central Regional Library's board of directors on May 13th, and was passed in spite of the Supreme Court mandate of "US v ALA", and the FCC mandate that all libraries comply with filter disabling by July 1st of this year. So Wenatchee determines the policy for 28 libraries in four counties, and is apparantly no great believer in the very First Amendment principles that make even this very website possible, pulling an unyielding curtain of ignorance down over tens of thousands of people in mostly rural areas where no other public internet access is possible. Do our communities a favor: email assistant director Dan Howard at dhoward@ncrl.org and tell him exactly how you feel about thier draconian internet policies. Then go to www.aclu.org and let them know how you feel. When you're done with that, feel free to call the Wenatchee Valley Convention and Visitor Bureau at 1-800-572-7753 and let them know in no uncertain terms that you and your tourist dollars will NOT be headed their way anytime soon. Thanks for your support and help on this one. Chuck

POSTED: 2004-07-06