After the Arkansas State Library Board was dissolved earlier this month, two area residents have been appointed to the new board by Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Annette Bailey of Mountain Home and Jack Forter of Yellville, a former State Representative, were among six people appointed to fill spots on the board left vacant when six of the seven members did not seek reappointment.
The board has been in the news this year after former State Senator Jason Rapert was appointed to the board and failed several times to remove funding from libraries that have books he finds offensive.
Fortner says it is something he expects the new board to discuss pretty quick.
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The former State Representative says many libraries in the state have done things their own way even though they depend on state funding.
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Bailey says she is excited about being appointed to the board, especially as a former educator.
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Bailey says she has one plan to try to help everyone.
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Since retiring as a State Representative at the end of last year, Fortner says he is excited about getting to work for the people again.
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Another Mountain Home resident, Deborah Knox, was the long time chairwoman of the board and one of the six who did not seek reappointment. She was first appointed to the board by Governor Mike Beebe, a Democrat, and reappointed by Governor Asa Hutchison, a Republican.
In an interview earlier this month with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Knox told the paper “It’s been very disheartening. She said before Rapert was appointed to the State Library Board, they flew under the radar.
But Knox said “He kept getting voted down and raising more and more controversy about that. She said members who “voted in the majority were always of the opinion that our local libraries were doing a good job of policing the books on their shelves.
Knox, who describes herself as a Democrat, told the paper she did not seek reappointment because she did not think Sanders would reappoint her due to their political differences.
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