EDITORIAL
Members of the Lawrence County Library Board of Trustees met on Monday afternoon a couple weeks ago and things were less than pleasant as comments made by board members towards “online news sources” (That’s us folks) concerning stories that included items they did not agree with, especially who should choose board members and what to do with the million plus dollars the board has left on hand currently.
They were rude, and antagonistic towards our reporter, Susan Salyer and Librarian Pelfrey refused to give any of the info handouts to The Lazer.
And Library Board of Trustees Treasurer Scott Osborne has been on a tirade in his classroom at LCHS using repeated ugly remarks to describe The Lazer, a 14 year old first of its kind community website in Kentucky.
He has called us “not a legitimate news source” and that we pay “slave wages” of which he has no knowledge. And he’s the media teacher!
He has also demeaned a student over her mother working for The Lazer. He told her daughter in front of the class that, “If you are working for The Lazer in three years there will be violence.”
Ironically, Mr. Osborne has always been a Lazer supporter and sent student work to be posted earlier this year before the library story broke.
He is a well liked teacher and the union rep at the school so he’s being supported in this attack by supt. Rob Fletcher and BOE chairman Heath Preston, both of whom have been notified in writing of the conduct. No answer.
Threatening violence is not acceptable for “anyone” in school especially from a teacher of such high self esteem.
The Issue
With the passage of Sen Bill 167 last week things are not going to be the same at the library board.
Members will be chosen by the county judge with the approval of the fiscal court and the state library board has no say so on who is nominated as has been the case in the past.
The new law also limits the libraries, many of which have loaded their coffers with millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money, to expending more than $1 million without court approval and mentions helping with education in the counties of the state.
State Senator Phillip Wheeler said that his bill was supported by nearly every county judge/executive in the state but a lot of pressure from banks and library boards were against the authority switch.
“The library board has been lying through their teeth about the bill. They acted like they are all going to get replaced in July. That is simply not the case. The Fiscal Court will need to pass a resolution to adopt the new system in July. Then Phil can replace them as their terms expire,” State Senator Phillip Wheeler said yesterday.
As treasurer of the library board Osborne has not turned in a financial report since 2019 to the Ky. Dept. of Local Govt.
The board has stonewalled on what bank the library has its reported $1.5 million (left from $6 million) deposited in and the name of the bank the board does business with. Carlie Pelfrey, the library director, has said to”look on her website” but it isn’t there.
She sent an email to our reporter that showed the library does business with all four local banks. Is that standard business practice or even legal?
I am not saying anyone on the library board has done anything illegal or there is any money missing, but I really wonder why they are protecting their finances so fiercely, especially Mr. Osborne, who I always thought was a good guy. Still do, but he is butt hurt and not used to being questioned on anything, and he is making a fool of himself in the classroom.
A lot of Lawrence County taxpayers want to know the answers to the library finances questions and we will continue to pursue them whether they like it or not.
Seems the only fool here is the lazer. The whole county comes here for a laugh at to your expense. Are you that pitiful that this is all you can scrape up to talk about? Enough with the library. It’s the only community based place that is there for our kids. What does the lazer do for the community other than stir the pot?
Thanks, ‘Your Mom’ at least I put my name on my comments. Thanks for reading The Lazer. I don’t expect everyone to like everything I do, just the ones who are honest with themselves.
Your name is “Admin”???
Only a coward uses a fake name when responding.
If Louisa library is there for them then why are so many parents taking their kids to the Fort Gay library? Because the Louisa library has become so picky since they got the new library.
When is the Fort Gay library even open? What programming do they do?
Would be hilarious if someone filed a lawsuit about this harassing behavior from a “news” source. Fill up a bottle of warm milk, Mark – and take a nice long suckle. A nap might do you well, hun.
You related to Susan. Her mother was a Hughes.
Nope. Try again, sweetie. Your investigative journalism has failed yet again – And why didn’t you authorize the other comment?
Both said basically the same thing. Usually limit comments to one per story
8=D
You sure have fired up the library people they should direct their aggression to Phil and republicans in Frankfort they are the ones who changed the law.
Now we can all agree if it’s taxpayer’s money they should show where every dime is spent and is kept should be no problem unless you are hiding something.
I don’t know anything about your wages, but I do know you should hire a copy editor and legal counsel if you plan on raising bordeline-libelous claims about individuals or about supposed mismanagement of funds in a public institution dedicated to community improvement, education, knowledge, and literacy. Using the qualifier “I’m not saying mismanagement has occurred…” has not held up in existing libel case law defense.
I would further suggest writing a draft of an article and then reading it first (commonly known as ‘proofing’) before you get to the posting stage. Aside from the erroneous usage of quotation marks to incorrectly add emphasis, writing in a stream-of-consciousness style is not exactly conveying the level of professionalism for a “14-year old first-of-its-kind community website in Kentucky.“ That description is doing a fair amount of heavy lifting too, seeing as BaxterPreps.com, LiveJournal.com, and nationalenquirer.com were all available in the late 90s and early 00s.
As for holding accounts at multiple financial institutions, not only is it legal, it just makes fiscal sense in the event your “publication” managed to convince a banking employee to violate REG P and the BSA in pursuit of your baseless claims. In practical and broad terms, however, the FDIC only insures up to $250,000 of deposited funds at an institution in the event of a major national banking failure or the failure of any individual bank. A library with 70 quadrillion dollars (my tally might be off based on your reporting) of Louisans’ money should definitely split that total between multiple institutions for common-sense protection.
(But if you are hiring a copy editor or a public financials editor, let me know!)
Keep turning over the rocks. The negative comments are coming from those who wish to hide the corruption.
It goes much deeper than a couple of people. Tuesday’s election revealed what our community thinks of those who have feed at the library trough for years.
I don’t think anyone would confuse this with a legitimate newspaper because of its bias and poor reporting. And how about those surveys? Someone needs to learn how to conduct a survey. That being said, I read the headlines and the obituaries every week along with the courthouse news. The paper serves a purpose. I don’t think anyone expects the Wall Street Journal or Washington Post.
Never would I ever believe that Scott Osborne ever threatened violence over this newspaper. He may have laughed at it like the rest of us but never threatened violence. He is a great teacher, a military veteran, and is highly involved in our community. I’ll give you some advice that I have learned as a mother of 3, teenagers are not a reliable source. I hope he sues you all because it’s obvious this article is in retaliation because your feelings are hurt that he critized your reporting skills.
I don’t get it. Why would any tax payer be okay with the shady way this library board has been acting? Why not be completely transparent and put this thing to rest. There is a feeling in LC like something is being hidden here. We want to know the answers just as much as the Lazer staff does.
Mr. Osborne puts me in mind of a college professor who tries to turn his students against God. Not the same situation, but…..
The majority of LC is behind you Lazer staff. We’re glad to have you working to keep this county honest. This is all evident with your success.
Pretty sure you’re way off on that “majority of LC” nonsense.
Prove it Joe. I know for a fact that even many who have moved from LC, rely on this website to keep up with things.
You know every single person that has moved from Lawrence county??
The election proved that majority of the voters are behind the Lazer if not then the judge race would of went the other way I would call it a tsunami.
I am using my real name…so no investigative reporting needed! Scott Osborne is the Secretary of the board…I am the treasurer. That, Mr. Grayson, is how accurate your reporting is. Have a nice day!
Dear Mrs. Burchett, how were we supposed to know who was who when we were not given any information? So maybe you can supply the information we need about the bank you all use and where the $1.5 million is? My real name is Mark H. Grayson. You can send the info to markgrayson@me.com.
I would like to hide 1.5 million dollars and not tell where its at.
I dont know why your not placing my comments but you seem to be to picky.
Vote democrat the next state election get the law change if you don’t like it
Objection! Hearsay!
“If the supporters of this bill were truly concerned about accountability, they would be making changes to all SPGEs, and only making changes that improve accountability. This bill is about County Judge Executives wanting to seize control of public libraries across the state and redirect library funding approved by voters to causes that voters have not approved and will have no say in until it is too late to stop it.”
https://lcplky.org/senate-bill-167-bad-for-libraries-bad-for-kentucky/
I have lived in Lawrence County 34 years I have never voted for a tax increase for the library. Am I missing something since they said the voters approved the funds.
Faye Moore would have been do disappointed in the way this library currently is run. Smh.