Another pervert has been arrested in California after accessing child porn in the local library.  Courtesy of WorldNetDaily.  Authorities in Ventura County Sheriff's Office are reporting that Richard Gene Ballard, age 57, was observed by someone accessing child pornography at the Camarillo Library in Ventura County last month, but left before any officers arrived at the scene.  See  also the Ventura County Star.  However, his image was caught on a security camera, and when Ballard came back to the library on Monday, an employee of the library called the police.  A detective quickly came to the library and caught Ballard in the act of viewing child porn, and promptly arrested him.  Here's the scary part of this story:  a search of Ballard's house turned up "hundreds of sexually explicit images of children."  Furthermore, Det. Kevin Donoghue is confirming that a cache of blankets, ropes, duct tape and candy were discovered in Ballard's vehicle.  Ballard was booked on suspicion of felony possession of child pornography and is currently being held on $50,000 bail, say local authorities.

It is obvious from what was found in his vehicle that he had horrific plans in place - why else would anyone be carrying around duct tape, ropes, blankets and candy, and just happen to be accessing child porn at the local library?  Thank God the Camarillo Library got it right and called the authorities to actually report the fact that someone was looking at child porn in their library.  Most assuredly, because of their actions a child abduction was prevented.  It is clear that this library could give a few lessons to the one in Lindsay, California, which I have blogged about previously here and here.   There, the assistant librarian, Brenda Biesterfeld, was fired for reporting a man viewing child porn on a computer in the library. 

What is going on in California libraries?  Remember, just last week the Sacramento, California, Public Library Authority Board met to decide whether to continue to allow patrons to access pornography on library computers.  After hours of public debate, the board deadlocked in a 7-7 tie, which means that the current library policy will remain in place.  The current policy allows adult patrons to request that the filter on internet access be turned off, thereby allowing porn to be viewed.  This policy is in contrast to many other library systems in California, which have taken a zero tolerance approach to library visitors who want to view porn on the internet.  According to Pacific Justice Institute attorney Matthew McReynolds, " . . . we can't stop sexual predators from coming into libraries.  But we certainly don't have to throw out the welcome mat by offering free, taxpayer-funded access to porn in close proximity to potential victims." 

When will all the pubic library systems in California figure out that allowing porn to be viewed inside their buildings is a dangerous and even deadly idea?  An investigative report by KGO-TV in San Francisco discovered numerous incidents of people performing lewd sexual acts in full public view at a library in San Jose, California, while viewing pornography on the library computer.  Other investigations have found that incidences of sexual assualt have taken place in libraries across the country because of the sexual predators that are attracted to the free porn access offered by those libraries.  McReynolds says that "[t]his issue boils down to protecting kids and using public resources responsibly."  And he is absolutely right.  It should be more important to protect our children than to make sure a sexual offender is allowed access to porn in a public library.  If it seems like I spend a lot of time blogging about this issue, it's because I do.  Perhaps it's because I have children and I am especially sensitive to this issue because of them.  Or maybe it's because I take my children to the library every couple of weeks to check out books and/or videos and have a hard time believing that people are able to access child porn in other libraries across the country.  Whatever the case, every single instance of someone being arrested for viewing child porn is still shocking to me, especially when they are trucking around with duct tape, ropes and candy to potentially lure a child into their vehicle.  More children should not have to be molested or even be killed before we decide to put their well-being ahead of some pervert's right to look at porn in a public library.