Alarmed that a paroled child molester downloaded child porn from a Phoenix Public Library computer, Mayor Phil Gordon and Vice Mayor Peggy Bilsten are said to be seeking ways to ban all porn access on library computers.
"The fact that it is legal for someone as an individual to view pornography doesn't mean that there is a constitutional obligation for the city, as a public entity, to provide everyone access to it," Gordon said at a recent city council meeting, after fast food worker Charlton Glenn Ward was arrested earlier this month for sexual exploitation of a minor. "That's what I believe in my heart, what I believe as a parent and what I believe as mayor."
It was Ward's having been released from prison last year and having downloaded child porn from a library computer prior to his latest arrest that provoked the mayor and vice mayor. Bilsten all but challenged anyone to take them to court over their stance and intentions, according to one published report.
The Computer Crime Research Center said Ward is suspected of molesting over a hundred girls in the area since he was paroled in early 2003, while Phoenix police told reporters Ward admitting to molesting "dozens of victims" since then with "many more" expected to turn up.
Parole officers reportedly visited his motel room in mid-July to check on him and found a book detailing sex acts with children, including pictures showing what looked like Ward himself having sex with girls as young as one and as old as 13, the CCRC said, as well as finding children's underwear and child porn Ward claimed to download from a Phoenix Public Library computer.
Gordon and Bilsten are likely to find some resistance to their plans, even though many might sympathize with their outrage over Ward's child porn and child molestation. "There would be very significant Constitutional problems if a library was blocking lawful content," said Center for Democracy and Technology staff counsel John Morris to a newspaper. "The Supreme Court made it clear that an adult has the right to access any lawful material at the library - and that can include adult pornography."
