Bradburn et al v. North Central Regional Library District

Filing 75

OBJECTIONS re 70 Witness and Exhibit List by North Central Regional Library District. (Monroe, Celeste)

Bradburn et al v. North Central Regional Library District

Doc. 75

1

The Honorable Edward F. Shea
Thomas D. Adams

2
3 Celeste Mountain Monroe

4 KA TUTTLE CAMPBELL
5 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 2900

Seattle, Washington 98101-3028

6 [phone]

7 Attorneys for North Central Regional Library District
8

9
10
11

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SPOKANE

12
13

14
15

SARA BRABUR, PEAR CHERRGTON, CHAES
HEINEN, and THE SECOND

)
) ) NO. CV-06-327-EFS ) ) DEFENDANT NORTH CENTRAL ) REGIONAL LIBRAY'S

AMNDMENT FOUNATION,
Plaintiffs,
v.

16 17 18

) OBJECTIONS TO PLAINTIFFS'
) ) )

WITNSS AND EXHIBIT LIST

19

20
21

NORTH CENTRA REGIONAL LIBRAY DISTRICT,
Defendant.

) )
) )

22
23

24
25

26

27 DEFENDANT NORTH CENTRAL

28 TO PLAINTIFFS' WITNSS AND
EXHIBIT LIST - 1
CV-06-327-EFS
#664872 vI /42703-001

REGIONAL LIBRARY'S OBJECTIONS
Law Offces

KARR TUTTLE CAMPBELL
A Professional Service Corporation
1201 Tbird Avenue, Suite 2900, ScaMIe, Washington 98101-3028 Telepbone [phone], Facsimile [phone]

Dockets.Justia.com

1

Defendant North Central Regional Library ("NCRL") objects to the
following witnesses and exhibits.

2
3

4
5

I. Objections to Plaintiffs' Witness List

NCRL has moved to strike Kenton Oliver, Sally Beesley and June
Pinnell-Stevens from Plaintiffs' Witness List in its Motions in Limine for the
reasons that follow:
1. Sally Beesley and Kenton Oliver should be excluded from trial as

6 7
8

9
10
11

their testimony is irrelevant.
Plaintiffs have identified Sally Beesley as a fact witness. Ms. Beesely is

12
13

the Director of the Jefferson County Library District ("JCLD") in Madras,
Oregon. Plaintiffs propose to call Ms. Beesley to testify "about her library's

14
15

16 17
18

policies, procedures and experiences with regard to Internet filters." In addition,
Plaintiffs propose to have Ms. Beesley testify regarding "alternatives to refusing
to disable Internet filters at the request of adult library patrons; the JCLD's

19

20
21

Internet policies and procedures; how the JCLD's Internet policies and
procedures have been implemented; her experience working with Internet
policies, procedures and filters; and the consequences of providing unfiltered

22
23

24
25

access at JCLD's computers."

26 27 28

DEFENDANT NORTH CENTRAL REGIONAL LIBRAY'S OBJECTIONS TO PLAINTIFFS' WITNESS AND EXHIBIT LIST - 2
CV -06-327 -EFS
#664872 vI /42703-001

Law Offces

KARR TUTTLE CAMPBELL
A Professional Service Corporation
1201 Tbird Avenue, Sui 2900, SClllllc, Washington 98101-3028 Ie Telephone [phone], Facsimile [phone]

1

Plaintiffs have also identified Kenton Oliver as a fact witness. Mr. Oliver

2
3

is the Executive Director of the Stark County District Library ("SCDL") in
Canton, Ohio. Plaintiffs intend to call Mr. Oliver to testify "about his library

4
5

system's policies, procedures and experiences with regard to Internet filters." In

6 7
8

addition, Mr. Oliver is expected to testify regarding "alternatives to refusing to
disable Internet filters at the request of adult library patrons; the SCDL' s

9
10
11

Internet policies and procedures; how the SCDL' s Internet policies and
procedures have been implemented; his experience working with Internet

12
13

policies, procedures and filters; and the consequences of allowing patrons of the
SCDL to bypass the library's Internet filter."

14
15

Plaintiffs offer Ms. Beesley's and Mr. Oliver's testimony to show
(1) some libraries do not use filters or wil remove the filter at the request of an
adult patron and (2) some of the same libraries do not report any problems with
their Internet policies. With respect to the first point, the fact that some libraries

16
17 18

19

20
21

do not use filters, or wil remove the filter on the request of an adult patron, is
not disputed. No testimony on this point is necessary. Regarding the second

22
23

24
25

point, the fact that other libraries may not have problems with unfiltered access
is not germane. The essential issue posed by this case is whether NCRL' s

26

27
28

DEFENDANT NORTH CENTRAL REGIONAL LIBRAY'S OBJECTIONS TO PLAINTIFFS' WITNESS AND EXHIBIT LIST - 3
CV -06-327-EFS
#664872 vI /42703-001

¡,all Offces

KARR TUTTLE CAMPBELL
A Professional Service Corporation
I2IH Third A,'cnuc, Suile 2900, SCIIt1le, Washington 98101-31128 Telephone [phone], Facsimile (2U6) 682-7100

1

policy of refusing to completely disable the Internet filter on an adult patron's
request is constitutional under the Washington and Federal Constitutions. How
another library may choose to address issues associated with Internet use has no

2
3

4
5

bearing on NCRL's approach. This is particularly true, where as here, neither
Ms. Beesley nor Mr. Oliver has any personal knowledge of

6 7
8

NCRL's policies, its

territories, its patrons, or its administration, and therefore, have no basis upon
which to draw any parallels. See Deposition of

9
10
11

Sally Beesley, pp. 14-15; 49-50;

Deposition of

Kenton Oliver, pp. 36-38; 47-49.

12
At best, Mr. Oliver and Ms. Beelsey's testimony is unproductive and

13

14
15

pointless. At worst, their testimony serves to confuse the issue. In either case,
their testimony is precluded by ER 403.

16

17
18

Mr. Oliver has a longstanding affiliation with the American Library
Association ("ALA"). In his deposition, Mr. Oliver testified that he is the Chair

19

20
21

of the Intellectual Freedom Committee. The Intellectual Freedom Committee

"deals with censorship.. .including access to information through the
Internet. ..and to make sure (libraries) wil not discriminate in their access." See
Dep. of Kenton Oliver at p. 20. The Intellectual Freedom Committee is

22
23

24
25

"opposed to Internet filters in any way that would impeded access for
DEFENDANT NORTH CENTRAL REGIONAL LIBRARY'S OBJECTIONS TO PLAINTIFFS' WITNSS AND EXHIBIT LIST - 4
CV-06-327-EFS
#664872 v i /42703-00 I

26 27 28

Law Offces

KARR TUTTLE CAMPBELL
A Professional Service Corporation
1201 Third Avenue, Suile 2900, Scal1le, Washinbtfon 98101-3028 Telepbone [phone], Facsimile [phone]

1

information to any library users" and this is, in fact, the ALA official position on
the issue. Id. at pg. 21.

2
3

4
5

Mr. Oliver's only understanding of the facts of this case, is based on
verbal updates from the Americans for Civil Liberties Union ("ACLU"), which
has taken an active role in the prosecution of Plaintiffs' claims against NCRL.

6 7
8

Id. at 51. Mr. Oliver's testimony may be nothing more than an effort to interject
the official positions of

9
10
11

the ALA and the ACLU into this litigation.

2. June Pinnell-Stevens should be excluded from Plaintiff's witness list

12
13

as her testimony is irrelevant and her opinion is biased.

Plaintiffs identified June Pinnell-Stephens as an expert witness.
Ms. Pinnell-Stevens served as the Collection Services Manager for the

14
15

16 17
18

Fairbanks North Star Borough Public Library in Fairbanks, Alaska from 19882006. Plaintiffs retained Ms. Pinnell-Stevens to testify as an expert "about

19

issues such as the role of public libraries in our society, the distinction between
collection development and censorship and alternatives to filtering."

20
21

22
23

Any discussion of alternatives to filtering is irrelevant to the
constitutionality of the choices made by NCRL. Accordingly, Ms. PinnellStevens should not be allowed to testify regarding alternatives, particularly those

24
25

26
27
28

DEFENDANT NORTH CENTRAL REGIONAL LIBRARY'S OBJECTIONS TO PLAINTIFFS' WITNESS AND EXHIBIT LIST - 5
CV-06-327-EFS
#664872 vI /42703-001

Law Offces

KARR TUTTLE CAMPBELL
A Professional Service Corpora/ion
120t Third Avenue, Suite 2900, SCiltlle, Washington 98101-3U28 Telephone [phone], Facsimile [phone]

1

utilized by a distant library with which she has no particularly recent affiliation.

2
3

Furthermore, it is clear that Ms. Pinnell-Stevens is incapable of offering a fair
and balanced opinion of value to this Court. Ms. Pinnell-Stevens is actively

4
5

involved in the ALA. She is currently on its executive board and has served in
that role for two years. She also has served on various ALA committees,

6
7
8

including: The Presidential Advisory Committee, The Intellectual Freedom
Committee, and the Freedom to Read Committee. Ms. Pinnell-Stevens

9
10
11

embraces ALA's opposition to Internet filtering and the organization's belief
that the blocking of any constitutionally protected speech by an Internet filter
constitutes censorship and is, therefore, unacceptable for a public library. See
Pinnell-Stevens Deposition, pg. 43. Ms. Pinnell-Stevens' opinion on the

12
13

14
15

16 17
18

traditional role of a library and her opinions on censorship are inexorably tied to

the mission of the American Library Association, and only serve to inflame and
confuse the issues before the court.

19

20
21

Ms. Pinnell-Stevens is also an active member of the ACLU. She was

22
23

awarded the Citizen Activist of the Year in 1998. Although she could not
specifically recall the reason for the recognition, Ms. Pinnell-Stevens testified
that it may have been for her work on Internet filtering. See Deposition of June
DEFENDANT NORTH CENTRAL REGIONAL LIBRARY'S OBJECTIONS TO PLAINTIFFS' WITNESS AND EXHIBIT LIST - 6
cv -06-327-EFS
#664872 vi /42703-001

24
25

26 27
28

Law Offces

KARR TUTTLE CAMPBELL
A Professional Service Corporation
1201 Third Avenue, Suite 290~ Scatiic, Wasbiogion 98101-3028 Tclciibone [phone], Facsimile [phone]