Information Packet

The goal of this doc is to compile a comprehensive overview of the library defunding situation for those who are either new to the Save Samuels group or looking for info and resources to help explain the situation to friends, when writing to BOS or media, and/or answer common questions.

This doc includes a top ten facts factsheet from Save Samuels, a facts and figures sheet, a comprehensive timeline of the situation from Jan 2023 until now, some common but misleading claims with fact checks, an overview of the key organizations and people involved and how they are connected, and some links to see the various public actions taken on both sides, including: the book removal forms, the emails to the library, letters to the editor, and pro-library petitions.

See the list of books being objected to here: https://www.savesamuels.org/the-books/the-books

Top Ten Things to Know about Samuels Public Library and the Save Samuels Fight

from savesamuels.org

The library is a non-profit 501(C)(3) corporation because it is most cost-effective, allows for tax-deductible donations, and uses a volunteer board of trusted citizens with expertise and experience in business, technology, education, management, accounting, military, and civic organizations.
The library has a diverse collection in line with its mission to bring people, information, and ideas together to enrich lives and build community. Selected materials present an array of topics and opinions and should be judged as a whole rather than on isolated passages.
Only 97 out of 20,461 patrons (0.004%) have flooded the library with frivolous Request for Reconsideration forms and email complaints to unlawfully challenge books with LGBTQ content, severely disrupt the normal operations of the library, and harass the librarians and staff.
The total cost to process all 134 books being challenged equals $96,480 in staff time and related costs and $80,400 in in-kind volunteer time. (Each Young Adult book costs about $720 in staff time and $600 in in-kind donation of volunteer time.)
Warren County is still under financial pressure from the EDA scandal and cannot afford to risk lawsuits that might result from violating civil rights. Warren Co has already committed $10,000 to legal fees. The library has allocated $25,000 to fight the challenges. This is just the beginning of the financial implications of these book challenges.
All the books in question are being challenged because they contain LBGTQ content. Attempts to segregate books for no other reason than they portray LGBTQ people in a positive light is discriminatory and a violation of civil rights.
The Virginia Values Act of 2020 and the Virginia Human Rights Act clearly state that it is unlawful to discriminate based on sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity in places of public accommodations, including libraries.
As a public library, the staff and Board of Trustees cannot impose a religious standard of pornography or obscenity and must use the legal definition set out by the U.S. Supreme Court in Miller v. California. A book must meet all three standards to be judged obscene: be without serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value; appeal to the prurient interest according to community standards; and describe sexual conduct or excretory functions in an offensive way.
Banning, removing, or censoring materials, speakers, or displays violates First Amendment rights. The right to speak and publish under the First Amendment protects individuals and society from information suppression and censorship. Intellectual freedom is a basic right in a democratic society.
Parents/guardians are responsible for what their children, and only their children, take out of the library. The library has powerful tools to help parents: three card options to restrict what children take out; detailed book descriptions in the library catalog; and professional librarians to act as resources to guide parents to appropriate materials.

Facts and Figures

Numbers Don't Lie

Clean Up Samuels claims to speak for a majority - let's look at the numbers:

Link to image file for graphic: Save Samuels - Facts and Figures 1 sheet.jpg

Warren County has ~ 40,925 residents

just 33% are religious
just 7% are Catholic, and most of these are not CUS supporters
just 97 people in total submitted either book removal requests or sent emails expressing concern. This represents 0.002% of WC residents.

Samuels Library has ~ 20,500 patrons (library card holders)

in their most recent community survey they received a 99% satisfaction rating
these 97 people represent less than .005% of their total patrons - and some of these people had to apply for library cards just so they could fill out forms
Samuels' current operating structure saves taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars/year

Clean Up Samuels is now claiming to be a diverse group and "not a Catholic movement"

all of the leaders of their organization are members of radical traditionalist Catholic subgroups at St. Johns / Christendom College
their spokesperson is a Christendom College alumnus
75% of all the people submitting forms / emails have confirmed ties to local radical traditionalist Catholic subculture groups
The rest may also have the same connections - these are simply unconfirmed - and we continue to find new connections all the time

Clean Up Samuels also claims to be a "movement of parents"

a large number of the people submitting removal forms are elderly folks who no longer have school aged children and may or may not have grandchildren who live locally, and many are recent Christendom graduates

St John's Catholic Church in Front Royal has ~5,500 registered parishioners

of those, the Front Royal Catholics Civic Education Group mailing list has at most a few hundred subscribers
Christendom College only has around 3,000 alumni since its founding in 1977
the majority of Catholics and St John's homeschoolers are not in support of Clean Up Samuels and their book banning campaign

The Timeline So Far

VISUAL / SIMPLIFIED TIMELINE

Link to image file here: SS Library Defunding Timeline.jpg

FULL TIMELINE

Jan - emails start circulating on Catholic community mailing lists from Mark Egger, Jane Elliot, Tom McFadden Sr and others talking about books that contain "sexually explicit content" and LGBTQ+ representation.

Feb - Delores Oates pays Thomas Hinnant $8k for "campaign consulting"

Mar - Delores Oates pays Thomas Hinnant another $4k for "campaign consulting"

Apr/May - Delores Oates pays Thomas Hinnant another $8k ($4k in Apr, $4k in May) for a total of $20k paid for "campaign consulting".

During this timeframe, Egger, Elliot and others have been in contact with the Library Board and two BOS members for a couple of months at this point to try and get the books they object to removed. Egger files 3 reconsideration requests in April. When the library insists on following their correct protocol for reviewing these titles, they escalate by recruiting more people to submit forms. The cleanupsamuels.com website is launched.

Further reading: INVESTIGATING THE REASONS FOR THE BOOK BAN CAMPAIGN

May 8 - Supervisor Jay Butler submitted 2 forms, which he does as a "representative of an organization" which he names as "Board of Supervisors".

May 13 - CUS hosts its "Beer, Babysitting and Cleaning Up Samuels" event, organized by Isaac and Julia Easton; “Christ told us to be ‘cunning as serpents, and innocent as doves,’” an early version of the CUS site said. “Right now, innocence is under attack at our local Samuels Library. Explicitly pornographic ‘young adult’ books, as well as books that promote fetishes such as the LGBTQ+ ideology have been found in the children’s and young adults sections of the library.” This version of the website also explicitly talks about protecting Catholic children.

At the event, there were 590 forms submitted by 53 participants and prizes offered for the most forms submitted..

Emails were also being sent to the library by supporters of the group throughout this time period.

In the news:

May 20 - Isaac Easton sends an email to CUS / FRCCEG mailing list in which he advises that the public facing strategy is to hammer on "graphic porn being available to children '' because that is the most "winnable" messaging. The same day, he has a Letter to the Editor published titled "Pornographic books in Samuels Library in kids section". His letter quotes "sexually explicit" passages from a Young Adult (YA) book which is shelved in the YA section, which is not the same as the area for the small children's (aka "kids") books.

Jun 3 - A library supporter starts a Change.org petition in support of the library that currently (9/1/23) has around 19.5K signatures.

Jun 6 - members of CUS pack the BOS budget hearing to complain about the books and demand their removal. They read "explicit" passages and make speeches full of homophobic / transphobic language.

Out of 65 speakers, the Royal Examiner states that "our count was 34 to defund pending removal of cited books, 26 to fully fund the library and let its own review process control content, with a few who seemed on the fence favoring removal of certain books but not really favoring defunding of the library."

This is interesting given that the June 6th push for defunding was unexpected for most people except those who were involved in the planning of it, so the fact that despite this element of surprise and a big push to turn out CUS supporters to speak, the split was still just 52% in favor of banning books and defunding the library speaks to how little public opinion is actually behind this astroturf campaign.

Jun 14 - BOS votes 4-1 to withhold 75% of library funding until the fall. The library receives $256k of $1.02M appropriation (aka pre-allocated funds). The rest will require a "supplemental appropriation" in September. Cook, Butler, Oates and Mabe voted to withhold. Cullers voted against withholding.

In the news: Warren supervisors withhold 75% of library funding | Nvdaily

Jun - lots of media coverage for Clean Up Samuels in conservative / right wing media outlets (Fox News, Washington Stand, Daily Caller, American Conservative). When Washington Post tries to ask questions Hinnant says he won't talk to "fake news".

Jul 10 - Samuels Board of Trustees meets to make rulings on the 3 books that Mark Egger complained about in April; decides to move 1 of the 3 to the newly created "New Adult" collection and keep the other two where they are. Library moves forward with creation of a separate "New Adult" section to house more mature content written for Young Adult audiences, and implements new library card types, with options for a limited card restricting access to only physical children's materials.

In the news: Samuels Library Trustees make rulings on 3 books location, create new youth library card categories - Royal Examiner

Jul 26 - library controversy makes national news - Washington Post covers the story and the Jul 24th board of trustees hearing

In the news: Warren County Book Battle Earns Exposure in National Press - Royal Examiner
The WaPo story: Public libraries are the latest front in culture war battle over books - The Washington Post

Aug 1 - Library puts out press release stating that new parental control library cards have been implemented and were in place from Jul 11.

From the press release: "The library has introduced a Juvenile Limited Card and Young Adult Limited Card, and both are designed to give parents options and control over the literature and reading materials their children have access to.

The Juvenile Limited Card ensures that a child younger than 12 may only check out materials from the physical collection of juvenile books at the library. It is important to note there is no access to online materials. The Young Adult Limited Card allows children 12 years of age and older to only check out materials from the physical collection of juvenile and young adult materials at the library. These cardholders will have limited access to online materials. A regular, unrestricted card also is still available for those who wish to have unfettered access to library resources.

A New Adult collection has been added for patrons 16 years of age through college age. Located on the adult side of the library, books intended for this age group are being moved out of the existing young adult section."

In the news: Samuels Public Library Adopts Increased Parental Control Cards - Royal Examiner

Aug 4 - the library puts out a press release stating that Library Director Michelle Ross has resigned, and that the Board of Trustees has appointed Eileen Grady as interim director while they conduct a search for Ross's replacement.

A letter to the editor is published claiming that the real reason for the funding being withheld is due to the lack of a "memorandum of agreement" (MOA), and implying that this is due to incompetence or other negative reasons by Michelle Ross not to get this in place. This is not true, but it becomes a new talking point for CUS who are learning that the original anti-LGBTQ rhetoric is not a popular position.

Aug 8th - Eileen Grady publishes a response in the Royal Examiner opinion section in which she debunks this false claim.

Response: Interim Library Director Addresses Questions About Finances, MOA With County - Royal Examiner

Aug 9 - Eileen Grady and Melody Hotek (Board of Trustees president) speak with the Royal Examiner and state that they are optimistic that the steps they have taken to address parental concerns about children having access to content intended for older teens will clear a path forward to having the funding released:

"And we’re optimistic that that will help a lot of the people that have concerns, that all these steps we’re taking will lead to a path forward,” Grady said of the Samuels Public Library staff and board’s hope for a mutually satisfactory resolution of the library funding and operational concerns from both sides of the dispute.

“We want the message out that we’re working hard so that parents have a lot of options so they can do what’s right for their families. Increased parental guidance and still providing a public library with information and books for everybody, for the whole community. It’s for all, for the whole community,” Hotek added of a path forward."

In the news:

Library Interim Director, Trustees Board Chair Move Forward With Hope on Mutually Satisfactory Resolution on Youth Book Issues - Royal Examiner

Week leading up to Aug 21 - the BOS and SPL are working on MOA draft.

Aug 28 - SPL Board of Trustees vote unanimously to reject the draft MOA from Warren County / BOS. Agreeing to this MOA would have meant the county taking over the governance of the library, with full authority to appoint all the trustees and approve all books. In effect, the county would have the control as if they were in complete ownership of the library but without the financial burden of running it themselves or the liability for discrimination lawsuits. So this version was not acceptable.

In the news: Samuels Library Rejects MOA, Sends A New Draft Version Back To Warren County | News | dnronline.com
The rejected MOA: https://www.savesamuels.org/rejected-moa

Aug 30 - SPL releases their own draft MOA in response, which is sent to BOS for review.

In the news: Samuels Library Rejects MOA, Sends A New Draft Version Back To Warren County | News | dnronline.com
The Library's proposed MOA: https://www.samuelslibrary.net/index.php/samuels-library-s-moa-in-response-to-warren-county-s-proposal

Sep 11 - deadline for BOS to respond re MOA.

What Happens Next?

It's September and this is when the BOS needs to release the rest of the funding, otherwise the library will effectively be defunded by Oct 1.

If the library does not receive its funding, it will likely be forced to close its doors sooner rather than later, as it does not have the funds on hand to remain open without the county funding (and the additional state funding which is tied to county funding).

The BOS and the county may choose to start their own library in the same building (which is owned by the county) but the books and property belong to the Samuels 501(c)3 organization so the county would have to buy all new books. They will also have to pay full government salaries and will not benefit from the volunteer hours or donations that Samuels as a nonprofit currently can receive. They will become liable for discrimination based lawsuits if they choose to be discriminatory in selecting books that do not include LGBTQ+ representation.

All of these things represent a much higher cost to taxpayers than the current cost of funding Samuels as is, and currently the BOS does not have the funds appropriated for these additional costs.

Claims vs Fact-Check

There is a lot of misinformation and disinformation swirling around this topic. Here are some common claims we have heard and the truth or falsehood of each.

There is pornography in the children's section - TOTALLY FALSE

There is zero sexually explicit content in the young children's section of the library. The books on the removal forms which were located in the children's section were children's picture books that included age appropriate LGBTQ+ representation. When asked what concerned them about these books, form submitters wrote things like "the LGBTQ agenda" and "the two gay granddads is not a topic suitable for young readers."

While of course there are books and films with more mature content in the YA and Adult sections of the library, there are no materials at all in the library which meet the legal definition of "pornography".

As a public library, the staff and Board of Trustees cannot impose a religious standard of pornography or obscenity and must use the legal definition set out by the U.S. Supreme Court in Miller v. California. A book must meet all three standards to be judged obscene: be without serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value; appeal to the prurient interest according to community standards; and describe sexual conduct or excretory functions in an offensive way. Pornography has a specific legal definition and it would not be legal for the library to have pornography on its shelves.

See the whole list here: https://www.savesamuels.org/the-books/the-books

The majority of forms also admitted that the submitters had not read the books they were criticizing.

CUS leader Isaac Easton noted in his email update after the first form submission event that "in our forms we focused on the whole gamut of child grooming-porn, LGB, trans, etc. This was great and it's important to hit all these issues because we want them all gotten rid of [emphasis added]. That said, when making our case to the broader public, we want to focus exclusively on graphic porn being available to children. it's our most winnable argument."

Clean Up Samuels is not a Catholic movement - MISLEADING

There may be some members and/or supporters of Clean Up Samuels who are not Catholic, and the organization does not explicitly claim an affiliation with the Catholic Church. However, the leadership are all St. John's parishioners. The spokesperson quoted in news articles is a Christendom College alumnus. At least 75% of people who sent in forms and/or email complaints are connected to Catholic organizations or parishes (probably more, this is just the ones we've been able to confirm), specifically smaller, more radical traditionalist subculture groups within the larger Catholic community.

On the original website they specifically say:

"Christ told us to be "cunning as serpents, and innocent as doves," (Mt. 10:21). Right now, innocence is under attack at our local Samuels Library. Explicity [sic] pornographic "young adult" books, as well as books that promote fetishes such as the LGBTQ+ ideology have been found in the children's and young adults sections of the library. Not only is this a risk for Catholic children [emphasis added] whose parents are working to guard their innocence, but the presence of these books puts other children in our community at risk. We need to protect all of them!"

This is not a free speech issue, it's about taxpayers choosing how their taxes are spent - TOTALLY FALSE

All the books in question are being challenged because they contain LBGTQ content. Attempts to segregate books for no other reason than they portray LGBTQ people in a positive light is discriminatory and a violation of civil rights. The Virginia Values Act of 2020 and the Virginia Human Rights Act clearly state that it is unlawful to discriminate based on sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity in places of public accommodations, including libraries.

Banning, removing, or censoring materials, speakers, or displays violates First Amendment rights. The right to speak and publish under the First Amendment protects individuals and society from information suppression and censorship. Intellectual freedom is a basic right in a democratic society.

It's not about LGBTQ representation it's about the library failing to do paperwork (the MOA) - TOTALLY FALSE

There have been some rumors that the real reason that the BOS voted to withhold funding for the library was because there was no current "memorandum of agreement". While it is true that there was no current MOA in place, this is because an MOA is not required for this type of funding to be released. Three of the supervisors have also made it clear that they support the position of CUS - Jay Butler and Vicky Cook attended the form submitting BBQ event, and Jay even submitted his own forms; and Delores Oates wrote and shared an opinion piece where she strongly supported the goals and language of CUS.

That said, as a means of resolving the issue around the book ban campaign, the BOS now is requiring an MOA be agreed to in order to release the funds. The BOS have sent the Library a proposed MOA which is completely unacceptable. It basically would require that the Library be completely controlled by the BOS (appointing all Trustees and approving all books etc), without taking on any additional financial liability or costs.

The Library responded by rejecting this proposal and sending their own proposed draft, which does not include these outrageous demands.

The BOS must respond by Sept 11.

The Key Players

There are a lot of different people, organizations and institutions in the mix when it comes to this situation. Who are all these people and organizations and how are they all connected?

Samuels Public Library

Key people:

Michelle Ross, Executive Director from 2020-Aug 2023 (forced to step down due to CUS campaign)
Eileen Grady, long term employee, currently serving as Interim Executive Director
Melody Hotek, Board of Trustees president

Samuels Public Library was founded in 1799 as a subscription library called The Front Royal Library Society, and incorporated into Warren County in 1836. In 1952, Dr. Bernard Samuels donated a building and the library was renamed Samuels Public Library in recognition. In 1980 the Library moved into a new, modern facility thanks to a bequest from Bernard Samuels' brother, Walter. Finally, in the 2000s, the Board of Supervisors funded a building project to allow the Library to expand to larger and more up to date facilities, and in 2009 the current building opened its doors.

The Library is structured on a hybrid incorporation model that allows it extra flexibility for funding purposes. Samuels Library Inc. is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, with an independent Board of Trustees.

While the county provides around 80% of the funding for the library, and the state another 15% (dependent on county funding), the structure as a NPO allows Samuels to operate more cost-effectively because it can:

pay nonprofit / private salaries rather than fixed government salaries
accept donations of funds and books
benefit from thousands of volunteer hours - which are estimated to save the library around a quarter of a million dollars annually

Thus this hybrid funding arrangement actually saves Warren County taxpayers about 50-60% of the amount that the county would spend otherwise to operate and maintain the library completely.

Here is an explanation of the historical context of this structure from Samuel's proposed MOA:

"Samuels Public Library Board of Trustees has successfully operated the Samuels Public Library (“Library”) as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization for 45 years, since 1978, with public support from the Town of Front Royal, Warren County and the community at large. The library’s history dates back to 1799, when the Front Royal Library Society was chartered as the second subscription library in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Thus, the Library has operated in service to, and with the support of, the citizens of Front Royal and Warren County for over two centuries.

On or about November 21, 2017, the Warren County Board of Supervisors and the Board of Trustees of the Library entered a Memorandum of Agreement (“2017 MOA”) which noted that: “the Warren County Board of Supervisors requested the formation of an ad-hoc committee to examine the management structure of Samuels Public Library and potential options that could save County taxpayers money in the long run. The Board of Supervisors understands that the Samuels Public Library Board of Trustees is a separate entity and that the County cannot dictate how the library is operated”.

Further, the 2017 MOA acknowledged that “Samuels Public Library compares favorably in respect to facilities, operations, and staff of other libraries in our geographic area. The library is a source of pride for our residents and is widely used.”

After a comprehensive review, the Board of Supervisors adopted the recommendation of the Ad-Hoc Committee that “Samuels Public Library continue to operate as an independent operation with management by its Board of Trustees.” "

In April/May 2023, the Library began receiving a high volume of complaints about "pornographic" books in the library children's section. They have been working hard to follow the appropriate mandated review process for each book / each complaint, which is very time and cost consuming.

The total cost to process all 134 books being challenged equals $96,480 in staff time and related costs and $80,400 in in-kind volunteer time. (Each Young Adult book costs about $720 in staff time and $600 in in-kind donation of volunteer time.)

In an effort to address these concerns, they have:

created a new section, "New Adult", to house YA books with more mature themes not suitable for young children
implemented "tiers" of library cards to provide greater parental control over which categories of books young children and minors can check out from the physical and digital collections

However, Clean Up Samuels is not satisfied with these good faith attempts, as their platform is that they want the current leadership to step down, all the books complained about to be removed completely, and the county to fully take over the operation and maintenance of the library (even though this would cost taxpayers a lot more money).

This is why the BOS recent proposal to the library in order to release the funding is so egregious - it would basically hand over full control of the library's executive decisions to the BOS and their handpicked appointees, without requiring them to take on any additional financial or legal liability. It would also require that all book acquisitions be done with county funds, so that even if a private citizen wanted to donate a book or earmark donation funds for a book, this would not be possible.

The Board of Supervisors

Key people:

Vicky Cook, Chairperson: and member of Moms for Liberty. She attended the first form submitting event along with Jay Butler.
Delores Oates: a favorite of Tom McFadden Sr., who recruits candidates for the WC Republican Committee. Delores paid $20k in "consulting fees" to CUS spokesperson and Christendom alumnus Thomas Hinnant; what this consulting was is not known, but his fees are not in line with typical political consulting fees for this area, especially considering this was during an uncontested primary campaign.
Walter Mabe: not in favor of CUS goals but nonetheless is nervous to alienate the CUS group, many of whom live in his district (which includes Shenandoah Shores)
Cheryl Cullers: the only supervisor to stand up against CUS and vote no on the motion to withhold funds; Tom McFadden sent an email to his list ominously telling her constituents that "you folks who live in the South River District need to get your member, Cheryl Cullers "on board" with the reform"
Jay Butler: St John's parishioner and member of Knights of Columbus, Jay submitted book removal forms that represented himself as speaking for the BOS as a whole

From the BOS website:

"Warren County is divided into five magisterial districts: North River, Shenandoah, Fork, South River, and Happy Creek, each of which elects one representative. Collectively, the representatives form the Board of Supervisors, which is charged with directing policies governing the affairs of the County. A County Administrator oversees and implements these policies. Front Royal is the county seat."

As the government administrators for county business, the BOS are the ones who approve the county budget, appropriating and releasing funds. This is why they are able to withhold so much of the Library's funding - they control the funds that make up 80% of the Library's annual budget, plus this county funding impacts how much state funding the Library receives.

They are empowered to use the tool of a "memorandum of agreement" to define terms under which funding is released, although this is not required for funding to be released and has not been used since the MOA in 2017.

BOS contact info:

Jay Butler, Happy Creek District: jbutler@warrencountyva.gov
Vicky Cook, Fork District: vcook@warrencountyva.gov
Cheryl Cullers, South River District: ccullers@warrencountyva.gov
Walt Mabe, Shenandoah District: wmabe@warrencountyva.gov
Delores Oates, North River District: doates@warrencountyva.gov

Clean Up Samuels

Key people:

Mark Egger: started this campaign by compiling a list of 49 books he considered to be pushing the "LGBT" agenda and "transgenderism", named as a leader of CUS by Tom McFadden Sr
Isaac Easton: named as a leader of CUS by Tom McFadden Sr and the organizer of the form submission events, along with his wife, Julia Easton. He was the person really pushing the public focus on "porn in the kids section" messaging vs broader objections to LGBTQ+ representation because "it's our most winnable position"
Jane Elliot: supporter of Mark Egger's work in compiling the list, named as a leader of CUS by Tom McFadden Sr.
Thomas Hinnant: a Christendom alumnus, quoted in a lot of conservative / right wing media coverage in June as being a "spokesperson" for CUS, although he is not mentioned as such in internal conversations and has since denied being an official leader of the group. He was paid $20k in "political consulting fees" by Supervisor Delores Oates.

Clean Up Samuels is the group which started the whole campaign to remove 134 books from the library. On its website, CUS claims to be a "leaderless, grassroots movement" but a closer look at their own documentation is more revealing.

Their inaugural meeting at which they submitted the first batch of reconsideration request forms was originally promoted in a Facebook group called Young Adults of St John the Baptist [Catholic Church] and its leaders have been named in internal correspondence as:

Mark Egger
Jane Elliott
Isaac and Julia Easton

All of these people are St. John's parishioners. Isaac and Julia Easton have sent out formal invitations to CUS events as well as event recaps and information for actions to be taken with the strong implication that they are leading those events / actions.

Thomas Hinnant, a Christendom College alumnus, has also been interviewed publicly as a "spokesperson" for CUS although more recently denies still being involved. He has never been named in the internal emails (that we've seen) as a "leader" of the movement.

Importantly - the CUS group itself does not appear to be promoted in the St. John's community by parish administrators nor do they meet on church property (as far as we know). Despite originally acknowledging their ties with the Catholic community, more recently they have been backpedaling and claiming to be a diverse group of people from various faith backgrounds who share "traditional values".

Because of this, Fr. Gee is correct to state - in response to recent emails - that this group technically has nothing to do with the parish and that he is not responsible for the participation of individual parishioners in their capacity as private citizens.

That said, a look at the names on the reconsideration request forms makes it very clear that the majority of these people are either St. John's parishioners, Christendom College alumni, affiliated with Seton Home Study School, attendees of the Traditional Latin Mass at Chelsea Academy, and/or participating in one or more "Catholic" specific email lists.

Front Royal Catholics Civic Education Group / Culture Matters

Key people:

Thomas McFadden Sr: a St. John's parishioner, an outspoken supporter of CUS, chairman of the search committee for the Warren County Republican Committee; he is using his position to recruit "pro-Christian"/CUS supporter candidates for positions on BOS, School Board and more. He is also the moderator of an email list called Front Royal Catholics Civic Education Group and a sublist called Culture Matters. He uses intimidation tactics and bullying to push people to vote for the candidates he has chosen.
Tom McFadden Jr: son of Sr., VP of Enrollment at Christendom College. He is WCRC secretary, bragging about how easy it was to get that position at the most recent form submissions event, and has been running unopposed (although Genevieve Elise has recently announced a write-in campaign against him) for School Board (Shenandoah District) despite being a homeschooling father of 11 kids.
Connie Marshner: a Republican nominated candidate for Front Royal Town Council, Tom Sr has been collecting signatures for her in the church parking lot after Mass. Connie is the wife of Christendom College founding faculty member William Marshner.
Leslie Mathews: Moms for Liberty founder, WCRC treasurer and currently running for School Board as the Republican endorsed, anti-trans/anti-woke candidate against incumbent Kristen Pence. Also a Christendom employee, and handpicked by Tom Sr.
John Stanmeyer: a candidate picked by Tom Sr for BOS and a graduate of Christendom's grad school program. Running against Independent incumbent Walter Mabe, who does not support CUS's goals but is too afraid to vote against them so continues to vote for withholding funds. Stanmeyer's children attend Chelsea Academy.
Richard Jamieson: running unopposed to replace Delores Oates on the BOS, as she is leaving her seat to run for state senate in Nov. Handpicked by Tom Sr. and loves to write letters to the editor that try to obfuscate the real issue with the library behind a smokescreen of misinterpreted financial info and disinformation. This is concerning behavior from a candidate for a government position that requires a lot of close reading of detailed documentation and funding decisions. A St John's parishioner, his daughter went to Christendom.
Melanie Salins: incumbent running again for School Board, vocal supporter of CUS and voted against anti-discrimination policies to protect trans kids as School Board member last year. Tom Sr.'s preferred candidate.
Sheriff Mark Butler: incumbent running as an independent against Republican nominee Crystal Cline, whom he lost the nomination to. He became a St. John's parishioner recently, which some people speculate was an attempt to win more Catholic votes in a challenging election cycle. Some members of FRCCEG including John Lundberg have allegedly made phone calls telling Catholics they can't vote for Cline because she is "a divorced woman" and that they should vote for Butler instead.

The situation with FRCCEG (until this week, 8/28/23) has been quite different from CUS when it comes to the claimed affiliations of the Front Royal Catholics Civic Education Group website / Google Groups / email newsletter. This small extremist political group was originally started a few years ago (we believe around 2016) as a way to energize like-minded conservative Catholics to engage politically.

This group has, until very recently, represented itself (including by having "Catholics" in their name) as speaking on behalf of all Catholics and supported by the parish, even stating in an April 2023 bulletin insert that it is an "unofficial but supported organization of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church". That same bulletin insert states that "the mission of the FRCCEG is to increase the civic education and civic participation of individual Front Royal Catholics in events and on issues ranging from the local to the national. The goal is for individuals to become effective promoters and defenders of Catholic interests."

They have only recently (the week of 8/28/23) changed the language on their website (www.frontroyalcatholics.com) to explicitly clarify that they are not affiliated with the parish or the Roman Catholic Church, which we understand was the result of Fr. Gee receiving a number of complaints from concerned parishioners and non parishioners combined.

Tom McFadden Sr., who has been the subject of some recent deep dive posts in the Save Samuels group, is the moderator of this "Front Royal Catholics" group and its email list and has basically been using it as an unofficial email list for Clean Up Samuels calls to action and updates. He has also been participating in (and encouraging his list followers to participate in) bullying and intimidation of other church members who disagree with CUS actions and try to speak out against it, as well as other people who are standing up to him. (Notably, many if not all of the people he is targeting personally are women). There is a reason a number of the St. John's parishioners involved with our movement are hesitant to speak publicly and prefer to share anonymously when possible.

Beyond the goals of CUS, though, Tom has a vision for installing local government leaders who want to enforce his own personal morality on the citizens of Front Royal and Warren County.

Tom Sr. stated in an email on March 22, 2023 that "The Catholics have a great opportunity to shape the politics and culture of Warren County for years to come." He goes on to mention two parishioners, Rich Jamieson (who has written many the rhetorically slippery Letter to the Editor on why he supports banning library books and has submitted reconsideration request forms along with his wife Jennifer), and John Stanmeyer (a Christendom grad school alum) who are both running for the BOS.

By later this year, Tom Sr. would succeed in building out a "pro-Christian" roster of parishioners and Christendom-affiliated candidates to run in 5 separate local races for BOS and School Board in the upcoming elections - these candidates being four St. Johns parishioners including his own son, Tom McFadden Jr (unopposed), Jamieson (unopposed), Stanmeyer, and Connie Marshner (wife of a Christendom founding faculty member) as well as Leslie Mathews, a Christendom employee. A fifth St. John's parishioner, incumbent Mark Butler, is running for sheriff as an independent against the Republican nominee, Crystal Cline, and members of Tom Sr.s group have allegedly told other people not to vote for her because she is a "divorced woman".

Both McFaddens as well as Jamieson are also heavily involved in the library book banning campaign, submitting a number of reconsideration request forms with some extreme language.

On Jul 8, Tom Sr. waxed poetic about the Clean Up Samuels gathering he had been at with "handsome virile men and beautiful women", "mostly Christendom College grads".

At this event, he says, his son (and current unopposed candidate for School Board, Tom Jr) spoke of "how Christians had the opportunity and the ability to control the politics and culture of Warren County if only they would join and unite. [Jr.] explained how easily he had risen to a leadership role in the Warren County Republican Committee and how like-minded Catholics had orchestrated the nomination or endorsement by the Party of the great candidates likely to take majority control of the School Board and BOS."

Tom Sr. is now concerned about the fact that more citizens are being made aware of his plans, and sent around an email on Aug 19 with the subject line "anti-Catholicism is alive and well in Front Royal". He states that those of us who believe in a pluralistic democracy are "basically telling us [him and his group] to 'keep our Rosaries off their ovaries,' as is a normal chant heard by pro-abortion advocates. They don't want Catholics imposing our morality on them, or telling them what to do." He has also expressed in a previous email a concern about how "Warren County religious atheists" will respond "when Christians take majority control of the School Board next January and begin institutional reforms."

In response to this email, another member of his group asked: "Are Catholics to curl up in a corner and cede Front Royal to people with standards that are as offensive to us as theirs are to ours?"

Christendom College

Christendom College was founded with an explicitly theocratic mission, described by founder Warren Carroll as follows:

"Our college takes its name from the word which embodies the Christian social and political ideal: a society, a culture, a government in which Christ the King reigns. …The mission of forming a revitalized laity and clergy to contribute to the building of a Christian society – to the re-Christianizing of the temporal order – gives Christendom College its name."

Now we see the fruits of this mission to construct a "Catholic" (if you can call it that, since it does not resemble actual Catholicism) theocracy takeover of our pluralistic democracy being borne out in the actions currently being taken by many of the Christendom affiliated and/or Christendom educated members of the St. John's parish and Clean Up Samuels astroturf campaign.

Here are just a *handful* of the many people with Christendom ties who are actively involved in the library book banning campaign, as well as some who are now running for local office:

Tom McFadden Jr., who is the VP for Enrollment at Christendom and a homeschooling parent, is now running for the Warren County School Board. He submitted forms requesting that the library remove certain books due to LGBTQ+ representation, stating his concerns in homophobic terms. He was quoted in favor of removing funding for the library as follows: "I hope that the (board) does what it says it is going to do and withholds future appropriations from the library if they do not arrive at solutions to remove these harmful and obscene books.”
Thomas McFadden Sr was instrumental in bringing Warren Carroll's work to Northern Virginia and providing a venue where Carroll would meet some of the people who would go on to be founding board members, donors and/or faculty of Christendom College. He has also submitted a number of forms with extremely homophobic language, and runs the FRCCEG email list and website. He has made it his mission to contrive a local government takeover by "pro-Christian" candidates, handpicked by him.
Mark Egger, who is a leader of the Clean Up Samuels group, and who submitted a number of the book removal forms with extremely homophobic and transphobic rhetoric, was for many years the proprietor of the Christendom College bookstore.
Leslie Mathews, who is running for School Board and founded the local Warren County chapter of Moms for Liberty (designated as an anti-government extremist entity by the SPLC), is the Donor Relations Coordinator for Christendom College.
Thomas Hinnant, who for a while was serving as a spokesperson for Clean Up Samuels in national conservative press coverage, and was paid a hefty $20k "campaign consulting" fee by current Supervisor Delores Oates, is a Christendom alumnus.
Laura M. Clark who submitted forms to remove children's books with same sex couples containing homophobic language, and has written multiple letters to the editor in the Royal Examiner in favor of banning said books, is the daughter of Onalee McGraw, a founding board member of Christendom College, and also the daughter in law of Mary Kay Clark, the former director of Seton Home Study School, a business founded by Ann Carroll (wife of Warren Carroll, the founder of Christendom College).
John Stanmeyer, who is a candidate for Board of Supervisors in the upcoming election (the same body which currently is withholding the funding), graduated from Christendom College's graduate program with a masters degree in theology. He was in attendance at the June 6th BOS meeting as a supporter of the Clean Up Samuels contingent.
James Ciskanik, who submitted forms with homophobic and transphobic language, is the son of John Ciskanik, the Executive Director of Planned Giving at Christendom College.
Christine Dhanagom who wrote an email to Michelle Ross (library director) expressing concern about children's books with LGBTQ+ themes, is the sister of right wing provocateur Matt Walsh. She and her husband are Christendom College alumni.
Ret. Col. John Lundberg who submitted a number of forms with very homophobic language, is the father of Fr. Bjorn Lundberg, a Christendom alumnus who later became a priest of the Arlington Diocese.
Other Christendom alumni and their family members who submitted removal request forms with homophobic and/or transphobic rhetoric include: Benjamin Ranieri and his wife Mary Catherine, Jennifer Tatum, Hugh Forrester and his mother Terry, Samuel Morales, Alexander Lancaster, Christopher Locascio, Patrick Pennefather, Bailey Young and Isabella Reilly. Also Maria O’Brien who did not submit a form or email but who spoke at multiple BOS meetings.

Read more about Christendom's fascistic roots and theocratic mission:

Christendom College, Catholics in Front Royal and theocracy explainer

St John's Catholic Church

We've seen a number of people discussing the role of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church and its connections to members of the Clean Up Samuels movement. There are some important clarifications to be made here.

While many of the supporters and members of Clean Up Samuels do attend St. Johns (the main Roman Catholic parish in Front Royal), it's important to know that there are others who may instead participate in local Eastern Rite Catholic communities, Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Winchester, St. Peter's in Little Washington, and a subset primarily attend the Traditional Latin Mass which is offered at Chelsea Academy. Therefore it is important that we do not conflate "Front Royal Catholic" with "St John's parishioners" – and also to note that this CUS/FRCCEG group remains a small (if vocal) minority even within St John's as well as the wider Front Royal / Warren County Catholic community.

St. John's has around 5,500 registered parishioners, and only 97 people submitted either removal forms or emails expressing concerns about the books.

So the CUS group only represents around 0.02% of the parish.

There is a higher overlap of the CUS group with Catholic homeschoolers specifically, but only because there is a radical traditionalist subset of these families who have moved to Front Royal to be near other people who think like them. That said, there are plenty of Catholic homeschoolers who do not support the CUS actions and who appreciate the great value and resources the library provides for homeschooling families, and some of these people are even involved with Save Samuels.

So it is an unfair characterization to say that "Catholic homeschoolers" as a whole want to ban books or shut down the library, without caveat.

The Actions

This section is a reference section for the various actions / statements / public facing documentation related to this issue.

Reconsideration Request Forms (book removal requests)

You can read through all the reconsideration request forms here: https://www.savesamuels.org/the-books/foia-requests

You can see which of the form and email senders have ties to Catholic groups here:

People who submitted reconsideration request forms

Emails

You can see all the emails (many from CUS supporters but also some in support of the library) here: A984wzad_1le2nt8_920.pdf

Letters to the Editor

You can see a selection of pro-library letters to the editor and opinion commentary here:

https://www.savesamuels.org/save-samuels/we-speak

You can see all the letters to the editor (pro-library and CUS supporters) from Royal Examiner which are tagged as topic: Samuels Public Library here:

https://royalexaminer.com/tag/samuels-public-library/

Petition

Sign the petitions and share with your friends!

Official Save Samuels petition: https://www.fightforthefirst.org/petitions/stop-the-defunding-of-samuels-public-library

Community member's Change.org petition:

https://www.change.org/p/stop-book-bans-support-samuels-library