Port Haywood resident Andrew Maggard was in a bit of a stew recently when he thought that Mathews Memorial Library was going to refuse to let him place a copy of his publication "Our Country" there. He said he was even ready to turn in his library card.

Maggard wanted to share his ideas with others about adherence to the U.S. Constitution and various related issues, so he placed a number of copies of "Our Country" on a display rack in the library. The copies soon disappeared, so Maggard returned with more.

Meanwhile, library director Bette Dillehay had received a complaint about the publication from a library patron who said the material wasn’t appropriate for the library. Such complaints are rare, said Dillehay, and they usually involve religious material or explicitly sexual material. Once, she received a complaint over a book about two gay penguins.

Anytime such a complaint is received, said Dillehay, the material under question has to be reviewed, ...