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Thread: Smelly Readers Banned From Calif. Library

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    Smelly Readers Banned From Calif. Library

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    SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- A new county law aims to keep readers from reeking. Libraries in San Luis Obispo County have had their own rules banning offensive body odor since 1994, but the policy became law after the Board of Supervisors last month adopted an ordinance that lets authorities kick out malodorous guests.

    Visitors to 14 libraries and a bookmobile also could be asked to leave for fighting, eating, drinking, sleeping, playing games, and printing or viewing illegal materials on library computers.

    "The point is to make the library a comfortable, safe place for everyone to use," said Moe McGee, assistant director of the San Luis Obispo City-County Library.

    A strict code of conduct, officials argue, is needed to ensure one patron's right to use a public library doesn't infringe on the rights of another.

    Yet the law can raise tough questions for librarians, said Irene Macias, Santa Barbara's library services manager.

    "What is bad odor?" Macias asked. "A woman who wears a strong perfume? A person who had a garlicky meal?"
    does this mean that someone with a liver disorder in need of medical info or has had the misfortune of having his home taken from him and really needs to know what to do can be denied the right to use a public libary? lets face it the general public can stink. those that have the money to buy their book dont use the libary. those that dont and are in need of information use the public libary. then of course there's that small bunch of elitists that have nothing better to do than to try and raise human standards above the reach of all humans but themselves.

    how do you feel?
    Bukhari:V3B48N826 “The Prophet said, ‘Isn’t the witness of a woman equal to half of that of a man?’ The women said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘This is because of the deficiency of a woman’s mind.’”

  2. #2
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    How do I feel? Simple - His right to stink ends where my nose begins. As long as he's out of my smelling range, as far as I'm concerned he's a non-issue. The problem is that when he's far enough away from me, he's close to someone else, and the rights issue begins anew. I'm quite sure the librarians' olifactory nerves are as offended as mine with the mere thought of someone who cannot or will not bathe regularly.

    If it's a health issue, that's one thing, but there's little or no excuse for improper hygeine, even for one who's homeless. Been there, done that - lived out of my car for about 8 weeks back in my post HS pre-Navy days. I NEVER had an odor which offended anyone and I was always clean-shaven and bathed. (Truckstops are a wonderful thing - they always need their trash and parking lots tended and will gladly exchange a free shower for the service, to mention only one of many available options). Oh, and for the record, I never used or sought to use a library during said time. I was too busy trying to find employment, food, and shelter.

    Liver disease? You know, quite frankly I've never heard of anyone with a liver disease barring cancer that wasn't self-induced, usually by extended addiction to alcohol. I have little or no sympathy to someone in said condition for this reason... they made the choice to become and stay drunk for too long, got themselves sick, and now are paying the price for their own stupidity. I'll toss a drunk out quicker than I'll toss out a bum - By the way, I've never encountered a single person ill from liver disease, or actively homeless in a public library. Around here if they're ill enough to produce an odor, usually they're in a hospital. Also around here if they're homeless, they're busy panhandling or doing something to earn that next buck for their liquor, drugs or food, or seeking a roof. I think it must be a very large city thing which has incited such a controversy.

    I'll add at this point that around these parts at least, folks tend to help those who're 'down and out' and without homes. It's VERY hard to stay homeless in this part of the country, and it's damn near impossible to starve from it. I honestly don't know, but we very well might have the best dressed bums in all these 50 states, not to mention the best fed ones, but I digress, we're talking about the library and stench.

    All that long-windedness (you skipped over it, didn't you? I sure hope so) was to say if they're offensive to anyone within the library, by all means they should be relocated to a different section. If enough complaints occur about 'stinky', he should be ejected with all expediency.
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    There is something you should know about California. In all their hype of tolerance and charity, they detest the homeless. Absolutely detest them. This law like others (just walk around sometime) is meant to get them out of libraries where they often go. They are full of them.
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    "The point is to make the library a comfortable, safe place for everyone to use,"
    Apparently he has a different definition of "everyone" than the rest of the world uses.

    I wonder how often the people complaining actually use the library?
    \"You got a mouth like an outboard motor..all the time putt putt putt\" - Foghorn Leghorn

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    Senior Member RoadClosed's Avatar
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    Probably some people who drove up in their 100,000.00 cars to get a DVD of Fereheit 911.
    West of House
    You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door.
    There is a small mailbox here.

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    Liver disease? You know, quite frankly I've never heard of anyone with a liver disease barring cancer that wasn't self-induced
    what about hepatitis-c from a blood transfusion...quite common these days.

    quite frankly you strike me as the kind of person that will buy a book if you want to read it. i know i do, so i dont mean that with any disrespect....when was the last time you've been in a public libary, for me it's been about twenty years.

    Now i know that the San Diago area is Mecca for the homeless, lots of tourists to hit on and a year round tempeture of about 78 degrees but what about northern California? (from SF upward.)

    {please keep in mind that i posted this just to stir conversation. I live in the NY Metro area. i bring clothes and can goods to the shelters (the soup kitchen in paterson) but i've never given money directly to a homeless person and never will.}
    Bukhari:V3B48N826 “The Prophet said, ‘Isn’t the witness of a woman equal to half of that of a man?’ The women said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘This is because of the deficiency of a woman’s mind.’”

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    ah, hep-c... oops. ya got me on that one - but on the other hand and more to the topic, the (admittedly very few) folks I know who have hep-c didn't smell...
    Even a broken watch is correct twice a day.

    Which coder said that nobody could outcode Microsoft in their own OS? Write a bit and make a fortune!

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    I think they should ban people who've ever used steroids from libraries in California... not that I'd accuse Arnold of ever reading a book, but hey...

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    Oh heck...turn them all into museums and charge admission to see what people used to do in their spare time...

    On a serious note though...libraries in major cities have been one of the places transients and the homeless have gone to get away from the streets to keep warm, get a little shut-eye, a little safety since the churches have bolted their doors shut except for mass.
    This has always been the churches problem in their " good samaritan " ideology which was tossed on the general public by the church wanting to protect it's wealth in spite of it's values.

    When I was a kid you never saw the homeless in libraries...they were sleeping in the church pews...and the churches were open 24/7...
    that started to change around the middle seventies when they started locking up at night after the last sermon...
    now they're even closed in the daytime.

    Libraries have become the new refuge.

  10. #10
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    Originally posted here by Negative
    I think they should ban people who've ever used steroids from libraries in California... not that I'd accuse Arnold of ever reading a book, but hey...
    what about ephedra?...they smell like dirty socks!
    Bukhari:V3B48N826 “The Prophet said, ‘Isn’t the witness of a woman equal to half of that of a man?’ The women said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘This is because of the deficiency of a woman’s mind.’”

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