In a move that evokes imagery from the biblical battle between David and Goliath, the tiny Jackson County municipality of Forest Hills is fighting back against county commissioners for their vote to withdraw from the Fontana Regional Library system late last month. 

Editor's note: this story has been updated with a statement from Cynthia Mason Womble, acting chair of the Fontana Regional Library system board. 

In a historic decision that will reshape the future of public library services in Jackson County, commissioners voted Tuesday night to withdraw from the Fontana Regional Library system after months of controversy over content and control.

To the Editor:

I have just finished reviewing the comments and commissioner discussion from the June 3 Jackson commissioner meeting in regard to leaving the Fontana Regional Library system. I want to thank Mr. Letson for the position he stated. It is one that I agree with. 

Finally face to face amid a simmering standoff over library governance and subjectively inappropriate material in a regional library system that’s served locals for more than 80 years, Jackson County commissioners spent nearly three hours in a joint meeting with the Fontana Regional Library Board of Trustees on June 19 learning just how much they don’t know about running a library.

In a year when Jackson County commissioners are proposing a substantial property tax hike, outside agitators are still pushing commissioners to consider a costly withdrawal from the Fontana Regional Library system that could result in an even costlier lawsuit, all over an issue that will never be resolved to everyone’s liking — the definition of “inappropriate.” 

The proposed Jackson County budget for fiscal year 2025-26 contains a six cent decrease in the millage rate, and yet, for most people in Jackson County, property tax bills will increase significantly. 

Two weeks after the Jackson County Commission floated a possible withdrawal from the Fontana Regional Library system, residents showed up to speak at the May 20 commission meeting for more than three and a half hours of public comment, with the majority voicing their opposition to withdrawal. 

To the Editor:

Have you noticed how quietly our basic freedoms can disappear? Right now in Jackson County, a small group of commissioners is on the verge of dismantling our entire library system — not because it’s failing us, but because it’s succeeding at something they fear: exposing people to ideas beyond a single worldview. 

Anyone who thought that two years, dozens of meetings, thousands of dollars and hours of public comment to reach a new interlocal agreement between Jackson, Macon and Swain counties for the Fontana Regional Library would spell the end of the controversy over local libraries thought wrong. 

With a new middle school on the horizon, Jackson County Public Schools is budgeting for a changing school system. On May 6, JCPS made its official request for local funding from the Jackson County Commission.