The Daviess County Public Library has become the center of a political maelstrom. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Rainesford Stauffer)
OWENSBORO, Ky. – On Oct. 1, incumbent Daviess County Judge-Executive Charlie Castlen was at the Rooster Booster forum when he brought up “the major unspoken issue of this campaign.” That issue was the fairness ordinance, which was aimed at protecting LGBTQ+ individuals but was rejected in 2020 by the fiscal court.
But then Castlen brought up the second, more timely topic: “Our library: I’ve worked to get a more conservative board that has relocated books to the adult section that, if they were made into a movie, would be an X-rated movie.”
In 2024, challenges to books in Kentucky public libraries jumped by 1,061%. The majority of those challenges took place in Daviess County, where the Daviess County Public Library has withstood a firestorm. In 2025, extensive reporting by WKU Public Radio stated that the library was enduring a campaign from “local Christian conservatives and Christian Nationalists” that challenged titles primarily in the children and teen/juveniles section. Since then, 1,087 books have been reviewed, 574 books have been moved, a “limited Teen Pass card” was created, and policies have been revised by board appointees.
While challenges to books are ongoing, some say that what’s gotten less attention in the lead-up to election day on Nov. 3 is local elected officials’ outsized role in reshaping the library board, including coordination to ensure the board is conservative and aligned with conservative, Christian religious ideology.
“We have an instance where one very small group of people have effectively wormed their way into a position of influence with our county government all over a handful of library books,” said David Norris, who was formerly on the Coalition for an Inclusive Daviess County’s steering committee.
While politicians like Castlen are proud of reshaping the library system in a more conservative direction, many in the community have pushed back, arguing that the library is not a political institution.
“I feel strongly that a public library belongs to the public, not a political party,” said Jimmy Lydanne, who said he’s an independent voter and worked as an educator for more than 35 years.
As a Daviess County resident, he believes this is an important issue heading into elections. It goes beyond disagreements over books, he said, and raises questions about who gets to decide what information the public can access.
“Our community includes taxpayers with diverse backgrounds, religions, and political beliefs. No single group should have the authority to impose its personal values on everyone else,” he added.
According to Dr. Maria McCauley, president of the American Library Association, the organization tracked 5,668 books banned from libraries, and 920 books restricted due to relocation or parental permission requirements, in 2025. McCauley told the Kentucky Lantern that it is the highest percentage of challenged books resulting in censorship since the ALA began tracking in 1990.
92% of those book challenges were initiated by pressure groups, elected officials, boards, or other decision makers. The ALA report noted less than 3% of challenges were from parents themselves.
“Libraries serve everyone in our communities,” said McCauley. When libraries become politicized, “some individuals want to withhold rights and resources to other people because of their own views,” McCauley added.
“I think it’s a question about our democracy,” McCauley continued. “Our democracy protects First Amendment rights of all people in the United States, and our libraries really try to work very hard to honor that, and to provide a wide range of collections and materials and great learning experiences for the entire community.”
King Simpson, director of the Kentucky Public Library Association believes that, overall, Kentucky libraries have been able to have conversations with their communities about the importance of the First Amendment. “There’s no one-size-fits-all library for Kentucky,” he told the Kentucky Lantern, explaining the importance of libraries bringing in the different interests of their communities.
“While we totally understand people’s concerns about materials that might be in the library, we also exist to serve everyone in the community,” said Simpson. “So, really encouraging folks to make the right decision for them and their family, but not in a way that affects the entire community.”
While the Daviess County Public Library has made headlines for several years, one group’s emphasis on what content individuals should be allowed to access predates challenging books. In 2023, Citizens for Decency, a local Christian conservative group, protested drag shows for audience members ages 21 or over at Owensboro’s RiverPark Center.
Not long after, the group turned its attention to the Daviess County Public Library, protesting Pride Month activities and calling for audits of materials the group found objectionable. In keeping with reports from the American Library Association about challenges to books, the challenges, or calls for relocation, involve material related to race, history, gender, sexuality, and reproductive health.
According the organization’s recent social media posts, Citizens for Decency isn’t only focused on “sexually explicit titles,” but is now also challenging books involving suicidal ideation, alcohol and drug use, or diversity, equity, and inclusion.
As a library board is appointed, not elected, it’s a nonpartisan board, and libraries themselves are nonpartisan organizations. Crucially, according to the Daviess County Public Library bylaws, the board has power to employ the library director, determine policies to govern library operations, and oversee and evaluate library programs, leading to larger questions about what could happen to the library’s offerings if controlled by one group, or one belief system.
In 2022, lawmakers passed a Senate Bill 167, which let county judge-executives oversee library board appointments, a shift from the state-vetted finalists selected by the library board. Then came Senate Bill 40 in 2026, sponsored by Republican state Senator Gary Boswell, which further refined the alternative appointment process.
According to Simpson of the Kentucky Public Library Association, only about twenty counties adopted the initial alternative appointment process, which they had to opt into.
In Owensboro, the legislation had a near-immediate effect. Library board meetings grew increasinging “contentious,” as WKU Public Radio described it. In early 2024, members of the Coalition for an Inclusive Daviess County, a group that has organized to defend the library, filed an open records request. They discovered that the founder of Citizens for Decency, Jerry Chapman, and Judge-Executive Charlie Castlen were exchanging “hundreds of text messages,” according to Norris. (Norris is on the Daviess County Democratic Party’s Executive Committee. He spoke to the Lantern in his personal capacity, not on behalf of the party.)
“The striking thing to me overall was just the level of access,” Norris told the Kentucky Lantern. “You know how many people who have other issues in this county wish they had the ear of their local government like this group did?”
The messages and emails range from discussions of religion to plans around the library, according to records shared with the Kentucky Lantern by Coalition members.
“Gentleman, I know we have an election three days away, but we also have another year from now that will go a long way toward taking our city back,” wrote Citizens for Decency founder Chapman to Judge-Executive Charlie Castlen, former Daviess County Republican chairman Darin Tapp, and state representative for District 13 D.J. Johnson on Nov. 4, 2023.
On December 22, 2023, Chapman forwarded a message to Castlen mentioning the first meeting of the “Candidate Development Committee,” which was attended by Johnson and Boswell. “Topics of discussion were potential candidates for City Commission, goals of this committee, candidate training and resources and strategy,” he wrote.
When reached for comment, Castlen told the Kentucky Lantern that he does not have recollection of that communication from Chapman, and noted the above messages were not sent by Castlen himself. In response to him exchanging messages and emails with Chapman regarding the library and library board, Castlen stated that he’s exchanged commentary with “quite a few people” about library board appointments in his time as Judge-Executive, and does not view Chapman’s communications any differently than he does others.
Chapman declined to answer questions or participate in an interview, reiterated his position as founder and chairman of Citizens for Decency, and said his personal political activities are not those of the organization.
Citizens for Decency’s website currently promotes BookLens, their own website that scans books through a “biblical lens.” The site is similar to BookLooks, a defunct website that was tied to right-wing group Moms for Liberty, according to USA TODAY. Citizens for Decency is listed as a sponsor of Moms for Liberty’s 2026 summit. As reported by BookRiot, BookLens depends on artificial intelligence; the bottom of the BookLens website reads “Content breakdowns powered by ChatGPT.”
Some sources told the Kentucky Lantern that it’s not a matter of Democrats versus Republicans, but rather points to a bigger issue of coordinated influence serving specific ideologies.
In late September 2026, the library board did not submit former Republican Judge-Executive Al Mattingly’s name for reappointment. According to the Messenger-Inquirer, it was the first time in a decade a sitting board member in good standing hadn’t been nominated for another term.
Notably, Mattingly took different positions than Castlen’s other appointments, including pastor Tim Kline, who received support from Citizens for Decency. WKU Public Radio quoted sources as saying his appointment was a “tipping point,” officially giving the board a conservative majority.
Mattingly also voted in favor of the fairness ordinance in 2020—the same one Castlen plugged that he voted against in the October 2026 forum.
“The public has no control over the library anymore; it’s controlled by a very small minority of people in this community,” Mattingly told the Messenger-Inquirer in September.
It’s that level of control that has concerned some, including voters like Lydanne. Initially, he wasn’t listening to “some of the noise” surrounding the library. Eventually, he felt he needed to pay attention, as someone who said he devoted his life’s work to the development of healthy, confident children.
He said that parental rights are important, but noted they don’t extend to everyone else’s children.
“I think it’s pretty damn obvious that that’s exactly what’s happening,” he said. “We’ve got a political group based on a particular religious belief that’s leveraging power in regards to what’s available to the children and the families.”
Castlen is not the only politician up for reelection who has been involved in coordination on the library. In a forum for candidates for the 8th District Senate seat, hosted by the Daviess County Farm Bureau, incumbent Republican state Senator Gary Boswell also referenced the library. “I support efforts to keep library sections free of sexually explicit materials for children’s sections,” he said.
Back in 2005, Boswell entered a legal dispute with the library over property tax rates. As reported by WKU Public Radio, David Boswell, brother of Gary Boswell, is a director of Citizens for Decency. The organization’s 2026 annual report still lists him as a director.
In October 2025, Boswell emailed the attorney general’s office with a personal complaint about his granddaughter being required to take a “DEI course,” stating that he wanted “the professor fired or worse.” The conflicts of interest surrounding control of the library are on the minds of some voters ahead of election day. Boswell did not respond to a request for comment.
Before election day, Lyddane said he looks to a candidate’s past actions, and thinks it’s important to recognize what government is for.
“It’s important that they make all the people in the community feel safe and valued,” he said. “Any time that we’re marginalizing a certain group or individuals or whoever it may be, I think that just weakens our community and it weakens our country.”
Courtesy of Kentucky Lantern
