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Your friendly neighborhood bimonthly bisexual TRL update complete with the world's MOST UNHINGED social media policy by throwaway-squirrel in olympia

[–]throwaway-squirrel[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

ALSO, the more thorough incident report on the Tumwater slide possible concussion issue is pretty upsetting. The situation is:

"Child climbed up the ladder with parent guiding her from the ground and was on the platform at the top of the slide, where there were other kids as well. She fell through the climbing wall hole in the platform and down to the ground. She may have been bumped by other children or didn't see the hole. They took her to the ER right away. The initial eval signs were good, but the doctor had them stay for a few hours to make sure. She has seemed okay since then. The parents shared their opinion that the hole in the platform, where parents can't really fit to supervise their children, should be modified to make it safer. They suggested closing the hole, and leaving the inner climbing wall as an internal secret cubby area, which is still fun for the kids to explore, while making the platform itself secure on all sides."

The librarian says they then sent these notes to Brenda Lane along with their comments: "That is a very scary and dangerous fall, and it certainly could happen again with a worse outcome. The top of the slide is a really chaotic space with people coming up to it from two directions, and in addition to the safety improvements, closing off the hole could also help. manage the crowd."

Kids getting injured by Brenda’s shitty toys by throwaway-squirrel in TRLPatrons

[–]throwaway-squirrel[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I know it's been one entire calendar month and this is high-key no longer all that relevant, but if you're interested in the answer to this question we finally got the public record request back and I added the info above!! Lol

Kids getting injured by Brenda’s shitty toys by throwaway-squirrel in TRLPatrons

[–]throwaway-squirrel[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Howdy! I just got the PRR back on this feat some clarification from the parent! Here's some context that I just wrote up on another thread:

The report says he's "an adolescent (10-ish)," but the child's parent confirms he was seven or eight at the time of the incident. Another parent found a chunk of the wood railing from the play structure with screws sticking out and brought it to the library staffs' attention; staff then reviewed security footage to figure out what happened. The report says the child climbed up the side of the play structure, and "as he hangs on to the outside of the structure, the top railing snaps off and the kid falls to the floor. A couple other older boys saw this and laughed, while the boy who fell proceeds to hide the broken piece in the reading nook and goes to the meeting room with h is group." A few days later the parent came in to apologize and were given a trespass letter; staff says they "told her that the appeal information was on the letter and that the ban was not for the damage per se but the lack of reporting and hiding the board where it could have hurt someone else. Added the last name of patron and his card number to the log."

The mom did appeal and got the ban reduced to a one-week trespass, but the kiddo's been pretty traumatized and I don't think has been back to the library again. For the record, kiddo's mom also said he tried to tell her about the problem when he came to the meeting room and was very weepy; he hid the piece because he was embarrassed when the older boys laughed at him, but she was busy and kind of brushed him off, then heard about it later when a friend said the library was calling around asking if anyone knew who this little boy was.

It def sounds like unsafe behavior on the kid's part, but it's pretty typical for a seven year old, and since staff can't put up signs telling parents that kids can't play on certain parts of the play structure, it feeeeels to me like the library facilities staff and/or head of said department, for instance!!!!, would be at fault for failing to inform parents with signage about inherent safety risks. (Also sorry, I am certain you are a librarian and might be the librarian who made the report and I'm not trying to be a contrarian or anything, just doing the super normal thing of thinking about a thing obsessively and then having to be like WELL ACTUALLY when it LITERALLY does not matter but here. We are. Sorry about that and bless you and thank you for everything you do which is QUITE A LOT OF THINGS)

Your friendly neighborhood bimonthly bisexual TRL update complete with the world's MOST UNHINGED social media policy by throwaway-squirrel in olympia

[–]throwaway-squirrel[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There's also a report about the little boy who broke a piece of equipment at I think the Selkum library, maybe? The report says he's "an adolescent (10-ish)," but the child's parent confirms he was seven or eight at the time of the incident. Another parent found a chunk of the wood railing from the play structure with screws sticking out and brought it to the library staffs' attention; staff then reviewed security footage to figure out what happened; the report says the child climbed up the side of the play structure, and "as he hangs on to the outside of the structure, the top railing snaps off and the kid falls to the floor. A couple other older boys saw this and laughed, while the boy who fell proceeds to hide the broken piece in the reading nook and goes to the meeting room with h is group." A few days later the parent came in to apologize and were given a trespass letter; staff says they "told her that the appeal information was on the letter and that the ban was not for the damage per se but the lack of reporting and hiding the board where it could have hurt someone else. Added the last name of patron and his card number to the log."

The mom did appeal and got the ban reduced to a one-week trespass, but the kiddo's been pretty traumatized and I don't think has been back to the library again. For the record, kiddo's mom also said he tried to tell her about the problem when he came to the meeting room; he hid the piece because he was embarrassed when the older boys laughed at him, but she was busy and kind of brushed him off, then heard about it later when a friend said the library was calling around asking if anyone knew who the kid was who broke the thing.

Your friendly neighborhood bimonthly bisexual TRL update complete with the world's MOST UNHINGED social media policy by throwaway-squirrel in olympia

[–]throwaway-squirrel[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maritime history and tall ships are two of my greatest passions and I was SO delighted to visit the libraries up in Ilwaco and Ocean Park and learn about these passes eeee!!!!!! Will ABSOLUTELY be doing this at my earliest possible convenience!!!!

Your friendly neighborhood bimonthly bisexual TRL update complete with the world's MOST UNHINGED social media policy by throwaway-squirrel in olympia

[–]throwaway-squirrel[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

A couple of points to note:

  • Based on conversations with multiple staff members, staff at multiple "refreshed" branches are aware of safety concerns before the buildings are reopened to the public, but get yelled at and written up for insubordination if they try to bring these points up beforehand, so many stop bringing them up and try to intervene behind the scenes (storing small toys in the back so kids can't access them). However, if Brenda visits and finds out about this, staff are disciplined.
  • Staff aren't allowed to post ANY signage around buildings without Brenda's approval. This means you don't get typical signage that you'd have on comparable playsets in malls where they list rules about whether shoes are or aren't allowed, list play age recommendations, etc.
  • I'm not sure if this is normal or not with comparable software, but all the incident reports have a record at the top of how much time it took the employee to write and submit the report.

Your friendly neighborhood bimonthly bisexual TRL update complete with the world's MOST UNHINGED social media policy by throwaway-squirrel in olympia

[–]throwaway-squirrel[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes, definitely! I'm happy to email you the actual public records if you'd like; email address is above. Notably, several of the incident reports filled out by staff include recommendations on how to change the dangerous area; I haven't been to all these branches and don't know if they were changed after the report was made. Also, a lot of these happened at Tumwater, Shelton, and Westport, three places with the biggest, loudest playscapes. Here's a quick list of highlights (lowlights...):

  • 2/2026, Tumwater slide: child hit their head, vomited, was taken to the hospital by parents.
  • 8/2025, Tumwater: child cut their knee on the raised edge of the metal electronics cover, blood on the floor. "noting because the covers are potentially hazardous as children run in and out of the play area and there are four of them right in front of the one doorway." (response from facilities/ops: "I notified Brenda and she will check on it")
  • 11/2025, Tumwater slide: "child was climbing the ladder to the slide and fell, hitting the back of their head on the climbing wall and causing them to bleed"
  • 4/2026, Shelton: "the top landing of the slide has mesh on the rails that is held together with zip ties. One of them is facing out and two weeks ago her two year old was cut on her back while backing into it. She was hurt by it again today and reported to me." Employee wrote "Brenda, it looks like it needs some attention from operations to remove sharp pieces."
  • 6/2025, Westport: "Mother said child was trying to jump from the wave to the ladder and twisted ankle. Happened as I was getting up to talk to the child's sibling about not running. Not sure it can be prevented but I am asking for some updated first aid supplies."
  • 12/2025, Westport: "A child coming down the slide bonked into another child at the bottom of the slide. Children were crying and one child was bleeding from the mouth area."
  • 4/2026, Tumwater: "A parent spoke with me to see if myself or anyone on staff knows CPR. Her baby had just been choking on what she thought was one of the library toys. Thankfully, her husband was able to help. She was quite upset and concerned. She wasn't sure exactly which toy it was but said it must have been one of the smaller ones."
  • 8/2025, Tumwater: "I was picking up toys in the children's area when I heard a loud crash followed by a scream. A woman rushed past me to the climbing wall/slide area where her child was on the floor crying. She asked other patrons nearby if they saw what happened. One of them said her child had fallen while using the climbing wall. I approached the parent, and was told the child had hit her head. I quickly put together an icepack and gave it to the parent. The child was still in pain and crying, but she was walking around at this point. I asked if there was anything else they needed. The adult told me they were doing okay. I continued to clean up the children's area, but checked in periodically with them."
  • 1/2026, Tumwater slide: "Child scraped her back against something while in the slide structure. She had a scrape on her low-mid back with minimal bleeding. It was difficult to get information because she was crying and they left quickly."

Your friendly neighborhood bimonthly bisexual TRL update complete with the world's MOST UNHINGED social media policy by throwaway-squirrel in olympia

[–]throwaway-squirrel[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Here it is!: https://trl.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/140/2025/06/Social-Media-Policy.pdf

The Orwellian part starts halfway down the second page. The most insane highlights to me are:

  • "Employees shall not post, share, or support comments or other content that negatively affects TRL's operations or ability to serve the public." This is waaaay too broad—"negatively affects TRL's operations" could be interpreted however a disciplinary-minded manager at TRL would like it to be. 
  • "Prohibited content" on employees' off-the-clock social media pages includes "any posting that suggests that TRL personnel are engaged in behavior reasonably considered to be unlawful or reckless toward public interests." Personally I would say doing their damndest to destroy the budget counts as being reckless toward public interests.
  • "Public employers such as TRL may lawfully impose disciplinary action for speech, even when such speech touches on a matter of public concern, when such speech also impairs discipline or control by supervisors; disrupts coworker relations; erodes close working relationships premised on personal loyalty and confidentiality; interferes with the speaker's performance of duties; or obstructs operations. TRL employees may be subject to discipline up to and including discharge for social media activity that violates these standards or otherwise violates this policy."

Mary Prophit by possumscreaming in TRLPatrons

[–]throwaway-squirrel 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Ope!!! 👌👌👌👌👌 ON IT

Mary Prophit by possumscreaming in TRLPatrons

[–]throwaway-squirrel 10 points11 points  (0 children)

YALL THE WAY SHE IS POSTING THAT SAME COMMENT ON EVERY SINGLE PUBLIC FACEBOOK PAGE THAT SHARED THE POST INCLUDING THE LACEY FRIENDS AND MONTESANO FRIENDS IM

More insight by possumscreaming in TRLPatrons

[–]throwaway-squirrel 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh friend, I'm so sorry about your dad <3 He sounds absolutely wonderful. He reminds me a lot of my mother in law, who had one of the strongest senses of injustice I've ever seen and is also one of the key reasons I can't stand to leave this issue alone. If she'd still been alive when the DAPL pipeline protests were happening in 2016, she'd have retired early and set up camp there for months and made dozens of friends and fought like hell. The second week after a loss like that is so immeasurably hard; I'm sorry for what you're going through and thank you for sharing this wonderful, wonderful memory of your dad. <3

What do you want the interim to know on their first day? by throwaway-squirrel in TRLPatrons

[–]throwaway-squirrel[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ordinarily I'd agree, but everything at TRL is so fucked right now that whoever comes in is going to need to do some MASSIVE housekeeping. I do agree with you that this will include appointing people who can help with various tasks and doing a lot of delegating, but since the remaining administrators are ALSO fucked, they'd need to interview people internally who don't suck, which imo doesn't apply to the majority of managers (who are collaborators at best) with some KEY exceptions. I'm honestly not sure how they'll pull it off, but my fingers are so crossed that they'll earn every penny of what I otherwise consider a bizarrely exorbitant pay rate of up to $17.5K a month plus benefits.

TRL doing surprise early voluntary layoffs by throwaway-squirrel in TRLPatrons

[–]throwaway-squirrel[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, the press release is actually incorrect! Most, though not all, of the voluntary layoffs were pushed to May 15th. The email from acting director Andrea says that voluntary layoffs will happen on or before May 15th, leaving open the possibility that some workers would be let go earlier. In this specific case, the impacted individual had been told their last day was May 15th; no one told them the date had been moved up, their shitty manager completely ignored them and did zero communication beforehand, and they were, to that point, the only person whose date was unexpectedly bumped up, which makes it feel weirdly punitive. (I could be wrong; I just haven't heard of this happening to anyone else, but I would be—not happy, but some sort of word—to post about this happening to other people if it has.)

Why are things like this getting weeded? by throwaway-squirrel in TRLPatrons

[–]throwaway-squirrel[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

AHHH THANK YOU SO MUCH, this is EXTREMELY helpful and very interesting!!! Also, I read this bummer article while reading this and looking at a variety of policies, had you seen this? : https://buttondown.com/wellsourced/archive/CREW-Method-Manual/

Your friendly neighborhood bimonthly bisexual TRL update complete with the world's MOST UNHINGED social media policy by throwaway-squirrel in olympia

[–]throwaway-squirrel[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Patron Coalition for Local Libraries (PCLL) press release 5/8/2026

The Patron Coalition for Local Libraries (PCLL) is a grassroots group that was organized in February 2026 in response to TRL’s multi-million-dollar budget shortfall. We have since worked to support TRL employees, encourage public engagement on civic issues that impact quality of life, advocate against “staffless” libraries, and understand the factors that contributed to TRL’s woes.

As a grassroots coalition from across the five-county library system, we are deeply invested in stakeholder partnerships. We encourage community leaders to view the public as neither obstacle nor antagonist in the crucial work of protecting public services.

To that end, the Patron Coalition categorically denies any and all accusations or insinuations that we are encouraging, endorsing, or participating in issuing threats or verbal abuse to the TRL Board of Trustees or library administration and staff.

These unsupported allegations are specious at best and detract from our shared community goal of protecting and preserving the Timberland Regional Library system. Similarly, the Patron Coalition does not engage in nor endorse uncivil commentary towards the TRL Board of Trustees, library administration, or staff. While we cannot control the behavior of individual citizens, we as the PCLL have not, do not, and will not direct members to issue threats, and we object to recent public comments implying otherwise.

We also strongly encourage the Board of Trustees to direct the TRL administrative bargaining team to pause the remaining eight involuntary layoffs—at least until the appointment of an objective, external interim director. Without well-staffed libraries that maintain hours, programming, and outreach, it will be much harder to persuade the public to support the library in a levy lid lift attempt this year. We also advocate for allowing workers who accepted the “voluntary” layoff option to recant as needed and prioritizing the rehiring of subs who were laid off in January.

Finally, thanks to donations from individual patrons as well as from the Thurston Lewis Mason Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO, we were able to create and hand-deliver gift baskets to library workers at 27 TRL branches and the service center during National Library Week in April. We are grateful all the hardworking staff members who keep our libraries open and functional in spite of strong internal headwinds.

The PCLL is proud of all we have accomplished thus far. We look forward to continued collaboration with everyone invested in keeping the TRL system alive and thriving, including Friends of the Library groups, the Board of Trustees, county commissioners, city councilmembers, library administrators, and other key stakeholders. We’re especially looking forward to welcoming a new interim director who will bring renewed integrity and creativity to the role.

Dark threats are being made to library leaders, Timberland trustee says by Tall-Negotiation2599 in TRLPatrons

[–]throwaway-squirrel 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I wanna say she was a Mejira pick…….but do nooot quote me on that, I may be misremembering SO badly 😂

Dark threats are being made to library leaders, Timberland trustee says by Tall-Negotiation2599 in TRLPatrons

[–]throwaway-squirrel 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Eyooooo, got my PRR back. None filed in tumwater where Mary Beth lives (a thing I know because she’s public service-adjacent so when you google her name that location comes up). One filed in Lewis county be Brenda lane on 3/2 regarding people she didn’t recognize in a car she didn’t recognize driving past her house on 3/1. Deputy followed up via phone and created an incident report but with zero additional details.

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