City council turned down a councillor's request for the Weyburn Public Library to monitor the use of the Internet more closely on its public access computers.

Coun. George Kalman expressed concern over the possibility of children who use the computers accessing pornography sites on the Internet, and made a motion for the library to buy an Internet filtering system to prevent this. No one on council would second the motion, so it did not proceed any further.

An explanation of the library's Internet use guidelines was made by Coun. Debra Button and head librarian Michele Fedyk, noting there are actions available to the library staff if people are accessing pornography sites, or illegal sites such as child pornography or hate propaganda.

Coun. Kalman said the issue was brought to his attention by a parent whose child viewed a pornographic site. "They were shocked that type of material was freely accessible by all people at the library. I didn't realize Internet pornography was accessible. It does disturb me."

He noted the police have had to be called in to remove people from computers, and asked that the proper software be brought in.

Coun. Button insisted that morality cannot be legislated, and asked if censorship starts at this point, where would it end?

"What one person may judge as unacceptable, another might say it is acceptable. Where do we draw the line? It boils down to preference," said Coun. Button, adding that the responsibility to ensure her son doesn't see such material is hers as his parent.

No system or software can give a 100-per-cent guarantee of blocking out inappropriate web sites, plus wholly appropriate ones may be blocked because of a similar word.

In addition, said the councillor, the library endorses the policy of intellectual freedom, in which there is free and open access to the world's resources without censorship.

Fedyk said that the guidelines for using the computer to access the Internet are posted at every library terminal.

In an interview on Tuesday, she explained if a patron tells a staff member that someone is viewing pornographic material, the staff member is to tell the computer user to change sites, and if they refuse the computer is shut down. If an illegal site is being viewed, such as child pornography, hate propaganda, obscenity or sedition, the staff member is to contact the police as well. In the five months she has been on staff, she added, there have been no incidents where the police had to be called in.

The guidelines outlined by the Southeast Regional Library states that as is the case with other materials in the library, "any restriction of a child's access to the Internet is the responsibility of the parent/legal guardian. Southeast Regional Library will not acquire software designed to block access to certain sites."

Coun. Kalman also continued to press his request for a plebiscite on the renovations to the Colosseum.

The councillor began to speak to this concern when he was cut off by Mayor Don Schlosser and asked if he had a motion to put forward. Kalman said he was hesitant to put it forward out of fear no one would second it, and wanted to be able to express his opinion first.

The issue of funding the renovations of the Colosseum was an issue in earlier discussions, he said, and now it doesn't seem to be an issue. While it would be nice to do all the phases of the renovations, Kalman said the city needs to look at a plebiscite for phase one, which has already gone to tender.

Again, no one on council would second his motion, and no further discussion was held on the matter.

In his last official appearance at a city council meeting, Police Chief Bill Millar presented the 2002 annual report, and presented three members with meritorious service awards.

Chief Millar said there was an increase of five per cent in the total number of charges dealt with by the Weyburn provincial court, and a 30 per cent increase in the number of prisoners dealt with by the police.

The total of actual crimes in 2002 was 1,122, up from 1,028 in 2001, but down from the previous three years (1,304, 1,288 and 1,501 charges respectively). The number of reported crimes cleared was 58 per cent, up from 54 per cent in 2001, and the number of actual crimes cleared was 53 per cent, up from 49 per cent the year before. Reported crimes include both actual and unfounded charges.

Among criminal offences reported to the city police, there were increases in sexual assaults (15 this year compared to five last year and two in 2000), thefts under $5,000 (77 this year, up from 56 in 2001 and 45 in 2000) and fraud (73 charges this year, up from 56 last year and 35 the year before). There were decreases in charges of mischief (which includes vandalism) and assaults.

Offences dealt with in court, which includes criminal, city and traffic offences, totalled 2,172, up from 2,065 last year, but down from 2,393 in 2000. Of these offences, there were increases in bylaw offences, criminal code matters and federal charges for drugs.

On a positive note, the charges for impaired drivers was down 30 per cent in 2002, and prohibited driving charges were down by 40 per cent.

There was an increase in the number of animal control calls, with 496 animals dealt with in 2002, up from 329 last year and 265 in 2000. A total of 150 animals were adopted, and 74 animals were euthanized. There were increases for both dogs and cats, with 295 dogs and 199 cats taken in by the Humane Society shelter this year.

The Alternate Measures program, or mediation, had 38 offenders go through the program in 2002, including 21 young offenders and 17 adults. Of these 38, only one adult failed the mediation process and was referred back to court.

New portable sign regulations were referred to the next council meeting, after concerns were raised about the revised regulations presented to council on Monday.

Originally the regulations proposed a fee per placement for the use of portable signs, but this was revised to an annual licence tag of $30 per sign.

In a memo to council, Community Services manager Doug Mulhall said the intent of the regulations is to prohibit placing signs in the sight triangle areas at intersections, and to allow the city to track placement of the signs more easily and permits the city to take corrective action more quickly when needed.

Coun. Rob Stephanson said he received calls of concern about the proposed $30 fee, asking if it should apply if a person is putting a sign up for only one day.

He was told the fee was for the person who owns the signs and rents them out, not for the one-day renter. Also, real estate signs wouldn't fall into this category, as they are categorized as temporary signs, not portable signs.

Coun. Dick Michel said an annual fee amounts to a tax and is the wrong approach for the city to take; he also disagreed that this would be more fair than $1 per day fee for a portable sign.

As the fee doesn't take effect until March 15, council asked for more information to be brought back to the next council meeting.