Censorship Roundup

Livingston, MT: Students at Park County High School may continue to read Rolling Stone magazine, but only if they have a permission letter signed by their parents. That's the decision of the school district's library committee, which voted September 12 against Principal Woody Jundt's proposal to ban the magazine from the library because it promotes violence, immoral sex, and illegal drug use. Jundt said that if the committee did not approve his recommendation, he would pursue the matter with the school board. He said that he had not read the magazine until last summer, when a member of the school staff expressed concerns over the magazine's content. "If parents want their child to read Rolling Stone they can buy it," says Jundt. "I don't think taxpayers should spend money on this."

Penryn, PA: The Lancaster YMCA triathlon on September 7 drew 100 more competitors than last year and an outpouring of support for the Y, thanks to a controversy over Harry Potter. Earlier this year, the eight-member Penryn Fire Police force drew national attention for refusing to manage traffic for the event because the Y had allowed children to read the popular series—which they said glorified witchcraft—in its after-school program. The Lancaster Township Fire Police stepped in to oversee the race, which attracted more than 500 competitors, including West Chester resident Robert Mina, who ran the final leg carrying a Harry Potter wand, reported the Lancaster Sunday News. "We came out in force to support something we believe in," Mina said. As for the Y, it has no plans to remove Harry Potter from its reading room because its after-school program reviews all of its books using school and library guidelines.

Tuscaloosa, AL: A grandparent's complaint has prompted the Tuscaloosa school system to remove the award-winning novel Breaking Boxes (Delacorte, 1997) from all of its elementary schools. The A. M. Jenkins novel, which involves sex, violence, and homosexuality, will undergo a review process to determine its appropriateness, say school officials. Betty White, whose nine-year-old grandson attends Rock Quarry Elementary School, cited the book's "profuse profanity" and says the novel appeared on a suggested reading list as part of the school's Accelerated Reader program. Breaking Boxes won the 1996 Delacorte Press Prize for literature aimed at 12- to 18-year-olds and was selected as an American Library Association Quick Pick for Young Adults.