Hearing at GA school district to banish Harry Potter set for today

[Charlie Brown]

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/gwinnett/stories/0420gwxpotter.html

A Gwinnett County school board hearing on whether to remove the Harry Potter series from all school libraries will begin at 2 p.m. today and is expected to last less than two hours.

No decision will be made at the hearing. The hearing officer, who was appointed by the school board to handle the case, will have five days to give board members a transcript from the appeal and a recommendation on whether to keep the books. The board will then have 10 days to make a decision. The hearing is open to the public and will be held in Hearing Room A at Lawrenceville East, 723 Hi Hope Road in Lawrenceville.

The Loganville mother who complained about the book, Laura Mallory, will have 15 minutes to make her case, district spokeswoman Sloan Roach said. Mallory, a missionary who moved to Gwinnett County about two years ago, has three children at J.C. Magill Elementary.

Mallory may share her speaking time with others who support her stance that the books are inappropriate for children because the stories glorify witchcraft. The following people signed up to speak with Mallory: Cathy Fleenor, Marsha McWhorter, Stacy Thomas and Jordan Fusch.

[ThomCat]

1. fundie madness.

Anyone who think's Harry Potter is going to turn anyone away from their mythical heaven needs psychiatric help.

[rodeodance]

35. these people need to do something of value.

[napi21]

2. You can't believe how many people here have been trying to

ban Holloween for YEARS!

I've lived in Pa, SC, TX, and now Ga. This is the FIRST place I've ever been where we've had ZERO halloweeners the 1st year, 6 the 2nd year, 2 the 3rd year, 4 the 4th year, and back to ZERO this 5th year here!

I'm told it glorifies the devil and witchcraft, ya know!!!!!

I live about 1/2 hour north of Atlanta!

[Mythsaje]

5. One of the towns out here

banned Halloween celebrations in their schools on the grounds that it "might offend pagans." Several members of the local pagan community showed up at their meeting and said "we're not offended."

Did it help? Uh-uh. Methinks they wanted to get rid of it and wanted to blame someone but the Xian Right. :shrug:

[Charlie Brown]

9. I miss Halloween

By and large it was a fun time of year when parents could bond with their children and enjoy themselves. Although there were always some adolescents who tried to ruin it with vandalism, it was always trumped by the fun side of the holiday. The same kind wrecklessness goes on at any other "festive" time of year, like New Years, St. Patrick's Day, and Mardi Gras.

Nowadays, all the churches hold "Hell Nights" around Halloween, which are very poorly staged dramas in which kids are told if they don't do as they are told, they will go to hell (with a healthy amount of peer pressure exerted for everyone to be "saved" at the end).

fundies are no fun.

[TlalocW]

20. We have a really crazy - even for Tulsa - church here

Called GUTS, that puts on a large hell house every year, where you get to walk through different rooms, representing different punishments in hell for sinners. The kids acting the part claw at you, lamenting if only they hadn't been gay, gotten an abortion, play D&D, they wouldn't be in hell now.

I've been wanting to go for the past couple of years so I could walk into the "gay room," and exclaim in my best stereotypical lisp, "Oh, my god! Look at that window treatment! This is hell for gay people!" I haven't yet because they'll just follow me out and gang-eulogize me.

TlalocW

[Love Bug]

22. You go to hell for playing D&D? Well, I'm screwed.

;-)

[Ian David]

29. It's my fault Black Leaf died.

[onehandle]

30. It was her fault.

She shouldn't have rolled a one on that trap.

:evilgrin:

[Rocknrule]

41. According to these people, you go to hell for having any kind of fun

Read HP, play videogames, have sex, especially with a member of your gender, and on and on and on

I know, there are way too many of these freaks that try to spew hate on my college campus

[sakabatou]

23. ROFLMAO

[trixie]

52. Now correct me if I am wrong...

I thought the only thing a Christian needed to get to heaven was to take JC as his savior. Which is my problem with Christianity. You can murder, rape etc and as long as you are "saved" you are on your way to heaven. That's why there is so much religion in prisons.

[0007]

36. Obviously Georgia doesn't haven any Round Churches.

[Sequoia]

10. How soon they forget that ole Lucifier was God's right hand man.

Err, angel. Now we hear that Judas was told by Jesus to turn him in. Who's to say God and Luifer had a little plan to mess with our brains, and seeing the future knew there'd be a whole mess of rednecks wasting time brainwashing little children.

[trixie]

55. Ah so true

Jesus couldn't have been a savior without being crucified so Judas actually helped him.

[RebelOne]

18. Yes, I live northwest of Atlanta in Woodstock

And in the past 3 years, I have had only one trick-or-treater on Halloween.

[napi21]

32. Have you always lived there, and has it always been this way?

I thought the religious right was pretty nuts in SC, and they are much more vocal, but we used to have almost 100 kids when we lived there!

I just found it really weird here in Ga.

[RebelOne]

49. No, it was not always this way.

I moved to Woodstock in 1994 and every Halloween I would have many kids, but the past three years, there has been no one. Woodstock is a real fundie area and just about totally Republican.

[trixie]

54. No, it glorifies community

Which all fundies are against. They rather like being isolationists. It's much easier to point a finger don't you know.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. What a load of nonsense

I read Harry Potter every year to my students. And before I even start, I teach a unit on fantasy. We define it as a story that could never happen in real life. Harry Potter is an excellent example of fantasy. My kids are taught that if anyone says anything bad about Harry Potter to respond 'But it is a fantasy. It could never happen in real life'.

I have been doing this for as long as these books have been out with not one complaint.

These books have been a godsend for children's literature and I get irate whenever anyone tries to keep children from reading them. What's the alternative? No reading? Video games?

[Mythsaje]

6. They should be reading the bible!

Full of violence and sex, but, hey, what's wrong with godly violence and sex, anyway? ;)

[MikeNearMcChord]

15. Read that Song of Solomon!

I wonder what percentage of Fundies even tried?

[Mythsaje]

17. Wouldn't that take more than a 3rd Grade reading level?

There's your answer. :evilgrin:

[GodlessBiker]

4. Doesn't 'Mary Poppins' glorify witchcraft?

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. Teleportation is the devil's work!!

[GodlessBiker]

13. So is taking a floor lamp out of a carpetbag.

[Warpy]

7. Laura needs to remove that big stick from her butt so she can sit

down and read those books. It might not do any good, but at least she'd have something besides total ignorance to work on.

I'm glad I'm not there. I don't think Laura would like to be reminded that the rest of us live here, too, and resent the HELL out of a sanctimonious little bitch telling us what OUR kids can read.

[PublicWrath]

11. A San Antonio school superintendent backed by some disgruntled

conservative Christian parents tried unsuccessfully to ban
"The Handmaid's Tale" from an advanced placement English lit course.

[rkc3]

12. Did anyone see "Teachers" a few weeks ago?

Two of the younger teachers took their students to see Romeo and Juliet against the wishes of the principal - who doesn't like these two.

When they get back to school the leader of one of the parent's groups calls a meeting for their dismissal.

Even though the principal wants to throw these guys out of school, she tells the parent to stuff it because if she let him dictate what went on in the school, she'd have to open the door for every crazy idea other parents would scream about.

Only in Hollywood can you do that.

[izzie]

14. Give them something peaceful like the Bible

Never know what kids will do after reading Potter. I am still worried about my kids falling down a rabbit hole and doing all sort of things from that.

[CottonBear]

16. I am so freaking sick of these people. I'm glad I live in a blue GA county

Even my wingnut co-worker likes Harry Potter. Jesus Christ on a trailer hotch. :grr:

[TlalocW]

19. There's a lot of witchcraft in

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as well. I think we'll be needing to ban that book too.

TlalocW

[DemoTex]

21. Gwinnett County (named for DI signer/Ga. governor Button Gwinnett)

Gwinnett County, Georgia, is second in atavism only to Cobb County. Old Button is probably spinning in his grave.


BTW: Shortly after signing the Declaration of Independence, Button Gwinnett died in a duel with nemisis Lachlan McIntosh.

[genieroze]

24. Hey Laura Mallory, get a f**king life. Don't like the books then be the

parent and forbid you kids to read them, idiot!!!!!! Maybe you should have a book burning at your next church social.:eyes:

[MindPilot]

25. has anyone pointed out to these nutjobs that witchcraft

DOESN'T EXIST?!

Just like your god; it ain't real! Sheesh.

[struggle4progress]

46. Are you telling me that Cotton Mather was WRONG? *gasp*

[davidinalameda]

26. what a bunch of crackpots

[Az_lefty]

27. are they going to burn a witch at the stake too?

what a bunch of nuts!
:puke:

[newspeak]

28. I celebrate Samhain every year!!!!

It's the Celtic New Year, doncha you know!!!! If they want to stay at home on all hallows eve, then let them--but the rest of us can PARTY PARTY PARTY!!!!:party: If they don't want their children reading Harry Potter, then make sure they don't check it out--like Big Brother, make sure you monitor everything they read--but for the parents whose children like Harry Potter and allow them to read it, then it needs to be accessable. Such a waste of time and a load of BS.

[Rocknrule]

42. Yea, Emma Watson

:sarcasm:

[onehandle]

31. Welcome to Georgia. Get me the Hell out of here. nt

[karlrschneider]

33. I guess turning water into wine or a stick into a snake wouldn't qualify

as witchcraft...huh?
:eyes:
:grr:

[Sentath]

34. Exactly (:

I'm glad you see the distinction *nod nod*

It obvious, magic and witchcraft are events outside known physics that benefit those outside their cult and blessings and miracles are events outside known physics that benefit cult members.

So simple (;

[CatholicEdHead]

38. I assume the women in the link are not Catholic

hense they do not belive in transubsantion. If they are typical fundies, they hate Catholics with a passion and your post would probably be on the list as it is "unbliblical". :puke:

[ima_sinnic]

37. why do they hate our freedoms?

dumb@$$ MORANS!!!!11

:argh: :argh: :argh: :nuke:

[illumn8d]

39. Hilarious

I am surprised no one has claimed that the books support class warfare.

[depakid]

40. One thing I'll say about Georgia is that they're consistent

No respect for science or the Constitution or common sense where fundy religion is concerned.

[Orsino]

43. Too many Georgians were learning to read?

What a fucking waste-of-time, election-year, phony wedge issue.

[KamaAina]

44. She's both a Muggle and a carpetbagger!

Muggle: obviously

carpetbagger: Mallory, a missionary who moved to Gwinnett County about two years ago,

She's a Mugglebagger! :-)

[Peter Frank]

45. While they're at it, why don't they ban airing The Wizard of Oz...

...and reruns of Bewitched?

[Seabiscuit]

47. Sick. Twisted. Fucks.

n/t

[Hekate]

48. Don't leave us hanging! What did they decide?

Stupid muggles.

Of course, for real violence and bloodshed, nothing beats the Old Testament.

Hekate

[RebelOne]

50. The board has 10 days to make a decision,

so guess we'll just have to wait.

[pookieblue]

51. Hearing draws Potter foes, fans

Not all of us down here in Ga have lost our minds. though that sometimes makes it tougher. ugh.

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/gwinnett/stories/0421gwxpotter.html

[trixie]

53. Harry Potter is so over anyways

The craze has gone down with the aging of the central character.

Besides - the characters (as in fiction) follow the Christian religion.

[Greyskye]

56. Huh?

In what sense do the characters "follow the Christian religion"? Other than having Christmas holidays present in the books, where in the world do you get that the characters are Christian. It simply isn't addressed - and properly so, IMHO.

And I'm sorry, but I'm for books that encourage kids to read. My son isn't even 8 yet, and he's finished reading The Goblet of Fire. Of course, that was the requirement for getting to watch the movie. He's read all of the books before that one as well.

I don't feel that the books have "gone down with the aging of the central character"; I think they've matured.

[trixie]

57. Meaning....they do follow the Christian calendar

As a librarian and Head of Children's Services for 3 cities......the circulation of this series has gone down, way down. We used to have 15-20 copies on hand and they were always out (the first 3 books) now we have about 4 of each book and you can always find one on the shelf. The younger readers aren't relating to Harry and pals anymore. My 9 year old really did not like the dance, dating etc with the Goblet of Fire and will skip whole portions of the following books because of the "teen crap".

I am a huge Harry Potter fan myself but I no longer have to have a Harry Potter special budget anymore. Not a knock against the books just the reading patterns of children. Because of the popularity of Harry the kids are reading at a much higher level now. In our area the hot book is Magyk. Same sort of good vs evil but it has a disk that they can look at maps, potions etc while reading the book. They also like Eragon, Eldest etc.

[Hekate]

58. That's interesting. The themes have matured with the characters, so ...

...I'm not all that surprised that the reading audience has changed.

The death of Dumbledore at the end of "The Half-Blood Prince" was an awful shock to me, as an adult, and I'm not sure I'd want a child under the age of 9 to go there unawares.

I don't know, though. Youngsters who started when the series started are now old enough, you know? And any little kid who gets engaged enough with reading these books should be rewarded by being allowed to go on reading them. Now that we adults all know how "Half-Blood" turns out, we can be available to talk about it with younger readers -- which we should, in any case.

I hope that the original audience remains faithful -- or that they return when hormones kick in and teen relationships seem more plausible to them. It's just that at a certain point, the kids have so much else to do.

What's incredibly important, though, is to get the youngest hooked on books. There's no stopping them after that.

In my dreams, JK Rowling would have her portrait hung in every K-8 library in the land, imo. Plenty of copies of Harry Potter. Reading and discussion groups to keep those kids excited.

No muggles need apply.

Hekate