Bookburners are acting up in Wisconsin

[pscot]

This was referenced in a book thread over at Dkos.These people are seriously nuts. Interesting thread, by the way. I added mas libros to my already-too-long reading list.


http://www.ala.org/ala/alonline/currentnews/newsarchive/2009/june2009/westbendbabybebop060309.cfm

Life grows more interesting by the day for officials of the West Bend (Wis.) Community Memorial Library. After four months of grappling with an evolving challenge to young-adult materials deemed sexually explicit by area residents Ginny and Jim Maziarka, library trustees voted 9–0 June 2 to maintain the young-adult collection as is “without removing, relocating, labeling, or otherwise restricting access” to any titles. However, board members were made cognizant that same evening that another material challenge waited in the wings: Milwaukee-area citizen Robert C. Braun of the Christian Civil Liberties Union (CCLU) distributed at the meeting copies of a claim for damages he and three other plaintiffs filed April 28 with the city; the complainants seek the right to publicly burn or destroy by another means the library’s copy of Baby Be-Bop. The claim also demands $120,000 in compensatory damages ($30,000 per plaintiff) for being exposed to the book in a library display, and the resignation of West Bend Mayor Kristine Deiss for “allow this book to be viewed by the public.”

The unanimous vote rejecting the Maziarkas’ challenge came after trustees heard several dozen comments for and against restricting the materials, as well as being presented with opposing petitions: 700 signatures on the petition circulated by West Bend Citizens for Safe Libraries, a group formed by the Maziarkas, and more than 1,000 on an anti-restriction petition from the newly formed West Bend Parents for Free Speech. Ironically, four of the trustees were denied reappointment in April by the city council because they did not comply with the Maziarkas’ reconsideration requests and are serving until their successors are appointed.(more)

[donco6]

1. Review of Baby Be-Bop

I can see why they would be scarred, it's about GAYS (EEEEEK!):

From Publishers Weekly
Embroidering her prose with lushly romantic imagery, Block returns to the world of Weetzie Bat for this keenly felt story. A prequel of sorts to Weetzie Bat, the novel opens while Weetzie's best friend Dirk is still a child, lying on his mat at naptime. "Dirk had known it since he could remember"-known, that is, that he is gay. Tenderly raised by Grandma Fifi, famous for her pastries and her 1955 Pontiac convertible, Dirk struggles with love and fear: "He wanted to be strong and to love someone who was strong; he wanted to meet any gaze, to laugh under the brightest sunlight and never hide." After his first heartbreak, with his closest friend (who cannot accept Dirk's love nor his own for Dirk), Dirk battles more fiercely for identity; beaten up by a gang of punks, he slumps into semiconsciousness and is visited by his ancestors, each telling a haunting, lyrical tale of love, faith and self-acceptance. What might seem didactic from lesser writers becomes a gleaming gift from Block. Her extravagantly imaginative settings and finely honed perspectives remind the reader that there is magic everywhere. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

[Chulanowa]

2. Not just gays...

Gays coming to terms and accepting who they are. That's what scares the book-burners.

here's hoping they get laughed out.

[Ranting_Wacko]

3. Unfortunately...

... this is their reaction to being laughed out when they went through the regular, legal procedure to have a book taken out of the library. Trustees voted 9-0 against them and the counter-protest Parents group in favor of Free Speech raised more signatures than they did on a "Trust Our Librarians" petition.

What's more unfortunate is that despite an overwhelming amount of public support for the library and the mayor on this matter, the city council is knuckling under to the fringe religious nuts and has refused to reinstate four of the nine library trustees.

[madaboutharry]

4. I live in Wisconsin and I can tell you that there are

a lot of small-minded backwater hicks up here. The number of people who are completely wacko is really astonishing.