ABFFE
Fights School Ban on Harry Potter Books in Zeeland, MI
ABFFE is supporting students, parents and
teachers in Zeeland, Michigan, who are trying to overturn restrictions on the use of J.K.
Rowling's Harry Potter books in the schools there. Last November, School Superintendent
Gary L. Feenstra told teachers to stop reading the books aloud in class. He also declared
that kids must have their parents' permission to borrow Potter books from the library or
use them for book reports. Feenstra's restrictions have been the subject of local protest:
one class of third graders wrote letters asking the superintendent to reverse his policy;
a group of teachers has asked the school board to overrule Feenstra.
ABFFE sent protest letters to Feenstra and
the school board. Scholastic, the publisher of the Potter books, the American Library
Association and the National Council of Teachers of English have also written letters to
the board.
In his letter to Feenstra, ABFFE President
Chris Finan said that his restrictions had violated the First Amendment rights of both
children and their parents: "....[Y]ou have denied children the opportunity to
encounter some extraordinary books that they may otherwise never know. They can't hear
them read in class. They can't pick them up in the library. But it isn't only children who
will not get a chance to examine them. Parents normally become aware of the books their
children are using in school when they bring them home. By requiring prior parental
permission to borrow the Potter books from the library, you have foreclosed the
possibility that many parents will have the opportunity to review them and decide for
themselves whether they are appropriate for their children."
Both Feenstra's memo restricting the Potter
books and Finan's letter are available on the ABFFE web site, .
ABFFE Opposed Bill Barring
Sale of Information About Illegal Drugs
ABFFE has urged the White House to oppose a
bill that would send a bookseller to jail for 10 years for selling a book or magazine that
describes the manufacture of a controlled substance with the intent that the information
be used to violate the Federal drug laws. In a letter to a White House staffer who is
preparing an analysis of the proposed Methamephetamine Control Act, ABFFE warned that the
bill would have a chilling effect on the sale of all books that deal with the subject of
illegal drugs, including those containing important information about health or merely
advocating the legalization of drugs.
ABFFE's letter also objected to the general
approach of the bill, which is known as the Hatch Amendment: "We do not oppose
punishing people who knowingly assist a criminal. But what the Hatch Amendment does is to
criminalize books and magazines on the assumption that they will lead to unlawful acts. By
the same logic, we could ban detailed descriptions of a bank robbery or a kidnaping
because they might instruct potential criminals in how to commit future crimes.
This approach is in direct conflict with the
First Amendment philosophy that holds that it is criminal conduct that we punish, not
speech. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes argued that we must accept even seditious speech to
preserve the marketplace of ideas. He knew that criminalizing speech does not solve our
problems, it undermines our freedom."
The Hatch Amendment has already passed the
Senate as an amendment to a bankruptcy bill. It will be one of the provisions that will be
taken up in a conference with the House.
Unanimous Appeals Court
Acquits Oprah of Veggie Libel -- Again
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of
Appeals has rejected a lawsuit that claimed that a guest on the Oprah Winfrey violated the
Texas "food disparagement" law when he urged viewers to stop eating beef because
of the danger of contracting mad cow disease. A group of Texas beef producers claimed that
his statement was based on false information and sued both the guest and Oprah on the
grounds that the remarks constituted "disparagement" under the recently approved
law. A jury had previously cleared Oprah and her co-defendents of the charge.
Unfortunately, the decision does not end the
threat of the so-called "veggie libel" laws. It did not address the First
Amendment issues raised in an amicus brief filed by ABFFE, the Association of American
Publishers Association, the Society of Professional Journalists and the Center for Science
in the Public Interest. Thirteen states have laws that allow food producers to sue anyone
who makes comments critical of their products. These laws can be used to silence writers
who want to raise questions about the safety of our food supply. Veggie libel laws would
undoubtedly have been used to try to suppress Upton Sinclair’s "The Jungle"
and Rachel Carson’s "Silent Spring."
ABFFE Online Auction Opens
Monday Offering Great Bookseller Bargains
The ABFFE Online Auction will open Monday
morning, offering great deals on a wide range of items, including books, canvas tote bags,
tickets to the Playboy Jazz Festival and a hotel package for two in New York's historic
Hudson Valley. Bidding begins at 9 a.m., Eastern Time, and will continue all week, ending
February 28, at noon.
Featured items include admission passes to
BookExpo America; convention packages from the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers
Association, the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association and the Great Lakes Booksellers
Association; a $500 Libris gift certificate, and books from Focal Point Publications,
Fulcrum Publishers, Microsoft Press, Oak Tree Publishing, Phi Publishing, Sterling
Publishing and Vegetarian Resource Group.
Enjoy the excitement of an auction, grab a
bargain and support ABFFE, all at the same time! To join the fun, visit the ABFFE web site
at and press the "Online
Auction" button. Thanks!
Previously in ABFFE Update
