Marshall Democrat-News editor Chuck Mason takes a stand:
I’m no legal scholar but there is one thing I do know: censorship is censorship.
I have no qualms with Louise Mills of Marshall, who objected to the two books and filed the necessary paperwork to bring the matter to the attention of the board of trustees. Mills is a resident who has a complaint and she has the right to register it.
What I object to is pulling the books off the shelves.
The library board has essentially blinked in the harsh light of public discussion.
I skimmed his editorial and didn’t see any “even comic books” language, as in “Even comic books deserve First Amendment protection.” In other words he treated the two books as he would any other book and without seeming to think his audience had to be jollied along on that point. Which is reassuring as far as public acceptance of the medium goes. (He does make the point that the racy stuff in the Bible seems less threatening because the Bible doesn’t necessarily have pictures, but that isn’t the same.)
Glad to see there’s a voice of sanity in the town that’s prepared to make itself heard.