BENTONVILLE, Ark. - A Bentonville man wants the city to pay his two sons $20,000 after they found a book on lesbian sex on the shelves of a city library.
Earl Adams says since his 14- and 16-year-old sons found "The Whole Lesbian Sex Book" while looking for books on military academies, they have been "great disturbed ... and this matter has caused many sleepless nights in our house." Adams wants the city to pay each son $10,000 under Arkansas' obscenity laws and called for Library Director Cindy Suter to be fired.
Suter, who plans to leave her job May 31 to work at her privately owned art gallery, said Adams' complaints did not figure into her resignation. She moved the book after the first complaint, but after receiving more letters from Adams, the library's advisory board voted to take the book off the shelves earlier this month.
Bentonville City Attorney Camille Thompson described Adams' claim as baseless.
"There is not a valid legal concern here," Thompson said. "In fact, (the request for money) made me question his motivation."
The book, by Felice Newman, is a sex guide deemed suitable for all public libraries, according to the Library Journal, which the Bentonville library uses to decide what to place on its shelves. Suter said the library aims to have books and other materials to serve a diverse group of library users.
Library Advisory Board member George Spence said he found the book crude, but said it should be replaced with another book on the same topic.
"A more sensitive, more clinical approach to (the) same material might be more appropriate for the library," Spence said.
Information from: The Morning News, http://www.nwaonline.net/
Source : http://www.pbcommercial.com/articles/2007/04/20/ap-state-ar/d8okbb2o0.txt
No comments:
Post a Comment