'Gun-Toting' Photo Won't Hold Up Yearbook's Progress
by Jim Brown
February 23, 2005
(AgapePress) - A federal judge won't stall publication of a New Hampshire high school yearbook while a student fights to include a photo of himself toting a shotgun.Londonderry High School officials had offered to let senior Blake Douglass put the photo in a special "Community Sports" section of the school annual, but would not allow it to be his senior portrait. The avid sport shooter, who is depicted in the photo with a broke-open shotgun slung over his shoulder, says that violates his First Amendment rights.
But U.S. District Judge Steven McAuliffe ruled that Douglass was unlikely to win his battle because students, rather than administrators, made the photo decisions. And since those students are private citizens, the judge said, the First Amendment does not preclude the student editors from censoring the photo.
However, Douglass' attorney Penny Dean takes issue with that assertion, saying the decision was not made exclusively by students.
"The original yearbook advisor had made a decision, the assistant yearbook advisor had said no, the principal said no, the superintendent said no, the school board said no," Dean states. "And even though it was discussed that the kids had been queried and consulted about it, it was never ever presented -- at least to the Douglasses -- in a way that made them think that there was any action other than by school administrators."
In the attorney's opinion, school officials have employed a troubling double standard as well. She explains that in mid-January, the school board proposed a new "no props" policy for yearbook photos. That policy was officially implemented on January 25.
"The timing [of the policy change] is quite interesting, given what's happened in this particular case," Dean says. "And even then under the new policy, [which] says that students must conform to the school dress code, we had approximately 20 students that didn't conform to the school dress code."
The principal's reaction to those infractions, she says, was that school officials "have to make certain exceptions for yearbooks and such."
Dean has asked the trial judge to hold a final hearing on the Douglass case on March 8. Meanwhile, the school principal says officials are "very pleased" that the yearbook can go forward.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
