Arkansas Governor Urged to Come Out Stronger Against School Library Porn
by Jim Brown
September 8, 2005
(AgapePress) - An Arkansas state senator believes some sexually explicit books being made available to Fayetteville children through school libraries may actually violate state obscenity laws. A local group of concerned citizens is seeking to get more than 50 books it has identified as pornographic removed from the Fayetteville schools' libraries. State Senator Jim Holt has asked Arkansas Attorney General Mike Beebe to issue an opinion on the legality of the obscene books. Holt says he was shocked to discover the content of the controversial materials. (See earlier story)
"I had no idea that material that obscene and that explicit -- to be frank, that pornographic -- would ever be in a public school library [where] taxpayers had funded that material," the senator says. "And it's [available] to the youngest of children, our elementary and our junior high and our high school students. I'm 40 years old, and I would have never dreamed of even looking at anything like that."
Although some obscenity laws in Arkansas have recently been changed, Holt is asking Beebe to expedite his review to determine whether the schools' inclusion of such materials may be unlawful and to issue an opinion on the matter. Meanwhile, the senator feels Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee could do more to address the controversy.
Huckabee has said the Fayetteville school board should remove the books, if they are indeed pornographic. However, the governor has noted that he has no authority to compel the board to change its library policies.
Holt believes Huckabee could be more firm in his opposition to the sexually explicit books. The lawmaker says he is glad the governor has "finally come out" against the controversial books and encouraged the school board to act on them if they are truly pornographic; but Holt contends that the materials in question are definitely pornographic, and the governor needs to be definite in his denunciation of them.
The Arkansas legislator makes no bones about his own assessment of the books. "They are obscene," he says. "I've seen them; it's just detestable. But, you know, a governor sets a tone, and if the governor comes out heavily against something, I think it would make people take notice. It would definitely get more press, and I think you'd see the books taken out rather quickly."
A group of concerned citizens is providing information on the issue -- including links to excerpts and summaries of several of the books deemed sexually explicit or otherwise "pornographic" that were found in Fayetteville school libraries -- at the website www.wpaag.org. The group is also urging visitors to the site to sign an online petition opposing the materials.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
