Wichita Falls Council Approves
Censorship by Petition
Two weeks after narrowly defeating a proposal to mandate a restricted area for offensive children's books in the Wichita Falls Public Library, the city council approved a resolution February 16 mandating that library staffers move to the adult collection any children's book deemed inappropriate by 300 petitioners.
Effective immediately, the ordinance is the culmination of a campaign launched last summer by Rev. Robert Jeffress to get the gay-positive Daddy's Roommate andHeather Has Two Mommies out of the children's area. And although council members gave the library administrator and city manager the right to appeal petitioners' objections to the council, City Manager Jim Berzina told the Wichita Falls Times Record News February 18 that his “gut reaction” is not to appeal should critics garner enough signatures to have the books restricted.
He shouldn't have to wait long to test his instincts. “They were already filling out petitions at the library yesterday,” WFPL Administrator Linda Hughes told the newspaper February 17.
Posted February 15, 1999.
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