Contested Videos Get Second Run on Louisiana Shelves

http://www.ala.org/ala/alonline/currentnews/newsarchive/2003/alnov2003/contestedvideos.cfm

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Posted November 3, 2003.

Contested Videos Get Second Run on Louisiana Shelves

The films My Chauffeur and Sugar and Spice are back on the shelves of the Lafourche Parish Library’s Bayou Blue branch as of late October at the request of the same person who asked for their reconsideration this summer. Complainant Mark Atzenhoffer borrowed the two movies, rated R and PG-13 respectively, to view with his 11-year-old daughter. But when he screened the films at home before viewing them with the child, Atzenhoffer was offended by instances of nudity and use of profanity in the films, he stated in his request for reconsideration.

At the library board’s October 27 meeting, Atzenhoffer, who is a candidate for the District 5 Parish Council, emphasized that he had never sought the videos’ ban, but rather a system to keep such fare out of the hands of minors. Citing the MPAA rating system, library Director Paul Chiquet asked rhetorically whether customers under 18 can “walk into Wal-Mart and buy an R-rated movie.” “The First Amendment gives you that freedom,” board member Marilyn Duet replied, according to the October 29 Thibodeaux Daily Comet.

Reiterating his opposition to removing or labeling materials, Chiquet promised to look into the feasibility of restricting minors’ access to R-rated films. “You can’t legislate morality,” reacted Parish Council liaison Joseph Fertitta, who cautioned that establishing such a system would be “opening a big can of worms.”

Posted November 3, 2003; revised November 3.