Ramirez went on to say in the March 25 New Haven Register that three years ago his wife Jeannine had convinced West Shore Middle School Principal Macaire Stein to pull several library books, whose titles he could not recall, because the Ramirezes had contended that the books contained sexually graphic themes. “Do we really want books about oral sex in our schools?” Ramirez asked. He added that his current request stems from his sister-in-law Colleen Ramirez discovering materials with occult themes at a John F. Kennedy School book swap. He cited as objectionable The Empty Grave by Ida Chittum, The Berenstain Bears and the Ghost of the Forest by Stan and Jan Berenstain, the Hardy Boys title The Witchmaster’s Key by Franklin W. Dixon, and Beware This House Is Haunted by Henry Dreher. Kennedy Principal John Barile agreed a few might be “questionable” but insisted an audit was unnecessary.
“Literature adds to the lives of our children,” said Connecticut Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Teresa Younger, emphasizing that “no one person should dictate what students have access to in school libraries, if the librarian, school board, and superintendent feel these books are suitable.”
Posted March 26, 2004.