Duo seeks to ban book

Two community members took their fight to the City Council and read a passage from a book of a child rape scene — one of a number of passages they object to — in an attempt to get the book removed from school shelves.

Westminster resident and former Westminster School District Trustee Judy Ahrens and Ocean View School District Trustee John Briscoe want Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” out of middle school libraries and off teacher’s bookshelves.

“I’m here to speak on the behalf of helpless children who are currently subject to inappropriate reading material in our local public schools,” Briscoe said.

Reading the passage during the City Council meeting Monday, which goes out live to all of Huntington Beach, the two asked if all children could leave the room.

“I don’t wish to read this material. I am very uncomfortable doing it, but for the sake of the innocence of our children . . . it is definitely necessary,” Ahrens said.

The scene involving the rape of an 8-year-old is only one passage they have objections to.

The book also deals with child molestation, lesbian sex, teen sex and teen pregnancy. The book has been available for middle school children to check out since 1995. Briscoe said he finds the material inappropriate for a middle school audience.

“I believe the explicit description of illegal sexual acts and variant sexual behavior, without any redeeming social value statements of correct, legal and moral youth sexual conduct, sets the wrong standards in our school,” Briscoe said in a statement.

The Ocean View School District pulled the book after Ahrens read the same passage at one of the district’s board meetings. The board moved to have the book reviewed by the instructional review committee, Supt. Alan G. Rasmussen said.

The book will go through the district’s set policy and procedures for when anyone challenges a book, he said. It was pulled off the shelves and reviewed by the committee Wednesday, and the committee will make a recommendation to Rasmussen, he said.

From there, he will make a recommendation to the board of trustees, who will vote to keep the book on the shelf, remove it, or put some kind of restriction on it.

The entire process could take about 30 days, Rasmussen said.

The committee will look at how the book fits in with the philosophy of the district and how it ties in with the curriculum, he said.

Rasmussen said the book isn’t a random selection to be put in the school’s library, but is part of the state adopted textbooks.

“It’s a serious process that they follow . . . we want a decision that we feel will make a good choice for the education of the children,” she said.

COUNCILMAN APOLOGIZES

Councilman Devin Dwyer apologized during the City Council meeting Monday for trying to change the city’s street sweeping policy after receiving about a dozen tickets.

After receiving a lot of feedback from the community on his declaration, Dwyer said he has decided to change the ticket appeals process instead of the actual ticketing.

“I understand that the way I brought this issue forward was wrong, and I apologize for my behavior,” Dwyer said.

Dwyer was upset over receiving his 12th parking ticket after failing to move his car in time for the street sweeper. He told the press he would resign during the meeting if he couldn’t change the street-sweeping policy and would rip up his ticket, but during the meeting, he said that would be “a bit theatrical.”

Some people were calling his antics an abuse of power, but Dwyer said he would be up at the podium trying to get the system changed even if he were not an elected official.

“My point is, if I can’t effect changes as a City Council member, why am I here?” Dwyer has said.

Dwyer said the ticketing of residents and the two police vehicles that follow the street sweeper are a “revenue generator.”

“I think it’s egregious that this city continues to fine us every time the sweeper truck goes by,” he said.

Dwyer originally discussed a warning system for residents and promised to bring the issue back to the council, but said after twice meeting with City Administrator Fred Wilson and Chief of Police Ken Small , they devised a change to the ticketing appeals process.

The process will now go to a panel of three citizen volunteers, Dwyer said.