PROUD OF MOM: ‘Elections have consequences’

Back when I was going to Wallace High School in the early 1970s, my mom owned and ran The Book Barter. It was a small used bookstore in Osburn. I got a little interested in Dungeons and Dragons. Not crazy about it, but interested. My mom was nice enough to order some Dungeons and Dragons books and accessories for me and my friends. Not long after, she got a visit from several of the church leaders in Osburn. They told her that they would boycott her store and encourage their congregation to also boycott it if she did not remove the Dungeons and Dragons items from her store.

My mom thought about it for a while and then decided to not cave into their demands. I was never more proud of her than I was for that decision. Her decision taught me that standing up for what you believe in, no matter what the cost, was important.

Now the Community Library Board wants to do the same thing. What gives them the right to decide what I can read. No books about Halloween! Are you kidding me? What is next? No books about any other religion except theirs? No books about any version of Christianity except theirs?

I’m sorry, but if I wanted to live in a country where the government controlled what I read, I would move to North Korea, China or Russia.

Elections have consequences.

DUNCAN BELL

Rathdrum