CLN: An overengineered solution

Letter to the editor, re: Books: “Under Lock and Key,” Sunday Sept. 15.

I have tried to follow the excitement around the CLN issues and so I read your editorial with interest. A couple of thoughts: Managing a growing family, a business, or a public entity is complex. This is true especially in times when resources are scarce — everyone needs help; and so, the CLN trustees can be forgiven for falling into the trap of over engineering a solution. This is something totalitarian and communist governments do. They begin with the belief that only one person (hard right) or one government (hard left) have the answers, and that the citizens are incapable of carrying on life without strict guidance (laws and regulations) from the entity in charge. So, the Trustees have magnanimously taken it upon themselves to help the overburdened, negligent, and unaware parents with their children’s upbringing. It’s a shame that the only solutions must apply to everyone.

I recognize that not all books are fit for the young (what is young, at my age I routinely refer to 45-year-olds as kids). As an example, take the Bible with all of its violence and prurient behavior, certainly the complete book must be kept away from children of reading age?  

The solutions discussed seem over engineered, not a surprise given those designing them; but, what if we just put the “inappropriate” material on the top shelf?

JIM MANNING

Hayden