CARTOON PUBLICATION CONTROVERSY
by: WLOS ABC Greenville, clipsyndicate.com

Cartoon Publication Controversy
WLOS ABC Greenville • Apr. 03, 2008. 06:00 PM EST



Anti-gay cartoon school publication has been release; student editor claims of not releasing it intentionally.

Transcript:
on the blue ridge parkway. john le talks about opening day for asheville tourists stop the presses! the release of a high school magazine is halted... after this controversial cartoon is published. news 13's pat simon joins us now... ...and pat, this is the first time mcdowell county has yanked a school publication? that's right, larry... ...and school administrators admit that young people like to express themselves in so many different ways - but they have to watch the line... not cross it. it. ((pat simon reporting:)) this cartoon is causing controversy for mcdowell high school. the drawing by student dani watson reads "h.a.g. ... heterosexuals for the annilation of gays. pushing gays back in the closet since 1984." it was very close to being released in the march edition of "the muses" magazine... a school run publication. but before that happened... the entire publication was pulled. (sot 08:39 ) "what we're after is not to disrupt our educational process ...and so we're trying to go through and not be offensive to any group." school superintendent dr. ira trollinger says when the issue first surfaced ... the principal and student editor discussed it ... and the editor was told the rip the cartoon out of each magazine. he says the student agreed ... but then the student made more copies of the publication with the "cartoon" still in it. that's when they decided to confiscate the entire publication. (sot 09:20) "i think if you had 100 people there might be 100 different interpretations ... and i guess that's good literature...but the problem comes when a group takes offense to that ... and sees it as it in a negative light and then gets all stirred up about not doing what we're their for ...and that's learning." student editor candice workman tells us ... they she did not consider the cartoon offensive... and that ..."the meaning of it was to show how gay people are persecuted." she says did not intentionally try to release copies of the publication with the controversial cartoon still inside. and she meant to pull the cartoon out ... before the copies were confiscated. north carolina state law gives school administrators editorial control of school publications. no punishment has been handed down in this case ... and "the muses" may be up and running in time for its next publication. investigators have released the name of the madison county man found dead in his driveway. the madison county sheriff's office say it appears 28-year- old andrew shelton died from an overdose of the powerful painkiller fentanyl. deputies arrested 27-year-old larry roberts who they say sold shelton patches of the painkiller. they
Full Story. [4/4/08]