St. Tammany Libraries Replay Restrictions
on R, NC-17 Videos
The 4–3 January 19 decision of the St. Tammany Parish Library board not to restrict R and NC-17 videos from minors was overruled January 21 by a unanimous vote of the Parish Police Jury compelling libraries to follow the same policy as local video stores: Users under 17 are banned from checking out an R-rated movie without their parents' consent.
The January 22 New Orleans Times Picayune reported that legal counsel advised parish officials that the new policy could not be construed as censorship, but newly elected library board president Mark Johnson warned, “There's going to be litigation and there's going to be a suit filed.”
The decision ends months of deliberation by the parish library board about 354 titles in STPL's 12,044-movie collection, which began last September when trustees ordered library staff to pull the adult films.
Posted February 8, 1999.
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