Mom checked out racy teen books from library — and she won't give them back

[bluestateguy]

I just do not "get" White fundamentalist Christian culture. I really don't. It is as foreign to me as radical Islam is. I guess her constitutional right to not be offended was violated (?)



Probably one of those stupid "security Moms we heard about in the 2004 election.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/seminole/os-longwood-library-gossip-girl-books20100505,0,7112288.story

Longwood parent Tina Harden was so disturbed by references to sex and drugs and foul language in the world of fictional teenager Jenny Humphrey that she is ignoring overdue notices and phone calls from her neighborhood library and its bill collector.

Harden refuses to return several books connected to the Gossip Girl series that detail Humphrey's life, even though she's had them since 2008.

"If I turn them in, they will be put back into circulation and they'll be available for more young girls to read," said the mother of three, who keeps the four books hidden in a closet. "Some material is inappropriate for minors."

Harden said she doesn't want them banned, but she does want the library to put a warning label on the four titles — one in the Gossip Girl series by Cecily von Ziegesar, and three in a spin-off series called It Girl — and make them unavailable to minors. The library refused but has agreed to re-shelve them in the adult-reading section.

more

[slackmaster]

1. Fine her for the replacement cost, and revoke her card

:shrug:

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Go one better: Larceny Indictment.

She's on record, exhibiting an intent to physically remove an item that belongs to a third party with no intention of returning it at all.

[BlueIris]

47. No kidding.

What an asshole.

[Wickerman]

I hope she is collecting fines

and not receiving any library services while her account is in arrears.

[mitchum]

3. May she soon be with her precious lord

[treestar]

4. This kind of thing just makes people want to read it more

She's probably just made more interested readers than there were before.

[RKP5637]

8. Yeah, I saw this on the tube. The books sounded interesting! n/t

[NoodleyAppendage]

5. Chances are her daughters are promiscuous drug users. Who'd blame them? n/t

J

[SoCalNative]

6. Lock the stupid woman up

and let her rot in jail until she learns her lesson.

[baldguy]

33. +1000 -- Isn't theft of public property a crime?

[dflprincess]

7. Because in the real world young girls will never ever come across

"sex and drugs and foul language"

My concern is that the books apparently don't mention rock and roll to go along with the sex & drugs (or else Tina would have mentioned it, I'm sure). What is the world coming to? :hippie:

[RKP5637]

13. Oh, teens don't know about any of this stuff, the bad bad books do it all... Keep 'em ignorant like

mom!

[KamaAina]

9. Note to von Ziegesar's publisher: Donate shiny new signed hardcover copies of each to the library

and have someone go down there for a big, honkin' photo op.

[havocmom]

16. YEP! That is the sort of publicity money cannot buy

and it is dirt cheap to boot! :hi:

[poverlay]

10. I'd be happy to chip in on replacing those, and taking out a few ads on myspace and teen mags...n/t

[Bluebear]

11. Thou Shalt Not Steal

[intheflow]

51. +1

Oh, wait. It's ok if you know god's mind well enough to know what other people's kids should or should not be able to read. :eyes:

[ljm2002]

12. I almost hope...

...that all three of her girls get pregnant out of wedlock.

Okay, okay, not really. But only for the sake of the girls. This woman is a freak IMO. I just look at her face and I want to SMACK her.

Grrrrr.....

[RKP5637]

15. +1, n/t

[havocmom]

14. She is not avoiding being offended. She is a fucking control freak

She is trying to have power over others by denying access to material to those who may feel differently about it than she does.

What offends her is that the world refuses to acknowledge her as the boss of us. Her issues go way beyond any written material.

[FreakinDJ]

17. Make sure you check the link and vote in the Poll

Tina Harden is right. She's a taxpayer, and she should have a say in what books are stocked on her local public library's shelf.
6%

I've read books in this series, and I don't see what's so offensive.
1%

Tina Harden is denying others the opportunity to read these books. She needs to return them immediately and pay her overdue-book fines.
85%

If I could help Tina Harden, I would.
2%

I'm running to my local public library right now to check out the books!
6%

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

18. She was upset they didn't have books encouraging sleeping pills and cosmetic surgery.

[RKP5637]

19. Sarah Palin without her glasses? Incognito? n/t

[mnhtnbb]

20. The paper is running a poll on the left side of the story: 85% believe she

should return the books and pay the fine.

Can you imagine being stuck with a woman like this for your mother? I feel sorry for her children.

[jberryhill]

21. Those Teens... Hanging Around The Library... Reading Books

Yep. By golly, those teenagers who check books out of the library and read them... gotta keep an eye on those troublemakers.

They could get ideas.

[Nikki Stone1]

34. Her kids might actually be sent to the library with Mom thinking it's safe

But no.... It's not safe....:evilgrin:

[jberryhill]

37. Yeah, like reading the Bible

Among my favorites:

----
Joshua 2:1

1 Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. "Go, look over the land," he said, "especially Jericho." So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.
---

What's hilarious about ensuing events is there is never much of a question why those knuckleheads sent to "look over the land" immediately went to a brothel and holed up there.

It's like... Oh, of course they went there.

[Nikki Stone1]

45. LOL!! It still doesn't beat Galatians, 5:11-12

11 Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished.
12 As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!

[Snarkoleptic]

22. The publicity from her stunt will result in increased sales of these books.

Natch she never thought of this before running in front of every camera in three counties to tell her batshit crazy story.

Gotta love these fundie fucknuts.

[Warpy]

28. They'll be reserved for the next two years

by kids who want to know what they've been missing.

Good way to encourage reading, stupid!

[tanyev]

23. If you don't return books and don't pay for them, my library sends you to a collection agency.

And they would replace the books.

[onehandle]

24. Let's just buy the library new copies... Hell, ten copies of each.

'doesn't want them banned.'

But that's what you are doing, lady. Banning by theft.

All she's doing is promoting these books and more like them. Pointless.

[Froward69]

25. And somehow she herself got pregnant.

I bet that was in the dark, under the covers, with little movement or conversation.

[MiniMe]

27. I doubt she got herself pregnant

That would require a brain and planning. I'm sure a man got her pregnant.

[Froward69]

53. ok let me rephrase that

Somehow she allowed a man to touch her "Inappropriately" enough to get pregnant. (at least once anyway.)

[Warpy]

26. Back in the good old days, there was a section called "the stacks"

that was behind the checkout area, a room full of shelves of books that regularly outraged all the Baptist preachers down south. Theoretically, one had to present proof of being over 21, but I was granted the run of the stacks at 15 after a call from my mother telling them I'd just send somebody else to get them for me so they might as well just let me in.

It's where I found Henry Miller, William Burroughs, Mark Twain's wonderfully scatological "1621" and a host of other stuff.

I just wonder if the same system exists today.

In any case, reshelving those books in the adult section is a good compromise because kids high school age are probably going there, anyway, and would miss them in the kid section.

[Regret My New Name]

29. uggggh. I would hate to have to deal with this woman.

That's all I have to say.

[ellie]

30. Throw the dummy in jail.

This is the same as stealing.

[Turbineguy]

31. Obviously she should

burn them. That's how one deals with books one doesn't like.

[MrSlayer]

32. This is what is known as theft.

She should be arrested.

[LuckyLib]

35. "the mother of three, who keeps the four books hidden in a closet."

We need to give you a clue here, Mom. Any one of your kids who can read has found them.

Nothing is "hidden in a closet" or was when I was a kid. ;-)

[baldguy]

36. Can I check out every Bible

And insist that the library put warning labels on them: "Caution: Adult Content. May adversely effect weak-minded people"?

[Manifestor_of_Light]

55. Here ya go.

I myself would NEVER EVER condone using these:

http://www.freethoughtpedia.com/wiki/Bible_stickers

[damntexdem]

38. Thou shalt not steal.

I seem to remember that that is one of the Ten Suggestions.

[sadbear]

39. If the library uses a collection agency...

they can just turn her account over to them. Let her deal with the pit bulls and let her credit rating take the hit.

[enuegii]

40. Isn't that Betty Bowers? n/t

[asdjrocky]

41. Twit.

[Quantess]

42. I'd like to present her teenagers with a Marquis De Sade collection.

:evilgrin:

[fishwax]

43. perhaps it's time to get the police involved

Stealing library books is wrong.

[abelenkpe]

44. She's insane

I love how she thinks it's her job to decide what others get to read but I guarantee if an atheist were to check out the bible and refuse to return it she'd go bananas.

[tomm2thumbs]

46. she's only calling attention to the books to kids across the entire country now- who are curious now

she has done exactly the opposite of what she was supposedly intending to do

I love that part

dimwit

[depakid]

48. Yet another one...

[SeattleGirl]

49. Can she be charged with theft?

I'd like to see that happen.

[Contrary1]

50. Vigilante Mom Returns Gossip Girl Books to Library

:puke:
Bet she called Sarah for advice.

"The Florida woman holding her local library's Gossip Girl books hostage because she deemed their content "really inappropriate" has returned them. "I feel like I had done my part to help focus attention on this," Tina Harden tells the Orlando Sentinel , which broke the story yesterday. Since then, the library has received donations of replacement books and money to buy new copies..."

http://celebrifi.com/gossip/Vigilante-Mom-Returns-Gossip-Girl-Books-to-Library-2423445.html

[tanyev]

54. Oh yeah, she focused attention on it.

The books are going to be more popular than ever. FUNDIE FAIL.

[fishwax]

58. lol -- she's definitely helped focus attention on the books themselves

:rofl:

Now everyone will be scrambling to check them out next.

[DiverDave]

52. I chose the poll answar

Run right out and check em out...

Nothing like twisting the thumpers panties tighter

[Solly Mack]

56. Snort

Idiot

[TheMightyFavog]

57. As a librarian myself I say this:

Since this woman has made it clear that she has no intention of returning the books, it is right and proper to refer her to the police and have them arrest her for theft.