FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, August 28, 2000
NEW IBERIA, LA -- Saying that a local sheriff may not censor the music at a skating rink, a federal judge today ordered officials to return all confiscated music, including the "Hokey Pokey," and songs by Britney Spears and Snoop Doggy Dog, to the rink owner.
The Court also said that the Sheriff violated the First Amendment rights of the rink owner and manager by arresting them for playing songs by Christina Aguilera, Snoop Doggy Dogg, as well as the "Hokey Pokey" and the Disney Tarzan soundtrack.
"The judge has clearly stated that 'music as a form of expression, is protected under the First Amendment,' and that the 'First Amendment protection extends to rap music,'" said Joe Cook, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana. "The government cannot limit expression just because Sheriff Hebert, or even a majority of people in Iberia Parish, finds it offensive."
The lawsuit, filed by the ACLU, challenged the actions of Iberia Parish Sheriff Sid Hebert who closed down the skating rink on February 5 and seized 60 CD's. One week later, Hebert arrested owner Frank Torries and his manager Tricia Boudoin, on charges of "contributing to the delinquency of a minor" because of the popular music they played at the rink.
The order, granted by U.S. District Judge Tucker Melacon, also said that Sheriff Hebert, Patrol Commander Kerry Davis and other employees of the Iberia Parish Sheriff's Department may not search the Skate Zone premises without an order authorizing the search signed by a judicial officer.
Today's court ruling also prevents police officials from imposing or inflicting any punishment, retaliation, harassment, or sanction of any kind against the Torries and Boudoin for the exercise of their constitutional rights.
"Our free society operates on the principle that each and every individual has the right to decide what music or other art forms he or she wants -- or does not want--to see or hear," Cook said. "Parents should decide for their children, but the law prohibits Sheriff Hebert from acting in an unlawful manner to censor material that he deems offensive or inappropriate."
The case stems from a fight that broke out on February 5, 2000 in the parking lot outside the Skate Zone. The CD's were seized based upon the assertion that the music (particularly the rap music) played that night had caused the fight.
According to ACLU court papers, all the rap and hip-hop songs played that night were the edited or "air play" version of the songs. Almost all were purchased locally, primarily at Wal-Mart and/or Sam's Club stores.
Throughout the evening skating session, various kinds of music, including hip-hop or rap music, were played without incident. As school buses were loading patrons to leave at the end of the skating session at about 10:45 p.m., the fight broke out. Manager Boudoin placed a call to the Sheriff's office whose deputies arrived and intervened in the fight between two young people and issued a summons to a third on fighting related charges.
Then, disregarding constitutional safeguards, the local authorities entered the Skate Zone, and ordered Boudoin to "shut it (the Skate Zone) down." They then conducted a warrant-less search of the premises and seized approximately 60 pre-recorded CD's.
"Skate Zone has hosted community service programs that help kids and benefits New Iberia," Torries said. "I am very dedicated to my community. The Skate Zone provides an opportunity for kids to stay off the street and have a safe, enjoyable experience. I want to keep it that way."
The ACLU filed the suit in Federal Court, Western District, Lafayette Division, with Judge Tucker L. Melacon presiding. The amended civil complaint was filed on behalf Torries and Boudoin by ACLU cooperating attorney E. Barton Conradi of Baton Rouge, LA and Marjorie R. Esman of New Orleans, LA.
The case is Torries v. Hebert, Civil Action No: CV00-0512-L-O.
Copyright 2000, American Civil Liberties Union
Reprinted with permission of the American Civil Liberties Union
http://www.aclu.org
Return to chronology, 05 Feb 2000
(Copied from www.freedomforum.org)
MISHAWAKA, Ind. -- A music blackout imposed by a school district has angered students, who are now banned from even listening to their favorite tunes while working out in gym class.
About 250 of Penn High School's 1,100 students walked out of class March 2 to protest the no-music rule.
"It's kind of ridiculous," said junior Trinity Migues. "We're all old enough to judge and handle our own music."
Music was banned on all Penn-Harris-Madison School Corp. buses Feb. 23 after a parent complained about the graphic lyrics of the song "It Wasn't Me" by Shaggy, which had aired on the radio on her child's bus.
Last week, the ban was expanded to include all district buildings. The blackout even covers the period between classes and during fitness workouts.
During last week's protest, senior Blake Heberle told fellow students the ban infringes on their constitutional rights.
"Penn High School is a public school. Paid for and run by the people, for the people," he shouted. "As a public school, it must follow the laws of our land. It cannot arbitrarily ban our First Amendment rights because it does not agree with the message. The Bill of Rights are not suggestions. They are laws."
Superintendent Vickie Markavitch and other school officials plan to meet with students and the Penn High School student council on March 9.
Senior Sarah Fortney believes the issue is generational.
"Our parents don't approve of our music and when they were teen-agers, their parents didn't like their music," she said.
"It's a cycle."
[BINGO! We have a winner!
Oh, and in case that censorship makes sense to you at first glance, I'd like to point out that the one objectionable song had been aired over the radio, not brought onto the bus by a student on a CD. Yet, someone saw fit to adopt those lyrics as a causus belli to ban all music in the school district lieux.
By the way, that 250 out of 1,100 represents 22.7 percent of the student body. --MN]
Return to chronology 02 Mar 2001
Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2001 10:20:57 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Keenan Powell" <XXXXXXXX.XXX@XXXXX.XXX>
Subject: [BR-2] Fwd: Re: Banned books page
To: "Bardroom Mail List" <XXXXXXXXX@XXXXX.XXX>
Reply-to: XXXXXXXXX@XXXXX.XXX
--- Willow Whispers <XXXXXX@XXXXXXX.XXX> wrote:
> Subject: Re: Banned books page
> Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2001 09:17:52 -0500
> According to my sources, Clear Channel, owner of over 1,170
> radio stations, has banned these songs from their airwaves.
> Included are songs about war, the word "Tuesday", and even "Walk
> Like an Egyptian" (okay, i can do without that one...). I've
> confirmed the list with people there and they say it's legit.
> Here is the list... Go figure.... Pass it on.
[My research into the issue, the reply which I forwarded to three mailing lists, and which in turn drew replies from Eileen Irwin. --MN]
20 September 2001
Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting
fair@fair.org
Dear, FAIR.
I am writing to bring to your attention a rather curious anamoly. You might have heard that Clear Channel has issued a list of songs that should not receive air time during this period of crisis from the World Trade Center attacks.
Clear Channel denies any such list exists in a statement published at their website, the specific URL for which is: http://www.clearchannel.com/timages/article/Playlist_final.doc
A copy of this statement is file attached in .DOC format and can be viewed with Wordpad.
What is curious is that this action was reported at the L.A. Times site, under the byline of Jeff Leeds and Paul Brownfield, at the following URL: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-000074965sep18.story?coll=la#2Dheadlines#2Dnation [1]
. . . a copy of which I did not file attach in light of copyright constraints, but which resides on my hard drive in a tempory file.[2] The following people are listed in the report as contributors: Rachel Abramowitz, Geoff Boucher, Corie Brown, Sallie Hofmeister, Peter H. King, Paul Lieberman, Louise Roug, David Shaw, and Robert W. Welkos.
Both report and statement are dated 18 September, but the statement alludes to numerous reports of this playlist, so I tend to assume that the L.A. Times reported an unsubstantiated rumor.
I hope that you will be able to clear up this matter and to tell us whether this is a case of sudden backpedaling by Clear Channel or a colossal screw up by the L.A. Times, as I would like to include this incident in my chronology of censorship attempts.
Thank you.
Michael Nellis
XXXXXXXXXXXXX@XXXXX.XXX
From: "Jim Naureckas" My understanding of this is that the list of "questionable songs" originated from Clear Channel management, then was greatly expanded by individual program directors and circulated throughout the chain. While it's not a ban, since some stations have been playing some of the songs, I think it does indicate a response to the catastrophe that is, well, questionable.
The New York Times had a good piece on this I believe yesterday -- maybe the day before.
Regards,
Jim Naureckas
To: XXXXXXXXXXXX@XXXXXXXXXXX.XXX Our local news had a story on this "questionable songs" list. Included on this list was "Imagine" by John Lennon.
Eileen
To: XXXXXXXXXXXX@XXXXXXXXXXX.XXX According to: http://www.pioneerplanet.com/news/ncl_docs/137030.htm
"John Lennon's "Imagine" and The Youngbloods' "Get Together" would seem to be precisely the sort of message people might like to hear in difficult times. Likewise, who could possibly object to Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World"? Several Beatles songs -- "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," "Obla Di Obla Da" and "Ticket to Ride" -- are also on the list.
Here are some of the other reported song titles Clear Channel suggested its stations avoid: Talk about a major wimp factor........While I am not familiar with all of the songs on the above list: I am familiar with most of them. Some of them are even Viet Nam War era songs: such as "Eve of Destruction" and "War".
Eileen
[The above lists were formatted for Ordered Lists by myself for comparison's sake. While they do not appear identical at first glance, the original list reported by Keenan Powell has each title listed seperately, whereas the list reported by Eileen Irwin has the titles grouped by band. The list Eileen posted is also in a different order, with a few bands being listed at the end where in Keenan's list they were at the top. --MN]
[1] This link is probably outdated. The article was dated 18 Sep 2001, the same date for the statement issued by Clear Channel.
[2] No longer true as I only keep temporary files for ten days.
Return to chronology 18 Sep 2001
2004, August 06: Unacceptable music removed from library
Whitney Watson, a spokesman for Kline, said the attorney general would not discuss the screening of the CDs but said the decision to remove some albums was made to ensure state officials were not disseminating objectionable material. He said the office's consumer-protection and antitrust division vetted the list.
Some of the aired viewpoints concerning the issue:
[This movement is based upon an individual unilaterally proclaiming the mindset of the "majority" without any evidence to support his proclamation. There have been a few incidents where the challenged party conducted polls to determine what the community values were, and each one found that the community valued free speech by about 66% to 33%. And I do not equate this action with a library's selection process. Plus, any person who is of the age of majority should be allowed access to any
damned thing he or she pleases, even in the library. Certainly people should be discreet, but censorship is a far cry from discretion.
The source article for this incident also reported that attorneys general of several other states also screened the CDs they received, often removing controversial artists or albums including explicit lyrics. Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter removed 5,300 discs, or 5 percent of the 107,000 his state was scheduled to receive. --MN] Return to chronology 06 Aug 2004
To: "'Michael Nellis'"
Subject: RE: Iffy news report
Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2001 15:39:12 -0400
From: "Eileen Irwin"
Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2001 22:41:23 -0700
Reply-to: XXXXXXXXXXXX@XXXXXXXXXXX.XXX
Subject: Re: [interbuddies] RE: Iffy news report
From: "Eileen Irwin"
Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2001 02:04:46 -0700
Reply-to: XXXXXXXXXXXX@XXXXXXXXXXX.XXX
Subject: [interbuddies] More on the "questionable song list"
By Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline. He had withheld more than 1,600 compact discs from distribution to state libraries because officials determined the albums promote violence or illegal activity. The CDs were part of 51,000 discs given to Kansas as part of a nationwide settlement to resolve allegations of price fixing, and include recordings by 25 artists, including rap artists such as OutKast and Notorious B.I.G., rock bands Rage Against the Machine and Stone Temple Pilots, and
even older acts such as Lou Reed and the 1980s experimental group Devo.