The following is from Dr. Jim Vickrey of Montgomery, from his address to the Alabama Public Library Service board meeting on Oct. 21.

Public education in America is (1) the sine qua non of democratic government; (2) it includes unrestricted access to books; and (3), censorship of books, especially public library books, is inimical to public education. That’s why the first right added to our Constitution forbade restrictions on free expression, now by any governmental body.

Censorship clogs the pipes of public education, and says some ideas aren’t worthy of thought. Censorship today of one kind of book applies tomorrow to all other kinds of books, including ones you like. Censorship is ever busy, rarely stopping with one category of books. Most citizens in our state support open acces

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