Latest from Howell Schools

The fight over the books in Howell Schools (mostly found at Board member Wendy Day's Blog) has taken another twist. Vicki Fyke, leader of the LOVE Group, has asked Prosecutor David Morse investigate whether the law was broken.

From the Argus

Prosecutors still have not responded to Vicki Fyke's initial allegations that the Howell school system's use of several controversial books in a high school class may violate state laws against the distribution of pornography to minors, and now Fyke and her group are raising additional issues about the texts.
Fyke and the Livingston Organization for Values in Education have asked Livingston County Prosecutor David Morse to look into more aspects of the books' assignments in the high school, including whether support staffers — bus drivers or janitors, for example — could be breaking any laws if they give the books to students.

"It's very possible that a student might leave a book on a bus, and they might pick it up and hand it back," Fyke said. "They're actually passing out stuff that no other person could."

Fyke has also asked Morse to see whether any laws on racial slurs or violent material may apply.

I'm glad to hear that Dave Morse is reading the books in question before making a prosecuting decision.

There are five possible scenarios that may happen here.
1. No laws were violated.
2. There's a grey area, and Mr. Morse decides to prosecute.
3. There's a grey area, and Mr. Morse declines to prosecute.
4. Laws were violated, and Mr. Morse decides to prosecute.
5. Laws were violated, and Mr. Morse declines to prosecute.

I'm going to do some digging on any precedent, if there is any. There are two aspects to look at here. The first is statutes. The second is any previous court cases. Criminal law is traditionally narrowly defined. We'll see what happens here.