Gridlock News

In a scene straight out of a J.K. Rolling's novel, a self-proclaimed, reformed witch testified against the Harry Potter Book series in Gwinnett County Schools. Twenty students, a dozen or more parents, a dozen or more educators, reporters from the four major networks, along with newspaper columnists and yours truly turned out to hear the testimony presented to the Gwinnett County Board of Education, in Lawrenceville, Georgia. Each side was provided fifteen minutes to make their case for or against the Harry Potter book series. The side opposing the Harry Potter book series lead by Laura Mallory, mother of four children and missionary, kicked off the testimony. The opposition included three mothers, one practicing Gwinnett County counselor and a teenage daughter of one of the mothers. The opposition first surprised the group as the counselor graphically described a child scratching herself while sleeping and awaking in a pool of blood after being exposed to the Harry Potter series. The counselor was followed by a mother that described how her family had been ruined in reputation, community standing, suffered health problems, and gained weight when her daughter turned to the Wiccan religion. This set the stage for the daughter, now a teenager enrolled in high school in Gwinnett County to describe her history of reading Harry Potter and turning to witch craft. She described how she along with class mates started to use Tarot Cards at school during recess. She also stated that some of her friends more experienced in witchcraft had on more than one occasion successfully recreated spells out of the Harry Potter series. The side established to defend the book series, included three teachers, one of whom was also a parent, and one additional parent. They described and provided examples citing the success they had experienced in teaching students to not only read but love to read directly because of the Harry Potter books. One parent that has been fighting Laura Mallory since the initial claims were made, requested that the board amend its rules, such that no future bans might be considered unless the book in question had been read by the petitioner. Members of the community later received an opportunity to speak for two minutes each. One resident cited the dangers of allowing the Harry Potter books to remain in the school system. This was echoed by a second resident that described how pictures of Harry Potter in her son's classroom were possessed by demons, which had ruined her sons grades for several months until he was transplanted to a new class with a Christian teacher. He later became a star pupil. A fifth grade student eloquently spoke about her ability to discern the difference between reality and fiction or fantasy. She stated that Harry Potter was fantasy as she sat next to the reformed teenage witch. A mother urged the board to consider the steps towards anarchy that the county would be following if the ban were to be allowed. Her thirteen year old daughter then described the personal benefits of reading the Harry Potter series. She even described reading one of the seven hundred page books, while she was in third grade and unable to lift the same book physically. The entire affair was very civil and orderly. No bursts of outrage nor applause. A more complete version of this story will be published at a later time along with audio transcripts.