COPS, BOOKSELLER AT ODDS OVER SEARCH WARRANT

Police use of bookstore sales receipts to try to solve a crime has raised
concerns among booksellers, publishers and privacy groups, who are closely
watching the case in Thornton, a Denver suburb, for its implications on the
First Amendment's rights of free speech and privacy.

The owner of the Tattered Cover Bookstore, Joyce Meskis, has refused to
comply with a search warrant, arguing that customers, even suspected
felons, have a right to privacy no matter the subject of the books they
buy. Her appeal has reached the Colorado Court of Appeals.

Police are following a trail of evidence they hope leads to the operator of
an illegal methamphetamine laboratory. One of the books found in the lab,
raided in March, was ``The Construction and Operation of Clandestine Drug
Laboratories,'' which they believe was purchased by mail from the Tattered
Cover.