BOOKSTORE APPLAUDED FOR PRINCIPLED STAND

In George Orwell's 1984, Winston Smith risks his life to read a political
tract - a dangerous, seditious act in the eyes of Big Brother. Now we find
a Big Brotherly assault on a Denver bookstore in the form of a search
warrant ordering the Tattered Cover to reveal titles of books sold to a
suspected drug dealer.

As English teachers, we believe that reading nourishes our democracy, and
we applaud the Tattered Cover's appeal to the Colorado Supreme Court asking
it to declare the search warrant unconstitutional. As officers in the
Colorado Language Arts Society, an organization of educators from
kindergarten to college, we support the bookstore in the name of literacy
and democracy.

While fiercely opposing drug dealers, we agree with bookseller Joyce Meskis
that the First Amendment protects us from government agencies who want to
prosecute citizens on the basis of what they read, be it books about a
wizard named Harry Potter, drugs, or any other idea, organization or practice.

Last spring our organization awarded Joyce Meskis an Intellectual Freedom
Award, noting that she has consistently and bravely asserted the
constitutional rights of her customers and all citizens to read books that
may "push the buttons" of others. At the same time, she has insisted on
working to uphold and change, rather than to flout, the law.

Denise Campbell, Bill McBride, Jackie Swensson and Carol Sullivan