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Mississippi School District Bans Book on Censorship: "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury
February 1, 1999
West Marion High School in Foxworth, a rural Mississippi town, is the place where recent events aimed at censorship occurred. The book, Fahenreit 451, was on the reading list for several of the English classes. However, after a parent complained to the superintendent about the use of the word "God damn" in the book, the book was removed from the required reading list. Interestingly, the complaint did not surface until the book report was due -- more than a month after the reading assignment was given.

For those who are interested in learning what this book is all about, here is a brief synopsis of the tale which became a major motion picture in 1967:

Story Synopsis:

Fahrenheit 451 is an engrossing futuristic tale of a society where all printed material is banned. In this country of the future, officials believe that people who read and are able to think for themselves are a threat to the nation where individualism is strongly discouraged. The inhabitants of this society all seem to be suffering from sensory deprivation and their only link to news and entertainment is a large television screen on the wall where broadcasts are continually transmitted to the "family." All the people are members of the Family. Even though they aren't forced to watch the telecasts, they all do.

It is the job of firemen (this movie was made long before they were referred to as firefighters) to hunt down subvervives and burn the caches of books they've secreted away. The title, Fahrenheit 451, is the temperature at which book paper catches fire and starts to burn.