Lafourche Parish must be Palin Country

High school principal bans book teacher assigned

03:29 PM CDT on Wednesday, October 15, 2008

L. Kasimu Harris / Houma Courier

RACELAND — The principal of Central Lafourche High School banned a teacher’s assigned book about a failed U.S. Special Forces mission after a parent complained about the author’s use of curse words, officials said.

Quick aside. Back in the dark ages of the George H.W. Bush administration, I traveled with my high school football team to Matthews, Louisiana for a game against the C. Lafourche Trojans. Back then, as is the case from time to time, prayer-in-public-schools was a widely debated matter. I remember feeling a bit uncomfortable as the administrators of this public school home football game made a big to-do out of having the stadium announcer lead the attendees in a pre-game prayer. I don't remember the exact words, but the public display was clearly a political statement. It is unsurprising to find the same community involved in a book-banning controversy now.

I should disclose, BTW, that I attended a private religious high school whose football team actually knelt and prayed a Hail Mary before each game and a rosary decade afterwards. So one interpretation of this story could be that, since we pretty much blew them away that year, our God was bigger than their God. But that's a difficult thing to sort out between equally Catholic opponents.