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As a lifelong West Virginian, when you hear someone say “Hey did you hear that WV was in the national news” your gut instinct should be “Oh no goddamnit” or “Fuck, what now?” I’m not passing this off irresponsibly as folksy advice, I am very serious. It’s NEVER good news when WV makes the national news. The closest we get to good coverage is occasionally someone writes about pepperoni rolls or the color of the leaves in the fall. Those are the only exceptions. Trust me:

As book bans continue to sweep the United States, public librarians, educators, schools and museums could soon be exposed to criminal prosecution for showing children “obscene” material in West Virginia after state lawmakers advanced a controversial bill.

Known as HB 4654, the legislation overwhelmingly vaulted through the West Virginia House of Delegates on Friday and then made its way to the state senate. A delegate confirmed with Law&Crime on Tuesday that the bill is now being weighed by the West Virginia Senate Judiciary Committee before it goes to the floor for a final vote.

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But in West Virginia, while supporters of the bill — it passed 85-12 in the House of Delegates — argued it was a simple law aimed at protecting children, its opponents say HB 4654 is an end run at state censorship and criminalizing speech.

Critics argue that part of their issue with the bill is that it is too vague.

During debates before passage last week, House Minority Whip Shawn Fluharty openly worried that librarians, for example, might not be aware when a book contains obscene material, let alone know whether that material was shown to a child.

“But because it was in the facility and it was sitting on a shelf, it could still be prosecuted,” Fluharty said. “What you are seeing is done in third-world countries and now it’s going to be a headline in West Virginia.”

Notably, an amendment that would have made an exemption for public health teachers who provide materials for sex education was shot down as well.

The WV House of Delegates is composed of 89 Republicans and 11 Democrats. So one lone Republican joined to vote against. Disappointed to report that my own Delegate, the 20 something Jimmy Willis who was elected in large part because he has an (R) after his name and because he had large Trump stickers on his pickemup truck and put out embarrassing videos calling Biden an idiot and the then Democratic House of Representatives a bunch of socialists (I can’t find them anymore on his candidate page on FB). It was not for his ideas. His one big idea was rural broadband, and I supposed he has been active in spending the money the “idiot” Joe Biden and the “socialist” House of Representatives appropriated for rural broadband.

I suppose I am not surprised. I grew up with his mom (in the event of my parent’s early demise I would be adopted by her aunt and uncle), and I spent a number of years boozing and hanging out with his dad while I was in the Volunteer Fire Department. His dad was a good guy who died young, and I liked him and he was generally just a typical 80’s and 90’s WV redneck back before rednecks became bootlickers and cop worshippers. Regardless, I can report his dad, like the son, had little use for books.

WV Makes the National News!Post + Comments (70)