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Date Posted: 22:16:38 02/17/02 Sun
Author: Matt(Webmaster)
Subject: Seeing evil in Harry Potter, fire police refuse an event

"Seeing evil in Harry Potter, fire police refuse an event"
By Amy Worden
Inquirer Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Harry Potter, boy wizard, has faced some formidable foes, from abusive Uncle Vernon and nasty Draco Malfoy to malevolent Lord Voldemorte. Never before, though, had he come up against an adversary quite like the Penryn Fire Police.
The conflict is set not at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry but in a wee Central Pennsylvania town 10 miles north of Lancaster. There, a squad of eight volunteers who direct traffic at fires, accidents, and special events has refused to work the annual Lancaster YMCA triathlon this fall.

Their reason: They claim the Y promotes witchcraft by reading the Potter tales in children's story hours.

In a letter to Y officials in December, Penryn Fire Police Capt. Robert Fichthorn wrote that he was "horrified" that a group that "professes to hold Christian beliefs would hold classes for young and receptive minds on the subject of witchcraft."

Far from putting a pox on the Sept. 7 event, however, the boycott has made it famous, with media even in China taking note.

The backlash - from Potter devotees, Y supporters, and civil rights activists - has been so fierce that the running-swimming-cycling contest, which usually draws 400 athletes, is shaping up to be the biggest yet.

And perhaps the weirdest.

The buzz among triathletes in Internet chat rooms is that at least some will compete in costume, taking the 25-mile course with brooms in hand and wizard hats on.

"I think people will come specifically because of what happened, to show solidarity," said Dan Empfield, publisher of a triathlete Web site.

Beyond the costumed protest, some critics of the Penryn Fire Police question whether they have abrogated their duties as officers of the Fire Department.

"They are sworn to protect and uphold the law," said Laura Montgomery Rutt, director of the Alliance for Tolerance and Freedom, a civil rights education group in Lancaster County. "Yet they pick and choose who they are willing to protect."

Throughout Pennsylvania, fire police squads operate as traffic controllers for volunteer fire departments and receive no direct public funding. Generally a mix of retired firefighters and wannabes, they are known in firefighting circles as "blue lighters," for the dashboard lights they are issued.

Officials in Penn Township, where Penryn borough is, and in Gov. Schweiker's office - which has fielded a dozen letters about the flap - contend that the fire police cannot be forced to work the event because they are volunteers, not public employees.

Under the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act, local governments are not allowed to "withhold services based on a religious viewpoint." Ann Van Dyke, spokeswoman for the Human Relations Commission, said the law does not distinguish between a volunteer and an employee.

She added, however, that, "We cannot determine if a violation exists until a discrimination complaint has been filed and an investigation conducted."

For the Lancaster Y triathlon, about 30 fire police are needed along the route, to ensure the safety of not only the athletes but also hundreds of spectators.

So far, with the prospect of many more entrants than usual, Y officials have not found enough traffic monitors.

The Penryn Fire Police are hardly the first to take a stand against Harry. The Potter books, by J.K. Rowling, have been banned, burned and berated for alleged anti-Christian themes, and have led the American Library Association list of "most challenged books" for three years.

Nonetheless, the Penryn Fire Police have taken more of a public drubbing than most. The Denver Post bestowed upon them its "Doofus of the Month" award. A recent issue of Sports Illustrated noted the group's decision under the headline: "This Week's Sign of the Apocalypse."

Fichthorn declined to comment when reached at the Penryn Fire Department last week, except to say that the decision was his to remove the race from his squad's calendar of 40 or 50 events this year.

In his most recent statement, made to a Lancaster newspaper last month, he said: "As long as we don't stand up, [the teaching of witchcraft] won't stop. It's unfortunate that this is the way it has to be."

The irony of the boycott is the YMCA's strong Christian tradition dating to the 1850s in this country, said Michael Carr, executive director of the Lancaster Y, one of the oldest branches in the United States.

"We support Judeo-Christian principles," he said. "That's in our mission statement."

Carr gets teary-eyed when he talks about the YMCA's efforts to reach needy children. Proceeds from the triathlon go to after-school programs that serve 500 to 600 children, many of them from low-income black and Hispanic families.

The fire police's accusations could damage the reputation of a beloved institution, he said, though he noted that the phone at the Y has been busily ringing with calls that are "99 percent" supportive.

Sitting under bright, children's murals in the YMCA reading room, Carr said the staff reviews all books in the after-school program to ensure they meet school and library system guidelines and that parents approve.

"The Harry Potter books met all the criteria, in our eyes," Carr said.

The Y, he assured, has no plans to banish the series.

"It will remain part of our reading program," he said. "Like any good fairy tale, it delights young readers' imaginations

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