Sunday, March 07, 2004

Parental advisory: The Shelby (N.C.) Star passes along a warning to parents from the Cleveland County Sheriff's Department: Beware the manga your kids are seeing at area bookstores. Sheriff's Capt. Bobby Steen is particularly concerned about Love Hina, which was brought to his attention by an upset parent:

"They need to know that this is out here. For $9.99 they can look about getting in a hot tub naked with a girl."

Steen goes on to fret that the manga is using "cartoons" to sell sex to teens. "I think that's wrong."

Luckily, a local Baptist minister is there to point out the obvious -- that it's up to parents to monitor what their children read, watch or do: "What I saw is no worse than what you’d see on regular television or the Internet or the grocery aisle looking at magazines."

Still, Steen's not happy: "What can be done? Legally? Nothing. Hopefully, morally, people will take these off the shelves."