VENTURA : High School Paper Recalled Over Poem

The year-end edition of Ventura High School’s student newspaper was confiscated by administrators because it contains a poem about incest that the author did not agree to publish, school officials said.

The poem, written as an assignment for a creative-writing class, could have been misconstrued, Principal Bob Cousar said. It was not about the author’s family, he said. “It was about a friend of the student,” he said.

Copies of the Cougar Press were confiscated June 7 while the paper was being distributed with yearbooks on campus. Of the 2,000 copies printed, only about 25 were put into circulation.

Cousar said the recall wouldn’t have been necessary if the author had indicated that she wanted the poem in the paper. But when she could not be contacted, administrators decided not to distribute the paper.

“We decided not to take a chance on hurting the student or her family,” Cousar said.

The newspaper’s editor, Kristen Unterberger, 17, said the poem is an account of a girl being sexually abused by her father.

She described the verse as shocking, but said she objected to “censoring the entire paper.”

Unterberger said the author consented to publish the poem in the school’s literary magazine, Cub. Budget restraints forced the magazine to cancel publication, however, and Unterberger put the poem in the newspaper.

The author declined to comment and asked to remain anonymous. Her name appeared below the poem in the newspaper, Unterberger said.

Advertisers who paid for space in the quarterly paper will have their money refunded or have a similar ad placed in the paper’s first edition in September, Unterberger said. About $800 in advertising space was sold, she said.