WV Parents: Shield Our Children from...The Prince of Tides?

Add this to the growing number of imbecilic attempts at censorship in schools:

A student group is vowing to sue the Kanawha County Board of Education if the removal of ''Beach Music'' and ''The Prince of Tides'' from two Nitro High School classes is made permanent and expanded countywide.

Apparently, the offended parents would rather retard their child's education than let him read about the less pleasant aspects of life:

Parents Ken and Leona Tyree found certain scenes in ''The Prince of Tides'' ''obscene and offensive.'' Leona Tyree said she was unable to finish the book. Their son has since left Shamblin's Advanced Placement literature class.

[Insert cheap West Virginia literacy joke here.]

Neither [of the complaining parents cited] have listed phone numbers.

[Insert cheaper West Virginia indoor plumbing joke here.]

The main complaints of the parents revolve around violence, sexual assault and suicide. Which makes one wonder, why would author Pat Conroy write about such horrible things?:

Conroy referred to the books as ''two of my darlings, which I would place before the altar of God and say, 'Lord, this is how I found the world you made.'''

He said his late father fought in three wars and turned violent on his wife and seven children; his youngest brother committed suicide; a female relative was raped; eight classmates at the Citadel were killed in Vietnam, and his best friend died last summer in a car accident.

What are they going to ban next? The newspaper?