Sunday, October 13, 2024

Remember That Time a Mendocino County Logging Tycoon Attempted to Cancel Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax?

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The Lorax proclaiming he “speaks for the trees” [Picture of the print edition of The Lorax taken by Kym Kemp]

As the nation considers Dr. Seuss and his depiction of minority groups, Mendocino County should not forget its unique place in the annals of Dr. Seuss’s culture. In September 1989, members of Mendocino County’s logging industry lobbied the Laytonville Unified School District to remove Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax from the district’s second-grade curriculum claiming the book demeaned the logging industry. Coverage of the controversy spread across the news wires bringing national attention to the growing war between the logging industry and environmentalism, demonstrating Dr. Seuss’s uncanny ability to touch the nerve of audiences. 

In this the 50th year since Dr. Seuss published The Lorax Dr. Seuss’s children’s literature is again grabbing headlines due to what some consider racialized illustrations in a few of his books. The company that oversees Dr. Seuss’s estate said six of his books would no longer be printed because some of the depictions of groups were “hurtful and wrong.” The books that will no longer be reprinted are: And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, If I Ran the Zoo, McElligot’s Pool, On Beyond Zebra!, Scrambled Eggs Super!, and The Cat’s Quizzer.

Back in 1989, when our local area became the center of another Dr. Seuss controversy, Laytonville was an unincorporated hamlet in the rugged north of Mendocino County along Highway 101. According to Lawrence Livermore’s article “Under the Barnum and (Bill) Bailey Big Top: The Mayor of Laytonville,” Bill Bailey, a logging equipment wholesaler based out of Laytonville, saw an opportunity to fix the town’s school district he saw as pandering to “unwashed-out-of-town-jobless-hippies-on-drugs.” He made it his mission to secure power and control of the Laytonville School Board. Bailey successfully was elected to the board and soon got his compatriots Mike Wilwand and Art Harwood elected along with him. Power secured.

As described in a Press Democrat article written by Mike Geniella, Judith Bailey, Bill Bailey’s wife, sought removal of Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax from Laytonville Unified School District’s 2nd-grade curriculum. She claimed the book went against California Education Code 60040 prohibiting references that “tend to demean, stereotype or be patronizing toward an occupation, vocation, or livelihood.” Judith Bailey was quoted as saying, “I feel when a second grader reads a line that says, ‘Grow a forest. Protect it from axes that hack,’ as a moral of the story, then he or she will feel that anyone who cuts down trees is bad.”

The Press Democrat article explained Laytonville Unified School District Superintendent Brian Buckley was obligated to conduct a formal review of Judith Bailey’s request. He formed a committee comprised of a librarian, the school’s librarian technician, two teachers, two district residents, and himself. One of the two district residents happened to be Becky Harwood, Bill Bailey’s compatriot Art’s wife, and Judith Bailey’s sister.

The review committee met to deliberate upon the removal of The Lorax on September 13, 1989, according to a Press Democrat article written by Mike Geniella. Becky Harwood said the book was disparaging to loggers, and “Kids don’t have to feel bad about what their parents do.” Sue Jones, the librarian of Willits High School, argued the book should be used as a “place of departure” and envisioned the book giving students insight into the harmful logging practices that once were. After deliberating, the committee voted six-to-one to keep The Lorax in the school’s curriculum.

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The proposed removal still had one step before it could be quashed: the Laytonville School Board would be casting the final vote on October 5, 1989.

The falling of the last Truffula Tree [Picture of the print edition of The Lorax taken by Kym Kemp]

Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax is a fable with environmental themes telling the tale of an industrious man referred to as the Once-ler, his exploitation of the Truffula trees, and a mustachioed creature referred to as The Lorax who claims “to speak for the trees.” By the end of the tale, the Truffula trees were clear-cut, the ecosystem destroyed, and the Once-ler’s industry in ruins. Reflecting on the beauty of the land that was lost, the Once-ler remembered the Lorax’s wisdom of stewardship: “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”

With The Lorax decision in the Laytonville School Board’s hands, the book’s controversy became a vehicle for the nation to understand the conflict between the North Coast’s logging industry and the environmental movement. News wires picked up the story, and soon readers from Ohio to Florida to New York read about the town of Laytonville and the Dr. Seuss story tearing a community apart.

According to an AP Newswire article that appeared in the Ukiah Daily Journal, Theodor Seuss Geisel, who was at that point 85 years old, said the “grown-ups are missing the point. Trees are used in this book as a symbol- the rousing up of nature. It’s about turning natural resources into crud.”

Arthur “Bud” Harwood, the president of Branscomb Lumber Company Harwood Products, said in an open letter to Dr. Seuss published by the Ukiah Daily Journal that he did not believe The Lorax should be taken out of school. He said if it was “taught sensitively” the book could be an “excellent tool in stimulating young people’s minds on how we should deal with the environment.” In his letter, Harwood insisted the real issue was the book was “required reading for very young students. He expressed he did not “feel that it is right for our schools to put father against son or daughter.”

Well-known Earth First! member Judi Bari was quoted in a Ukiah Daily Journal article written by Lois O’Rourke as saying, “The reason they are so afraid of this book is (because) it shows exactly what they are doing. They are taking the last of the redwood forest, just like the Truffula trees in The Lorax.”

On October 5, 1989, 200 residents and national and local print, television, and radio reporters gathered in Laytonville to cover the school board meeting where The Lorax’s future would be decided. 

The majority of public comment at the meeting was against the banning of the children’s book. A Ukiah Daily Journal article written by Lois O’Rouke highlighted some of the prescient public comments.

California Teacher’s Association representative Bill Haywood claimed that the district’s teachers’ academic freedom was at stake if the book was removed. 

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Kathi Cloninger, a resident of Laytonville and Earth Firster!, was reported to have said the Lorax “is a useful tool to teach? the value of conservation.”

One person who spoke in favor of removing the book from the required reading list was high school student Tara Fristo who asked, “What’s the big deal. It’s only being removed from the mandatory list.” Fristo, in her high school brashness, looked around at the school auditorium full of reports from outlets ranging from CBS News, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and People magazine, and simply asked, “Why are all the TV cameras here?”

Bill Webster, a member of the Laytonville School Board, was met with a standing ovation when he said manipulating books was “insulting our children” and tells them, “we don’t trust you to make your own decisions.”

Bill Bailey, the man who had stacked the school board to cancel The Lorax, did not show that night, and by the end of the meeting, the School Board decided to table the decision and explore the option of abolishing the required list and replaced it with a “suggested” reading list. 

The clear cutting in The Lorax [Picture of the print edition of The Lorax taken by Kym Kemp]

In the wake of The Lorax controversy, Judith Bailey stood firm on her message that the book hurt families in the logging industry, telling Press Democrat writer Mike Geniella “I don’t think the teachers understand the message that says cutting down trees is wrong. Especially in an area where children’s parents are the very people who cut down the trees for a living.” Bailey did give ground, saying that she was not “interested in taking the book away from anyone,” insisting the book “can remain in the classroom, the library, or wherever. I know there’s nothing to gain by holding back knowledge.”

In an editorial published by the Ukiah Daily Journal after the school board meeting, staff expressed a timeless sentiment regarding the First Amendment: “every time we hear of another book being attacked by a certain group for whatever reason — religious, moral, or any other- we cringe. Book banning (or burning in some cases) has no place in a democracy. It has no place anywhere.”

Please Note: We wish to acknowledge gratefully that Chapter 22 of Steve Ongerth’s non-fiction book Redwood Uprising: Book 1 is a comprehensive account of the Laytonville Lorax saga. The chapter assisted in the writing of this piece providing an overview of the press coverage surrounding the circumstance and the Lorax saga’s place in the Timber Wars of the North Coast. Thank you Mr. Ongerth for your thorough coverage.

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3 COMMENTS

  1. Ode for Every book.

    I feel so sorry for Dr. Seuss,
    The Lorax exclaimed through his snoot,
    But, do Mendoseussians even care,
    When the foot’s in the other boot?

    Cancel culture this, cancel culture that,
    Cancel everything, even a cat in a hat.

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Matt LaFever
Matt LaFeverhttps://mendofever.com/
For the past seven years, Matt LaFever has covered the North Coast of California in both print and radio news. A Humboldt State graduate, he has lived in the Emerald Triangle for nearly 20 years. His reporting spans local issues like crime and wildfires. When not writing, Matt is an avid outdoorsman, exploring Northern California’s rugged landscapes. Reach out to him at matthewplafever@gmail.com.

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