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Lake City, Florida: A Sesquicentennial Tribute (2009) H. Morris Williams, Dr. Kevin M. McCarthy

Chapter Eighteen: 1980 - 1989

The banning of books

In 1986 school officials in Lake City
banned a state-approved high school textbook
because it included Aristophanes’s sexually
frank Lysistrata and Chaucer’s bawdy “The
Miller’s Tale.” Claudia Johnson, a
playwright and graduate student at Florida
State University and a resident of Lake City,
fought against the banning, but a federal judge
upheld the banning in 1988, as did an appeals
court the next year. Johnson wrote a book
about the ordeal: Stifled Laughter: One
Woman’s Story About Fighting Censorship
(1996 - see photo to the left).

Columbia High School

The 1989 senior class at the high school was CHS’s “Centennial
th
Class,” the 100 class to graduate from CHS (1889-1989), so here
are some recollections from that special CHS centennial year. CHS
1989 had four male cheerleaders, the most of any CHS class ever:
David Chittum, Matt Grubb, Will Rigsby, and Dave Williams.
All four were also varsity athletes in sports like wrestling or weightlifting.
Three of the 1989 class leaders had speaking parts in their special
graduation exercises: Erin Michelle Case, Student Council President;
Stacy Lynn Haygood, Class President; and Vida Victoria Skinner,
Class Secretary. Former School Board member Thomas R. (Tom)
Davis died that year, July 27, 1989. Four of the county’s longer serving
teachers retired that year: Patricia Clark (CHS), Celesta J. Milton
(Kindergarten Center), Shirley Perry (Eastside, New Hope, Minnie
J. Niblack), and Betty Schmidt (Kindergarten Center). Diane Porter
was Classroom Teacher Association President; Dianne Lane was

School Superintendent; Richard Anders was School Board
Chairman; and Dr. Russell Richards was CHS Principal.

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