European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 21, 1973, Darmstadt, Hesse Judging obscenity heard but not seen by James Feron new York times several weeks ago the new York town of Clarkstown in sub Urban Rockland county established a nine member obscenity committee to screen movies cabaret acts and printing mat Ter. Shortly after it selected Harry Snyder a Blind 60-year-old re tired restaurateur and business Man to head the committee. My phone has t stopped ringing since he said the other Day in his Home in West Nyack. We be attracted a lot of Atten Tion Snyder said most of it because i m Blind i Don t deny that but also because we appear to be the first Community in the country responding in this Way to the High court s decision under the recent United states supreme court decision local communities Are permitted within state Law to set their own standards of obscenity. The Challenge Snyder concedes is How to determine Community standards. 1 he precise authority of the committee has not yet been established but it is already being called the censorship com Mittee. At present Only the police District attorney or judges can seize material deemed obscene. You Don t need to be an expert to know what is smutty and what in to or. Snyder said. I remember burlesque in my Day in Baltimore. The girls in those skits would undress but still Wear something. In Calcutta they re gyrating and every thing is in the nude right in front of they left something to your imagination he continued. Today in the movies they go right through with the whole act of Intercourse. Of course the question Well have to determine is How bad is Snyder lost his sight four years ago through Haemorrhaging of the eyes. He was asked How he expected to help determine Community standards in his sightless condition. A lot of what is obscene is in the language he said. They Tell me that in the movie the Devil in miss Jones some of the worst scenes Are blurred but the language is pornography in t a Case of seeing it s a Case of feeling he said shortly after being named head Tif the committee. He leaned Back and reflected for a moment. You know they say the Blind often have More sight than those with sight. It s a matter of heightened controversy surrounding Snyder s appointment stems also from other sources. A resident who has lived in the area for Sev eral years said he used to phone the local radio station and identify himself As or. Truth on those hot line talk Snyder grinned. Sure i used to phone up during the Nixon Campaign As a one Man truth squad. I did the same for general Eisenhower i was his mess sergeant in the War when he was running for president. The radio station Here gave me the nickname or. Snyder was a news maker two decades ago when he served Asan Eisenhower Advance Man on political trips when he ran unsuccessfully for Congress As an Independent when he operated a Manhattan restaurant called the Headquarters and later headed a food specially business. I was selected to head this committee because of my organizational ability Snyder said. The first thing i be organized is a Survey of the Community to see if they really want an obscenity thousands of postcards Are being mailed to taxpayers and apartment dwellers registered new York times censor Snyder you Don t have to be an expert As voters asking if the committee should investigate and deter mine pornography obscenity in the area of literature and mate rials in Public places of entertainment and regarding the showing of a rated Clarkstown residents will be asked to indicate the number of adults 18 years and older in the family and their attitudes. They May just vote us out of Busi Ness Snyder said. In that Case Community Stan Dards for 50,000 adults living in Nanuet new City West Nyack Congers upper Nyack some of the hamlets forming Clarkstown will revert to the courts or the District attorney s office. At last a movie without All those filthy sex scenes judge recently ordered the Devil in miss Jones re moved from the screen in a local theater. They were getting $4 a seat for that film compared to $2 for other films Snyder said. It was strictly a commercial opera Tion and people were coming from new Jersey Connecticut and he said other members of the Board would sit next to him at the screenings As his wife does at the musicals he enjoys in neigh boyhood movies to fill me in when the screen goes five members of the Board were selected by the town Board the four others chosen from Volun a lot of people wrote in to serve on the committee the chairman said. One of them a woman has already declared openly that she is a member of the american civil liberties Union and is opposed to closing Down a rated she s rendered herself in effective he said. How can you serve on the committee if you re not open minded Snyder said the obscenity com Mittee was still getting organized and would not begin work until the postcard poll was tabulated. I hear they re making a picture called the sex life of Jesus Christ " he commented shaking his head. It just goes to show How things Are going he said. The stars and stripes Page 1
