Judge Bans Newest Avatar Issue; Appeal to Be Made to State Court

The most recent issue of Avatar, the Cambridge-based "hippie" newspaper was declared obscene yesterday by Boston Municipal Court Judge Elijah Adlow '15.

The decision was made in a criminal proceeding against William McGuire, a 20 year old clerk at the Boston branch of the Paperback Booksmith. McGuire was fined two hundred dollars for selling the issue which was the tenth the Avatar has published. Marshall Smith, manager of the Booksmith chain, said that his lawyers would appeal the decision. In Massachusetts this means a new trial before the State Superior Court.

An editor of the Avatar said last night that a new issue of the newspaper will appear today, despite the decision. The forthcoming issue, he indicated, will be an intentional parody of the banned in Boston issue. "If No. 10 is considered obscene, then No. 11 is far more obscene. It will be a satire on people who think this way. It will be a statement which will determine just how much freedom of the press we have."

'Test Obscured'

In delivering his verdict Adlow rapped recent United States Supreme Court decisions regarding obscentity. "The test of obscentity," the white-haired Judge said, pacing back and forth behind his bench, "has been obscured by the casuistry of the higher courts."

According to those tests a publication is obscene if the dominant themes of the material taken as a whole show purient interest in sex, affront the contemporary standards of a community and are utterly without redeeming social value.

His own decision, Adlow said, was based entirely on the contents of the "Diary of a Young Artist," a weekly column which appeared in the ill-fated Avatar issue. When Robert Poppio, attorney for the Booksmith, argued that the whole issue had to be considered, Adlow replied, "Suppose the printer made a mistake and put this column in the middle of the Old Testament. Wouldn't you still judge it as obscene?" Adlow admitted that he hadn't read the whole issue. "That would be cruel and abusive punishment," he said.

Citing favorable references to Avatar in the Boston Globe, New York Times, and Time, Poppio argued that the Free Press newspaper was "a responsible political magazine." "Politics in Boston is low enough," interrupted Adlow. "Unfortunately, I'm here, and Time isn't.

"The language here outrages my sense of decency," said Adlow, Poppio suggested that "contemporary community standards" were not the opinions of one individual. "I consider myself a broad-minded fella," said Adlow, who is 71. "And, on the basis of a broad-minded fella's morals, I think Avatar is a filthy, illegal newspaper." Marshall Smith said last night that his stores would probably not sell Avatar until the case is decided in the higher courts. "It is unfair," Smith said, "to employees to expose them to this sort of prosecution. But I disagree vehemently with this decision, and I'd be very surprised if we don't overturn it."

Although the court decision bears only on issue number ten, it is unlikely that Avatar will be able to proceed with a normal distribution of the new issue.

In Cambridge, the Out of Town Newsstand. Nini's and Felix's dropped Avatar last week and only a few stores continue to sell it