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FLATURE PRESS SERV MrTolso MABelmont Harbo.... Parsons AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION; 170 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORI ERNEST ANGEU ARTHUR GARFIELD HAYS Chatrman PATRICK MORRIS L ERNST. Board of Director 5-5990 Weekly Bulletin #1700 EA OHIO ACLU OPPOSES MOJIE PRE-CEN.ORSHIP BILLS The Ohio Civil Liberties Union has strongly opposed proposed censorsh lation including precensorship of movies.. Morton Icove, Chairman of the OLu Censorship Committee, and Rev. Jesse Cavileer, case, that movies are a means of communication and entitled to the protection of the. First Amendment, Icove maintained that any form of prior censorship of movies is un=: constitutional. He also pointed out that the proposed bills are not constitutional because the standards.for.censorship-are-vague-and-subjective-in-nature.. Icove said he would like to have the Ohio Attorney General give a ruling now'on. and personal prejudices influence censors, and stated that present Ohio penal statutes can quickly be invoked to control obscene films.. giving such vague definitions of "depraved and immoral" as #dissolute," "disgusting,! etc. A letter protesting the bills, from Oscar Steiner, chairnan of the Ohio cLu, was. placed in the record. Steiner claimed that the bills are infringements on freedom. of expression and right of free choice, adding that movies are subject to the same. standards regarding obscenity as any other form of expression and there are state laws providing for criminal prosecution of offenders. Noting that a vast number of standards of some people and rorks of art when judged by others, Steiner claimed that positive determination is virtually impossible without religious, racial and political prejudices and personal predilections.. movies, because uncensored films are shown on television. Both Steiner and Icove.: problems such as the effect of movies, comic books, newspapers and magazines. "The power to censor," Mr. Icove concluded, "is the power to regiment, the power tion of ideas.n Despite the AcLu protest, the subcomnittee reported a'censorship biil which has and theatre exhibitors are aroused by the new censorship drive. The campaign to enact a new law was undertaken after Ohio Courts invalidated. hetween this evil and films. RE JUN 31955 000914 Regular weekly sf yice. further information furnished on request.