Koch Tells Soviet Youths Their Government Is ‘the Pits’

--New York Mayor Edward I. Koch, while greeting a group of Soviet students who are performing in a musical about peace between the Soviet Union and the United States, stunned his young visitors by telling them: “The Soviet government is the pits.” The diplomatic brouhaha unfolded just after Koch read a proclamation welcoming the 10 Soviet students and a dozen American schoolchildren who are touring in a musical called “Peacechild,” which aims to promote Soviet-American friendship. Oksana Remizova, 18, said through an interpreter that “it was strange because we were saying throughout our tour we want to be friends and all of a sudden (we’re treated like) enemies.” But the mayor was unrepentant. “I don’t want people to think that just because I have issued a proclamation somehow or another I am at peace with the Soviet government,” he said. “I am not.” The group promptly canceled a tour of City Hall.

--It’s not banned in Boston, but William Faulkner’s “As I Lay Dying” is banned in the Graves County school district in Kentucky, prompting a rush on the 1930 novel in local bookstores and libraries. “If they tell us we can’t read something, everybody is going to read it,” said Johnna Polivick, 18, a Graves County High School senior. The controversy began when the book was assigned to a sophomore English class and Chris Hill, 16, objected to some of the language. His mother, LaDone Fields Hill, asked the principal to assign her son another book and presented her case to the school board, which, in an impromptu vote, banned the novel. None of the board members had read the book. Suzanne Post, executive director of the state American Civil Liberties Union chapter, was delighted at the sudden demand for the novel. “Isn’t it wonderful? There’s no better way to hype a book than to ban it.”

--It was an old-fashioned roof-raising, and the efforts of 30 neighbors may enable seven homeless brothers to stay together. Judy O’Kelley died of a brain tumor in 1983, after telling her sons on her deathbed that she wanted them to remain together. Abandoned by their father, they lived with their grandfather until he died last year. Four of the boys were placed in foster homes. And last month the trailer the other three were living in was gutted by fire. Over the weekend, neighbors in Gainesville, Ga., took just eight hours to build the frame of a four-bedroom home. “I’ve never seen so many people work so hard,” said Charles O’Kelley, 16. Social worker Brenda Gore said Hall County hopes to place the brothers in the new home as soon as it is completed and a guardian can be found.