SHORT TAKES : Bookstore Asks Help in Boycott

Waldenbooks is asking readers for help against a group that threatens to boycott the bookstore chain for selling Playboy and Penthouse magazines.

In full-page advertisements to appear in 32 newspapers Monday, Waldenbooks calls on readers to voice support for the First Amendment. The ad says constitutional freedoms are at risk if those who try to censor certain publications are allowed to go unchecked.

The ad, which will be accompanied by signs at Waldenbooks’ stores, is paid for by the chain, although the company will accept donations from other booksellers to cover its costs.

Nowhere in the ad is Waldenbooks or its adversary, the American Family Assn., mentioned. AFA has picketed Waldenbooks in Florida and threatened to boycott its stores.

The advertisement is to appear in the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the Christian Science Monitor and 27 other daily newspapers around the country.