Halloween ghouls offensive to children, parents
Help! I'm in a horror movie and I can't get out! Everywhere I walk, there are ghouls and zombies dripping in blood, even dead men hanged in trees! My children see them too when we walk to school. We keep changing our route to avoid the worst, but new ones keep popping out of the ground and we just can't seem to shake them. It seems that there is growing competition to see who can come up with the most horrible Halloween decorations (à la "keeping up with the Mansons"). I miss the days when such gruesome scenes were relegated to haunted houses and films geared toward restricted audiences - venues where the audience chooses to be subjected to such graphic material. Unfortunately, these increasingly violent displays are public, so my children and I have to see them against my will. Wake me up when October ends!

Erin Botz

Keyport