A man accused of failing to return more 700 children’s books to five different libraries in county was released from jail yesterday after a publisher agreed to post his bond of $1,000. publisher said, “There’s a story here. This is man who loves books. He just can’t let of them. He hasn’t stolen a single book. what’s the crime? We think that Mr. Barush a story to tell. We plan to publish story.”
When asked why he didn’t return the , Mr. Barush said, “Well, how could I? They family to me. I was afraid to return , because I knew that kids or dogs would hold of these books and chew them up, them around, rip the pages, spill soda on , get jam and jelly on them, and drown in the toilet.”
He continued, “Books are people, ! They talk to you, they take care of , and they enrich you with wisdom and humor love. A book is my guest in my . How could I kick it out? I repaired pages. I dusted them with a soft clean . I turned their pages so they could breathe get some fresh air.
“Every week I reorganized on their shelves so they could meet new . My books were HAPPY books. You could tell by looking at them. Now they’re all back the library, on the lower shelves, on the , at the mercy of all those runny-nosed kids. can hear them calling me! I need to them. Excuse me. I have to go now.”