Who’s hiding Harry Potter?

Published 11:50 pm Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Harry Potter’s secret is out. The secret being: Who’s printing the final edition of J.K. Rowling’s wildly successful series about the orphaned wizard? (Page A2)

The printer offers about as much useful information as Vice President Dick Cheney, but the Muggles in Crawfordsville, Ind., let it slip that “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” is being produced at the town’s RR Donnelley &Sons Co. publishing plant.

How do they know? “It’s pretty much an open secret except for the employees of RR Donnelley,” said the local chamber of commerce’s executive VP. “They’re not allowed to confirm or deny. Everybody just grins at one another.”

While the rest of the world is wild about Harry, Crawfordsville’s library won’t celebrate Saturday’s “Deathly Hallows” release because some locals don’t like the series’ references to magic and wizardry.

“It’s kind of a touchy subject,” said library clerk Jennifer Wakolbinger. “We get a lot of complaints from patrons.”

Cleanup on aisle 3! Martha Stewart’s name is mud with some of her neighbors in upscale Katonah, N.Y. (Page A2) One restless native writes a song to protest news that the domestic diva wants legal trademark protection so she can use the village’s name on a new line of her chi-chi products. Prediction: Martha might win, but at the cost of summer pool party invitations.

— Kurt Batdorf, Herald staff