Indiana – from www.courier-journal.com – An anti-pornography organization has stepped up the pressure on the Clarksville Town Council to take action against the Theatair X adult business by listing each council member, with a photo and comment, on a new website.
The campaign also includes a bulletin board off Interstate 65 near the adult business that says, “Is the Town Council aiding XXX activity?”
The Louisville-based group — which held a press conference Tuesday night at the Kye’s I event center in Jeffersonville — also claims that a new adult ordinance in Louisville could result in such businesses migrating to Clarksville.
“It has become clear the town council wants to avoid accountability,” MaryAnn Gramig, president of the Reclaim Our Culture Kentuckiana organization, says in a video clip on the website, TruthAboutTheatairX.com.
In October 2008, Clarksville cited Theatair X for staying open later than its adult business ordinance allows, and it later cited the business for inadequate lighting, holes between peep-show booths and violating a rule that a store manager must have an unobstructed view of booths from the front desk.
But Special Judge Robert Bennett of Washington County dismissed the citations in January 2010, saying they couldn’t be enforced because the adult-business controls didn’t go before the town’s plan commission before enactment.
The town has appealed the ruling.
But Gramig said at Tuesday’s press conference — and on the website — that the council could just enact a new ordinance that could be upheld rather than spend money on an appeal. And she urged residents to call the council members “as often as you can and insist a new ordinance is passed correctly.”
Joan Henderson, a lawyer for Theatair X, said she has looked briefly at ROCK’s website and found it confusing because it criticizes the town council for not taking action, when in fact it has.
“It plain is an invalid ordinance,” she said of the town’s attempt to regulate adult businesses.
She said the business has a right to keep operating under the First Amendment and will fight the appeal.