DALE, Ind. - A zoning dispute involving a 24-hour adult bookstore has attracted the interest of a Cincinnati attorney who has handled several obscenity cases, including some for Hustler publisher Larry Flynt.
H. Louis Sirkin, a Cincinnati attorney retained by the owners of the Love Boutique, said he plans to challenge Spencer County's adult entertainment ordinance as unconstitutional.
Sirkin has tried obscenity cases for clients, including Flynt, and recently unsuccessfully asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review strip club restrictions in Cincinnati.
Officials in the southern Indiana county about 85 miles west of Louisville, have retained Chattanooga, Tenn., lawyer Scott Bergthold, who has helped many communities write laws regulating adult businesses.
Bergthold said he expects Sirkin to file a complaint within a week.
Meanwhile, both sides reached an agreement Friday under which the Love Boutique can continue to operate as a convenience store.
Bergthold said he was confident the county's ordinances will hold up in court because they were carefully modeled after laws that have been upheld in similar cases.
The business opened as the Adult Plaza in a former truck stop along U.S. 231 Nov. 18, a week after officials approved a zoning ordinance restricting adult businesses.
The county says the owners of Adult Plaza did not file for required permits and violated limits on hours of operation and proximity to homes, schools or churches. In December, the county obtained an emergency injunction ordering the Plaza to shut down, but officials said the business moved to another building at the former truck stop.
Under Friday's agreement, the larger building is to remain empty and owners must file for permits before making any improvements or doing business there.
