Illinois- On Tuesday, Sept. 6, the Freeport City Council will make decisions on two ordinances that I believe will have long-lasting affects on our city and make a statement about the values we hold as a community.

The adult entertainment and pornographic industry is as big and as profitable as ever before in our nation. Protected by the right of free speech under the First Amendment of our Constitution, the adult entertainment industry proliferates almost every corner of our country. Communities and law enforcement agencies struggle to deter the sick effects this industry brings with it.

To date, Freeport has been largely spared from the ill effects of this industry. Adult entertainment has been mostly confined to the private home and has not made its way into the public. There are no exclusive XXX video stores in town nor are there any strip clubs or nude bars. But as sex and pornography become a bigger addiction in our country, and subsequently provides that industry with bigger profits, my fear is that will not always be the case.

Currently, Freeport, with an understandable innocent naiveté, has almost no laws to protect our neighborhoods and children from the adult entertainment industry should a business from this industry choose to locate in our community. Though these types of businesses are protected by the Constitution and can’t be legally prohibited from setting up shop, they can – and should – be regulated.

The adult entertainment business ordinance proactively puts into place a series of city laws that will govern where adult businesses can and can’t locate in our city, and will regulate how they are to conduct their business. For example, the ordinance prohibits an adult entertainment business from locating near a residential area, a church or a school. The new law also prohibits the sale and consumption of alcohol on the premises as well as regulates the kind of outdoor signage a business can use in advertising its location. I hope Freeport still cares enough about its neighborhoods and its children to urge alderman to support the new ordinance.

Contrary to that, I hope Freeport residents contact their alderman and urge them to vote ‘no’ on the city’s efforts to extend the hours alcohol is sold on Sunday.