CANTON, Ohio- -- Bill Aston and Anne Juenemann walked outside XTC adult video store, hoisting signs in protest.
Aston, Juenemann and five others from the Mount Vernon Boulevard NW neighborhood paced back and forth in front of the business at 3255 Cleveland Ave. NW.
Cars and trucks honked. Aston waved.
But the crowd got tough from time to time.
"Porn rules!" a young man shouted out the window of a passing pickup truck.
Another motorist laughed mockingly.
Hecklers did not discourage the protesters. They did not respond. They kept walking and holding their signs, emblazoned with messages such as, "Pornography - your neighborhood is next" or "Keep Our Neighborhood Safe."
Juenemann, 61, said she has been hit with a plastic bottle. Tony Guedel, 69, said he has been pelted with a cigarette lighter. Neither protester was not seriously hurt.
"We want to make a statement ... to the community that we don't appreciate this business in our neighborhood," said Juenemann, holding a sign that beckoned, "Against Porn, Blow Horn."
Up to 10 people have protested, Juenemann said. Usually, crowds are smaller. Protests typically are held three times a week, she said. Elderly supporters have trouble joining in, Juenemann said.
"We have children and our grandchildren in the neighborhood playing and walking," she said.
Juenemann said XTC is not a good neighbor.
Used condoms, sexually oriented material and a sex toy have been found outside XTC, the group claims.
Aston said adult video stores have the right to be in business. It's just not the right location, he said.
"I don't frequent these stores," said Aston, 50. "I'm not the perfect person, but that's definitely something I discipline myself to stay away from."
Attorney Brian Zimmerman said he's "very adamant that this type of business should not be located on the threshold of a residential neighborhood." Zimmerman and attorney Allen Schulman Jr. are representing the group. Both men live in the Mount Vernon area and took the case for free.
Steven Shafron, the Cleveland attorney representing XTC, could not be reached for comment Monday afternoon. Neither could XTC owner Jim Leger.
A group of neighbors have opposed XTC since it opened about two years ago. They continue to show up at City Council meetings. Eight neighbors are suing the city and XTC, contending the adult business is a public nuisance and is in violation of city zoning laws.
XTC's rear parking lot, which is zoned residential, violates zoning regulations, Zimmerman contends. The city disagrees.
However, Kathleen Tatarsky, assistant law director, said the city will adhere to whatever the judge's ruling turns out to be in the case.
A buffer area has not been established between the business and the neighborhood, Zimmerman said, even though it's required. However, Mariella Mestel, another assistant law director, said the city told XTC it has to meet landscaping requirements.
"I think they put some trees in back," she said. The city's zoning inspector has monitored XTC's compliance, Mestel said.
The case is in Stark County Common Pleas Court. No court dates have been set.
Zimmerman said he withdrew the case and refiled it over a technicality. Since then, he said, the 9th District Court of Appeals in Akron has issued a ruling in a similar case in Wooster that favors the lawsuit against XTC.
Mestel said the Wooster case involved some different issues.
In May 2002, after XTC decided to open the business, the Law Department crafted a new ordinance in an effort to crack down on adult businesses. XTC and two other adult businesses sued the city. The Law Department modified the ordinance, and XTC dropped the lawsuit.
Neighbors, meanwhile, have not gone away.
"We'll keep doing this until we get rid of these people," said Guedel.
Aston agrees.
"I'm like a bulldog," he said. "Once I get ahold of something, I won't let it go if I truly believe in it, which I do."
