Christopher Buttner writes: Good Morning, This recently came across my desk this Friday morning and I believe it's something that effects all of us in the adult entertainment industry. Please review, pass it on, post it to your web site, etc., in order for everyone in the adult entertainment industry to crush this measure.
Dear Adult Business Professional,
We have an urgent request that could affect the future of your adult club or business. Please ask everyone you know to go, on the Internet to
www.stopthehouse.com/contact/oh/house
This is a petition which will automatically go to all Ohio legislators, against the pending Ohio bill which will put their state's clubs and other adult businesses out of business. This Ohio bill will be used by the Christian Coalition as a roadmap to open the flood gates for the whole country and systematically pass similar laws in other states, which will kill our industry nationwide.
Please fill out the requred name and address info on the petition and be sure to use a valid e-mail address, as we are getting responses from the Ohio state reps.
Thank you,
Luke Liakos
Buckeye ACE Chapter
Thanks for your support.
Regards,
Christopher Buttner
President
PRThatRoXXX.com, Innovative Publicity for Adult Entertainment Industy Leaders.www.stopthehouse.com/contact/oh/house
Back story, April 18, 2007 [Cleveland Plain Dealer]: Columbus- The Ohio Senate voted 24-8 Tuesday [April 17] for a bill that would impose harsher regulations on strip clubs.
Despite that overwhelming support, only one lawmaker seemed willing to say anything good about the bill.
In fact, in a floor debate more puzzling than pointed, most senators who spoke condemned the measure.
"I would suggest to you if it were a silent vote, I'm not sure it would pass," Sen. Larry Mumper, a Marion Republican, said as the debate on Senate Bill 16 wrapped up.
The bill, which heads to the House for expected approval, would require strippers and patrons to stay 6 feet apart during performances.
It also would force the clubs, as well as adult bookstores, to close from midnight to 6 a.m. if they do not have a liquor license. Those with licenses would have to end performances at midnight.
The bill was proposed by Citizens for Community Values, a conservative Cincinnati-area group that successfully pushed for the state's gay marriage ban. The group gathered more than 120,000 signatures to put the measure before the Senate.
That left lawmakers debating a measure that none of them had sponsored, and that none was willing to voice strong support for.
Some members seemed troubled by imposing statewide standards for adult businesses instead of leaving the matter up to local communities.
"We shouldn't be setting those standards at the state level. I think it's dangerous and I think it's unnecessary," said Sen. David Goodman, a Columbus Republican who voted against the bill. "We need to be very careful when we think we know better than what our local public officials do."
Sen. Ron Amstutz, a Wooster Republican, was the only member who spoke in support of the bill. But he was far from passionate as he explained the bill and asked lawmakers for their "favorable" vote.
Even Senate President Bill Harris, an Ashland Republican, struggled to explain to reporters how a measure with so little support could pass so easily. He suggested that lawmakers held lingering resentment over an October 2005 threat by Phil Burress, head of Citizens for Community Values, when a version of the bill was stalled in the Senate.
At that time, Burress said his group would spend money to defeat Republican senators who did not support the bill.
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"I think probably still some of what happened a year and half ago is in the minds of some of our members who weren't happy with it then and still aren't happy with it," Harris said.
Citizens for Community Values members did not return calls for comment. Earlier, group member Barry Sheets told a Senate committee that the restrictions are needed because of negative "secondary effects" of strip clubs such as high crime rates, declining property values and urban blight. He said the 6-foot rule is to protect strippers from being pawed by patrons and to prevent drug transactions between strippers and patrons.
"This is the final piece of the puzzle we need," Sheets said.
Strip club backers said they were stunned by Tuesday's debate.
"I think the biggest thing I learned today is that local control means giving active theocratic organizations control over the locals," said Angelina Spencer, a former Cleveland stripper who is executive director of National Association of Club Executives, a strip club trade association. She wondered whether police officers would be issued "double-length yardsticks" to enforce the 6-foot rule.
Spencer predicted that the measure would drive all strip clubs in Ohio out of business if not stopped by court action.
