Tampa- Twelve Tampa-area citizens made it clear last week that despite the plethora of pornography on the Internet, community standards still exist and everything does not go.

The jurors found actor and producer Paul F. Little, also known as Max Hardcore, guilty of selling obscene material and mailing it to Tampa. They reached their decision after viewing more than eight hours of Little’s extreme brand of pornography, which included scenes of urination, vomiting and violent treatment of women.

The jury’s message was clear: Tampa has standards, no matter that our community is nicknamed the “Las Vegas of Lap Dancing.”

Since the 1970s, courts have struggled to define community standards and balance them with the First Amendment’s right to free expression. The line is clear for child pornography, but keeps shifting on other forms of smut.

Critics fear the jury’s verdict will embolden a rogue prosecutor to attack legitimate works of art and literature. But this jury’s work does not warrant such fears.

Rather, after viewing Little’s violent garbage, the jury let it be known that, to paraphrase former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, they might not be able to define obscenity, but they know it when they see it.