TARBORO, North Carolina – [Rocky Mountain Telegram] Jeana West-Braswell loves her town, she likes to say.

She also loves her family, the children she cares for at her day care center and Jesus.

West-Braswell loves a lot of things.

But she hates porn.

She especially hates when the things she loves – her children, her church, her friends, her family and her Tarboro – might be exposed to porn.

That’s why West-Braswell plans to protest the future opening of a Main Street pornography shop.

She and a handful of other concerned residents will stand in front of the Majestic Adult Center at 10 a.m. Saturday, waving signs and calling for the store owner to change his plans.

“It’s a peaceful protest,” said West-Braswell, who operates After School All-Stars, a Christian day care center located in Tarboro. “We’re standing up to show the owner we do not want this type of shop in our beautiful town.”

Word spread quickly throughout Tarboro last month that a local entrepreneur was preparing to open an adult retail store in the former Majestic Theatre at 214 Main St.

Although it has yet to open, the proposed shop has garnered a lot of attention. It’s attention that West-Braswell said is bad for Tarboro.

“We’re classier than that,” she said. “We don’t need an adult bookstore to support Tarboro. There are other businesses that can come into town that would be good for Tarboro.”

Would-be retail owner Ronnie Wiggins, who has not returned several Telegram phone calls in recent weeks, began work to renovate the old theater in January.

Today, the windows are covered with a black backdrop, and white block letters reading “XXX,” “No one under age 18” and “Toys” are plastered across the glass storefront.

Everyone has been talking about he storefront design, Mayor Donald Morris said.

The Town Council will hold a public hearing Monday for a proposed ordinance that might help quiet the commotion. The edict would set day care, elementary school and residential proximity restraints on pornography establishments.

The Majestic Adult Center, which would be in violation of most of the restrictions, would be given 12 months to comply if the ordinance is passed in April.

A number of residents don’t want to wait that long, West-Braswell said. She invites anyone interested in joining her to stop by the shop Saturday anytime after 10 a.m.

She already has received approval from the police department and will have signs available for protestors to hold, West-Braswell said.

“I’m going to stand up for God,” she said. “I believe this is what he wants us to do. Somebody has to stand up for what’s right.”