Nude Dancing Protest Set for Saturday
MILFORD Mass. — A group opposing Doc's Sports Bar's request to have adult entertainment intend to picket rain or shine on Saturday.
Encouraged by a Planning Board vote Tuesday to oppose Doc's application for an adult entertainment license on zoning grounds, the group also is gearing up for Thursday's Zoning Board of Appeals public hearing on the proposal.
A local pastor expects to bring more than 100 people from his congregation to the protest, including lots of kids, to the Zoning Board meeting next Thursday.
The group has made plans with police, who will block off part of the road in front of Doc's on Saturday.
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MICHIGAN
City Council Tightens Adult Entertainment Rules
ROMULUS, Mich. — City Council members Monday voted to accept changes that tighten up city regulations regarding adult entertainment and media.
The two ordinances require the two topless clubs in the city to better track dancers through registration, and will require stores and other establishments selling adult media to ensure patrons are old enough to buy such materials.
The ordinances will affect the topless clubs in the city and a host of other retailers, video rental businesses, hotels, and other businesses that may sell adult materials, Kirby said.
Retailers will also be expressly prohibited from selling X-rated materials to minors, and will be required to keep those materials out of the immediate reach of young people, if they are in an area where adults can browse.
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NORTH CAROLINA
Tarboro Residents to Protest Adult Store
TARBORO, N.C. — A handful of concerned residents will picket the planned 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 Jeana West-Braswell, who operates 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."
Although it has yet to open, the proposed shop has garnered a lot of attention.
The owner 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.
The Town Council will hold a public hearing Monday for a proposed ordinance that would set day care, elementary school and residential proximity restraints on pornography establishments. The Majestic Adult Center would be in violation of most of the restrictions and be given 12 months to comply if the ordinance is passed in April.
West-Braswell already has received approval from the police department and will have signs available for protestors.
"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."
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NORTH DAKOTA
County Seeks to Restrict Topless Dancers
GRAFTON, N.D. — The Walsh County Commission has given preliminary approval to restrictions on topless dancers in bars.
The ordinance, patterned after a nearby city's ordinance that bans topless dancers, affects two bars that are not part of an incorporated city.
The owner of one of the bars told reporters she has no problem with the ordinance, and would not have topless dancers in her bar.
Final approval of the ordinance is expected Monday.
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UTAH
Novelty Shop Challenges Ordinance
MIDVALE, Utah — Dr. John's, a novelty shop, is challenging a rule the city has used to punish the store for selling "adult items" without being licensed as a sexually oriented business.
In a lawsuit filed Tuesday, the company claimed it does not sell enough adult material to be considered a sexually oriented business, referencing a section in Midvale's license ordinance that requires a business to be licensed if it offers adult products "as one of its principal purposes."
Dr. John's claims its adult items take up one eight-foot grid wall for adult toys and one shelf of no more than 150 adult videos. This amounts to a "substantial reduction" in its sexually oriented inventory, the suit claims, referencing a court decision in 2000 that found "several hundred dildos" displayed for sale.
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ENGLAND
Protesters Oppose New Adult Store in King’s Cross
LONDON — Campaigners in the King’s Cross neighborhood are protesting a new adult DVD shop, the third in the area. Residents are calling on Islington Council’s licensing regulatory committee to turn down an application for the outlet — which has already opened — when the council meets next Wednesday.
Council member Paul Convery said that if the shop got approval it would mean there were three sex establishments within hundreds of yards of each other.
King's Cross is the home of a British Rail station set to become the center of rail travel to the 2012 Olympic Games.
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