General Membership Meeting March 17th
The next General Membership Meeting will be held at the Warner Center Marriott at 21850 Oxnard Street in Woodland Hills, California on Thursday, March 17, at 5:30pm. The staff and Board of Directors will meet and greet the members over hors d’oeuvres and drinks.
        FSC invites members to participate in a strategic planning session, which will be facilitated by Michelle L. Freridge, FSC’s Executive Director. Joan Irvine, Executive Director of Adult Sites Against Child Pornography will give a presentation on how the adult entertainment industry can help end child pornography. New and continuing supporters will have the opportunity to pay their dues, make a donation, and pick up recent FSC publications and products.
        Finally, the meeting will end in a St. Patrick’s Day networking party with a no-host bar. Please RSVP with Neva Chevalier at (818) 348-9373 or by email at Free_speech@sbcglobal.net
__________________________________________________________

LOBBYING DAYS DEADLINE NEARS
Send in your application now to attend our acclaimed lobbying training program, Celebrate Free Speech Lobbying Days (CFSLD), April 18-19, in Sacramento, California.
        The two-day event will include a full day of political action training for participants, as well as our popular cocktail reception for legislators and staff. In addition, this year we are adding a Community Forum to the schedule, where the public will be invited to join adult industry professionals and speakers from the Capitol in a discussion of issues of concern regarding free speech and adult entertainment.
        The application deadline is Saturday, March 5, 2005.  Call the Legislative Affairs Office at 1-800-476-7813 or e-mail Sunlove@direcway.com for more information and an application.
        CFSLD continues to be an inspiring and empowering activity for those who attend and is a great staff development opportunity for industry leaders. Don’t miss it in 2005!
__________________________________________________________

UPDATE ON EXTREME ASSOCIATES CASE
WASHINGTON, DC -- Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, in his first public decision on a matter of law in his new post, has announced that the Department of Justice will appeal U.S. District Judge Gary Lancaster’s ruling dismissing charges against Rob Black and and Lizzie Borden in the Extreme Associates obscenity case (U.S. v. Extreme Associates, 03-0203 W.D. Penn. Jan. 20, 2005).
        If allowed to stand, Lancaster’s ruling would undermine obscenity laws as well as other statutes based on shared views of public morality, including laws against prostitution, bestiality and bigamy, the department said in a press release.
        Defense Attorney Louis Sirkin said that he looked forward to being successful in the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Lancaster’s ruling, said Sirkin, “…could be the beginning of a new day. Maybe the pendulum is starting to swing and we’re growing up.”
        The DOJ action is chapter 2 in a closing of government ranks against the Lancaster decision. As we reported last week, Senators Orrin Hatch and Sam Brownback of the Senate Judiciary Committee castigated Lancaster and his ruling in a Washington Times Op-Ed.
        Later, Brownback scheduled a sub-committee hearing on “Obscenity Prosecution and the First Amendment,” apparently in response to the Lancaster decision, only to postpone the hearing for reasons not explained.
        FSC has sent written testimony and has asked to be included in the hearing in order to provide a more objective balance of testimony. Three witnesses were scheduled on the initial agenda, all law professors with well-known biases against adult entertainment.
From Mark Sherman, Associated Press, 2/16/05
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/politics/10916404.htm?
template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
And from Brent Kendall, The Daily Journal, 2/17/05
www.dailyjournal.com (subscription required)
And from an FSC Press release 2/16/05
__________________________________________________________

HUGE BROADCAST INDECENCY FINES APPROVED
WASHINGTON, DC -- With a vote of 389-38, the House has approved a steep hike in the maximum fines the FCC can impose for broadcast indecency, from $32,500 to $500,000 for a company and from $11,000 to $500,000 for an individual entertainer.
        “This is a penalty that makes broadcasters sit up and take notice,” said Representative Joe Barton, (R-TX) chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee. “This legislation makes great strides in making it safe for families to come back into their living room.”
        The lopsided vote would seem to indicate that there are few stalwart defenders of freedom of expression when it comes to broadcast indecency.
        Parents - not the government - are the best judges of what their children should see and hear, said one of the few who voted against the measure (HR 310), Representative Henry Waxman, (D-CA).
        Efforts to pass similar legislation failed last year when the House and Senate were unable to reach a compromise. The Senate version this year has proposed $325,000 per violation.
From Genaro C. Armas, Associated Press, 2/16/05
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CONGRESS_INDECENCY?
SITE=NCGRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
__________________________________________________________

XXX ON CELL PHONES CAUSES CONCERN
WASHINGTON, DC and CANNES, FRANCE -- The Federal Communications Commission has released a statement asking for responsible action by wireless carriers and content providers to protect children from accidental exposure to inappropriate content. At present there are no U.S. laws regulating the transmission of explicit materials on wireless phones. Many observers predict a burgeoning of mobile adult content in the very near future.
        “Through responsible action on the part of wireless carriers and content providers, this important social goal [protection of children from adult content] can be achieved without government intervention and without interference to the provision of content to adults,” said John Muleta, head of the FCC’s wireless bureau.
        Joe Farren, Director of Public Affairs for the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association, said work has already begun on the issue.
        “The goal is to have a rating system in place and also provide additional tools in the form of filtering systems,” said Farren.
        In Britain, wireless networks bar adult services to new cell phones by default and lift the restrictions only after receiving proof that the user is 18 or over. However, outside Britain, Ireland and Sweden, Vodafone Group PLC, which has operations in 26 countries, plans to use “opt-in” filtering. Most of its handsets will have no out-of-the-box access restrictions on adult materials.
From Matt O’Conner, X-Biz, 2/16/05
http://www.xbiz.com/news_piece.php?id=7477
And from The Associated Press, 2/16/05
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/
AP-Wireless-Show-Content-Control.html
__________________________________________________________

BAR TRANSFORMATION SURPRISES TOWN
CROSS PLAINS, WI – A bar and grill here featuring volleyball and known as “Kitt’s Korner” has converted virtually overnight to “Hot Rods,” a gentlemen’s club with exotic dancers. Not much conversion was necessary. The club still has only folding chairs and tables. However, the opening took place one day before the Dane County Board was scheduled to vote on zoning restrictions for adult entertainment.
        Jerry Wood, who obtained a one-year lease from the Kitt’s landlord, admits he had to work fast to beat the deadline.
         “We had no choice,” said Wood. “We were advised by our attorney that we needed to open to be grandfathered in.”
        Harold Krantz said the town was blindsided by the club opening. “I don’t think Town of Cross Plains and the Village of Pine Bluff needs adult entertainment,” said Krantz.
From Angela Bettis, Channel 3000 News
http://www.channel3000.com/news/4201362/detail.html
__________________________________________________________

AD CAMPAIGN MOUNTED BY CENSORSHIP GROUP
WASHINGTON, DC – A group calling itself Victims of Pornography, most likely affiliated with the Ohio group Citizens for Community Values (judging from their website) has taken out full-page ads in The Washington Post, USA Today, and the Portland Oregonian in a campaign against the proposed merger of Movie Gallery with Hollywood Video. As we reported in January, right-wing censorship groups fear the merger because the Movie Gallery chain includes adult sections which might be transplanted to the Hollywood Video chain. Other groups - the usual suspects - including the American Family Association and Morality in Media, have also signed on to the ad
        “Don’t Sell Us Out to Movie Gallery,” pleads the ad in the Oregonian, above a photo of a mother and child. “If the Hollywood Video Board votes to accept a bid by Movie gallery to acquire your entire chain,” says the ad, “a family customer’s next trip for a video could become an introduction to the world of hard-core pornography.”
        The ad in the Washington Post is titled: “An Urgent Appeal to the Department of Justice” and goes on to assert that “DOJ and State Prosecutors throughout the country should begin immediate investigations to determine if the products and practices of Movie Gallery Video Stores violate Federal laws regarding distribution of obscene materials.”
        The ads then go on for some paragraphs, laying out the familiar arguments of these groups in their fight against adult entertainment.
        There is nothing wrong with taking out ads in an effort to influence public policy, of course. However, the disinformation in these ads - which are slickly produced and potentially effective -sorely needs the light of truth shone on it. For example, a stock pitch in the ads is that “obscenity” – a word with a narrow legal definition - is equivalent to the general category of hardcore adult entertainment. In fact, the vast majority of adult entertainment -including hardcore adult entertainment - is protected speech and clearly not obscene by modern standards.
From Victims of Pornography website, 2/15/05
http://www.victimsofpornography.org/Movie_Gallery.htm
__________________________________________________________

SCHOOL OF SPECIAL INSTRUCTION NOT APPROVED
ROANOKE, VA -- Ken Holliday and Dan Bickley, owners of Exotic Illusions, an adult bookstore here, are appealing a ruling by the county board of zoning to the Montgomery County Circuit Court. Holliday and Bickley want to open private booths to allow their customers to preview adult videos.
        County zoning administrator Steve Sandy told the owners that the booths would constitute a movie theater, which is not allowed in the general business district. Sandy also said the booths did not constitute a "school of special instruction" for married couples, as the owners had argued.
        Holliday said that the zoning decision hurts his business because the booths are "essential" to running an adult bookstore.
        "A lot of people don't want to take videos home where the kids can find them," Holliday said.
From Tonia Moxley, Roanoke Times, 2/16/05
http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/18633.html

UpComing Events

MAR 31-APR 2 – The Phoenix Forum, Tempe, AZ http://www.thephoenixforum.com/

APR 11-13 International Lingerie Show, Las Vegas, NV www.spectrade.com

APR 18-19 – Celebrate Free Speech Lobbying Days, Sacramento, CA, 800-476-7813

MAY 1 – Adult Con 8, Los Angeles Convention Center, www.Erotica-LA.com

MAY 19-21 --  Erotic Expo., Hotel Pennsylvania, N.Y., NY www.Eroticexpony.com

JUNE 10-12 -- Erotica L.A., www.Erotica-LA.com

JULY 11-13 – ANME, Mandalay Bay, Vas Vegas, NV

JULY 18-20 – AVN Adult Novelty Expo, Pasadena, CA. www.adultnoveltyexpo.com

JULY 26-28, -- VSDA's Home Entertainment 2005, Bellagio Resort, Las Vegas, NV, http://show.vsdahomeentertainment.com

AUG 5-6 – Internext, Hollywood, FL., www.Internext-expo.com