JUSTICE O’CONNOR RESIGNS
CHATSWORTH, CA -- Free Speech Coalition and the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom (NCSF) have announced an official partnership. NCSF is a national organization committed to creating a political, legal, and social environment in the United States that advances equal rights of consenting adults who practice forms of alternative sexual expression. The two organizations have teamed up to network, educate the public on overlapping issues, raise funding, and reach out to new members.
         It is not an accident that the announcement of the partnership was made on the heels of the filing by Free Speech Coalition of the lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of 18 USC § 2257, the federal record-keeping and labeling law which is being expanded to include the Internet, and which has had a direct effect on leather, fetish, and swingers groups, their publications and outreach efforts, as well websites and a variety of businesses that serve these communities.
From a joint press release, 7/7/05
www.freespeechcoalition.com and  www.ncsfreedom.com
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COPS UNCLEAR ON THE CONCEPT
       KNOXVILLE, TN -- After a seven-year legal fight, the Tennessee Supreme Court has ruled that a city ordinance which was used to drive an Entertainment Resources “Fantasy Video” store out of business was impermissibly vague under the United States and Tennessee Constitutions. The ordinance has since been re-written and the Fantasy Video store is no more, having lost its lease long ago. However, the Supreme Court granted the appeal because the question of damages due the store remains.
       The court’s decision turned primarily on whether the phrase “substantial or significant portion of stock and trade” was too vague. A history of the case shows that Fantasy Video tried unsuccessfully to modify its percentage of stock and also repeatedly asked the city for clarification on exactly what the words “substantial or significant” meant. Regardless of Fantasy Video’s best efforts, however, police officers continued to cite the store on almost a daily basis.
       The inability of three officers who were charged with enforcing the ordinance to define its key terms during testimony in court weighed heavily against the ordinance’s constitutionality, said the court.
       Sergeant Ferguson testified that he could not define “substantial” other than, “Substantial means substantial as red means red; I know red when I see it, but I can’t describe red.”
       Officer Major testified that “Substantial is substantial. I don’t really have an opinion on the definition of substantial. It is self-explanatory.” He further explained: “Significant is just like substantial, I mean, significant is significant, just as substantial is substantial.”
       Officer Shelton similarly testified that “substantial means substantial just like the color blue means the color blue.” He also agreed with Officer Major that “significant means significant.”
       The witnesses’ testimony illustrated the issue at the very heart of Entertainment Resources’ vagueness challenge, explained the court. Enforcement of the ordinance was left to the “personal predilections” of the police.
       The case has now been remanded to the trial court for determination of damages and attorneys fees, which could be, uh… substantial.
From the court decision, 7/4/05
http://www.tsc.state.tn.us/OPINIONS/TSC/PDF/052/CityKnoxOPN.pdf
And from The Associated Press, 7/6/05
http://www.volunteertv.com/Global/story.asp?S=3543238
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DECISION MAY OR MAY NOT BEAR ON NEW FIGHTS
KNOXVILLE, TN -- The impact of the Tennessee Supreme Court decision described above on current law is yet to be seen. Fantasy Video’s attorney Richard Gaines says that the victory is “the biggest case of its sort that’s come out of the state Supreme Court in a while.” After the Entertainment Resources case, Gaines says, “Any judge is going to think twice about backing the city up.”
       However, as noted above, new, tightened, and much more stringent ordinances are now in place. The new ordinances, one by Knox County, passed in March, and one by the city, passed in May, are on hold due to litigation. The new rules mandate the licensing, location and conduct of adult businesses. Also included are a ban on nudity and alchohol in exotic dance clubs as well as a six-foot distance requirement between dancers and customers. There are new licensing requirements and adult businesses must close by midnight and also must close on Sundays.
      Knox County Law Director Mike Moyers isn’t sure what impact the Entertainment Resources case may have on the chain of current litigations related to the new ordinances.
       “We’re studying the case, and if we need to make any changes to reflect what the Supreme Court has done, we’ll make those changes,” Moyers said. For an analysis of the impact of the new law on the local economy and politics, see Ellen Mallernee’s in-depth piece in Knoxville’s Metro Pulse weekly.
http://www.metropulse.com/articles/2005/15_27/cover_story.shtml
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GUILTY PLEA IN HIGH PROFILE OBSCENITY CASE
       FORT WORTH, TX -- Leroy Moore Sr. of Arlington, Texas, who was indicted in March along with Edward Wedelstedt of Goalie Entertainment and five others, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to engage in selling or transferring obscene matter and has agreed to cooperate with the government’s prosecution for the remaining defendants, whose trial is set for January 2006.
       Earlier this month Moore pleaded guilty to a separate charge of conspiracy to evade federal taxes. In addition, he previously entered a guilty plea in yet another case in Fort Worth in which he was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. He is awaiting separate sentencing in that case.
       Moore, 64, operated a chain of four adult bookstores in Texas. He now faces a maximum statutory sentence of five years in prison plus fines. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 29.
From United Press International, 6/28/05
http://interestalert.com/brand/siteia.shtml?Story=st/sn/0628000eaaa037c1.upi
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PERFECT 10 IS AT IT AGAIN
       BEVERLY HILLS, CA -- The adult magazine and website “Perfect 10” has filed another lawsuit for copyright infringement, this time against Amazon’s A9.com search engine. The complaint is similar to one the company filed against Google last year.
       “Search engines such as A9.com and Google are displaying hundreds of thousands of adult images, from the most tame to the most exceedingly explicit, to draw massive traffic to their Web sites, which they convert into ad revenue or sales revenue,” said the company.
       So far a perfect zero in lawsuits against Visa and Mastercard, Perfect 10’s logic escapes some observers. Perfect 10 could simply opt out of having its images included in the results of Google, A9 and any other engine by following the commonly accepted robot exclusion standard, says Kevin Lee, founder of search marketing firm Did-it.com.
       “Ironically, many of Perfect 10’s competitors use the fact that spiders crawl images as a method of organic search engine optimization… to drive free traffic to the sites,” Lee said. “So, while most adult sites want the free traffic and visibility, it appears Perfect 10 wants the opposite, or perhaps they just like to litigate things that also result in good PR and media coverage.”
From Christine Blank, DMN News.com, 7/7/05
http://www.dmnews.com/cgi-bin/artprevbot.cgi?article_id=33319
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REGULATING ADULT BUSINESSES ON THE INTERSTATE
       ST. MARTINVILLE, LA -- The St. Martin Parish Council has adopted an ordinance targeting exotic dance clubs and adult bookstores. The rules include limiting the hours of operation of adult-oriented businesses from 6 AM till midnight and requiring the businesses and employees to be registered with the Parish.
       Mike Johnson, attorney for the national Allied Defense Fund, helped draft the ordinance. He said it’s important for small communities to have regulations for sexually-oriented businesses because of a trend he called “freeway porn,” i.e. the practice of adult businesses opening in neighborhoods of smaller towns along interstate highways in order to avoid restrictions placed on them by nearby, larger municipalities.
       Adult stores in Acadia Parish -- also on the I-10 corridor --may be facing similar regulations in the future. Video-store owner Emmett Jacobs was the only person prior to the vote at the council meeting to question the law’s fairness. “Who in the room has been harmed by my business?” he asked. “This is regulatory… not punitive,” insisted Board attorney Chester Cedars in response to Jacobs. “When people build a house or work at a bar or open a bar, they are regulated because of their type of business,” he said.
       Of course, even if routine regulation is the true motivation of the Parish Council, that doesn’t mean that local authorities can't try the punitive approach as well. Jacob and Edward Burleigh Jr., owner of The Video Place, are presently facing obscenity charges after undercover officers bought allegedly obscene videos at their stores.
From Kayla Gagnet, The Advertiser, 7/6/05
http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=
/20050706/NEWS01/507060332/1002
And from Robert Jones, The Advocate, 7/6/05
http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/070605/sub_adult001.shtml
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BOUTIQUE IN EMPTY MALL DRAWS PROTESTS
       DES MOINES, IA -- Doctor John’s Lingerie Boutique, scheduled to open here soon, has some folks up in arms because the boutique escapes regulations aimed at adult businesses. It seems Doctor John’s plans to sell primarily lingerie and gifts that can be found in department stores, such as art, candles and massage lotions.
       Nonetheless, several neighbors say they don’t want the store. They are worried about property values in the area of the presently empty strip mall.
       In response to the neighbors, John Haltom, also known as Doctor John, says “Tell them to get a life. If they are opposed to it, tell them not to come in.” Urbandale Director of Community Development Paul Dekker says all the city can do is watch carefully for code violations. Haltom says he welcomes that.
       “I want them to come in and buy stuff,” he said. “We have nothing to hide. Policemen, firemen, servicemen -- they get a 25 percent discount at our store.”
From Lisa Livermore,, Des Moines Register, 7/7/05
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=
/20050707/BUSINESS04/507070315/1027/COMM03

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CLUB BARELY OPENS, CLOSED DOWN QUICKLY
       MIAMI, FL -- Police and code enforcement officials have raided and shut down Diamond’s Cabaret, an exotic dance club that opened here in early June. After allegedly receiving complaints of prostitution at the club, undercover officers investigated. Police claim a dancer offered sex for $350 in a VIP room to an officer..
       The dancer was arrested and charged with prostitution. Diamond’s owner Renell Jones was arrested and charged with keeping a house of prostitution. He was also charged with operating a business without city and county licenses.
       Since opening, Jones had already been issued several citations for lacking the required permits.
       “We had been working on this case for three weeks,” said Code Enforcement Director Mariano Loret De Mola. “We wanted to make sure that when we acted we had all of our ducks in a row.”
From Maria E. Herrera, Miami Herald, 7/7/05
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12055616.htm
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Save the Date
June 17, 2005

5^th Annual Bob Tremont Memorial Golf Tournament
8:00 AM Shotgun
Angeles National Golf Club
9401 Foothill Blvd.
Sunland, CA 91040
www.angelesnational.com
“One of the 30 Best New Courses of 2004” says Brian McCallen in the January-February 2005 issue of Travel & Leisure Golf.

18^th Annual Night of the Stars
7:30 pm–10:00pm
The Hollywood Highlands
6801 Hollywood Blvd.
Hollywood CA 90028
www.thehighlandsla.com
 
This year’s modern theme and streamlined program is a return to casual Hollywood chic at the Kodak Theatre complex in Hollywood. Vert, a brasserie by Wolfgang Puck, will provide a delightful menu, while you meet and greet the stars and freedom fighters of the industry.

1st Annual Night of the Stars After-Party
10:00 PM
The Hollywood Highlands
For the first time, FSC throws a star-studded after-party! Party like a porn star and make America safe for adult entertainment!

UpComing Events

JULY 6-10 -- Lifestyles 2005, Las Vegas, NV, www.lifestyles-conventions.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

AUG 23-25, – Annual Gentlemen’s Club Expo, Madalay Bay Resort, Las Vegas, NV http://www.exoticdancer.com/expo.php