FSC MEMBERSHIP MEETING AT FLORIDA INTERNEXT
HOLLYWOOD, FL -- FSC has scheduled a membership meeting for 10 AM, Saturday, August 6, at Internext. The meeting will be held in the same ballroom used for seminars at the conference.
         On the agenda will be a brief update of the 2257 lawsuit, as well as other FSC news and information of interest to Internext attendees and exhibitors. There will also be an opportunity to clear up membership problems for new members who joined FSC within the last month or so but have not yet received membership confirmation, or whose credit card has not yet been charged. If there is not enough time to help everyone at the membership meeting, FSC staff will be available later at the FSC booth on the show floor.
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FSC ATTORNEYS “CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC”
       DENVER, CO -- The much anticipated 2257 hearing before U.S. District Court Judge Walker D. Miller on FSC’s motion for a preliminary injunction in Free Speech Coalition v. Gonzalez seemed to go quite well, according to Adult Video News Senior Editor and FSC board member Mark Kernes, who was present at the hearing and gave a blow by blow description of it in his report at AVN.com.
       The hearing, which ran three hours in an afternoon session and, as anticipated, did not result in an immediate decision by Judge Miller, was, according to FSC General Jeffrey J. Douglas, a significant milestone in FSC’s challenge to this unlawful attempt by the government to chill protected speech.
       “We are proud to note that our dazzling legal team presented its case passionately and persuasively,” said Douglas, “and as a result we have every hope to believe that, at the very least, the secondary producer provisions of the 2257 regulations will be enjoined by Judge Miller, and at best, that we will succeed in obtaining an injunction of the entire regulatory scheme.” A ruling by the judge is expected within the month and perhaps very soon.
       “I couldn’t be more proud of how focused and effective this team has been over the past month,” said FSC Executive Director Michelle L. Freridge, “With so little time to prepare and so much to do, they got it done and did a brilliant job too. The entire industry is in their debt.”
      As seasoned court observers will attest, it is tricky to guess what a decision will be, based on the way a hearing seems to go. According to Kernes and Douglas, however, FSC attorneys were able to make their arguments effectively. There were no nasty surprises or apparent hostility from the judge. FSC attorneys are cautiously optimistic.
From an FSC Press Release, 8/3/05
And from Mark Kernes, AVN Online, 8/3/05
http://www.avnonline.com/articles/235788.html
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ADULT VIDEO DISTRIBUTOR BUSTED
SHREVEPORT, LA -- Local, state and federal cops, armed with a federal indictment, have raided the home of Daniel Smart, distributor of adult videos through his online business, Cybertainment, and arrested Smart on federal and state charges of obscenity, mail fraud, tax evasion and money laundering. Customs agents were also involved, due to the worldwide distribution of allegedly obscene materials. Thousands of videos and DVD’s were seized, some allegedly involving bestiality.
      Smart came to the attention of law enforcement when someone emailed state police after recognizing an actress in a video that depicted a murder. The anonymous source feared the actress was in real danger and police investigated. After learning that the actress had not, in fact, been killed in the video and was not in danger, the investigation was nonetheless continued and eventually expanded into a mini-taskforce.
From KTBS News, Shreveport, 8/2/05
http://www.ktbs.com/news-detail.html?cityid=1&hid=26674
And from Matt O’Conner, Xbiz.com, 8/3/05
http://www.xbiz.com/news_piece.php?id=9803
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ADULT ACTORS NOT PROSTITUTES, SAYS JUDGE
       NEW YORK, NY -- Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Budd G. Goodman has issued a decision in People v. Pauino, ruling that there is a difference between prostitution and performers who engage in sex acts for pay in the making of adult entertainment.
        The case involved an innovative legal strategy employed by the defense attorneys for Jenny Paulino, the so-called “Million-dollar Madam” arrested in December, 2004, for running a high-priced escort service in Manhattan. Paulino’s attorney, Gerald Lefcourt, argued that cracking down on escort services is an unconstitutional violation of the equal protection clause, because media companies have been allowed to produce adult entertainment unchecked.
       “Promoting prostitution is paying someone to have sex,” argued Lefcourt. “Time Warner and the others who have adult channels pay people to have sex so they can film it and show it, but they’re not being prosecuted.”
       Goodman, however, ruled that Lefcourt’s argument rested on an “unjustifiably broad” definition of prostitution. New York penal Law, he said, defines a prostitute as one “who engages or agrees or offers to engage in sexual conduct with another person in return for a fee.” The word “fee,” Goodman said, represents the key to distinguishing prostitution from paying someone to perform sexual activity in making adult entertainment.
       Citing case law, Goodman noted that the “fair import” of the word “fee” is “payment in return for professional services rendered. …[P]rostitution is ‘the trading of sexual conduct’ with another person for a fee, where the sexual conduct is performed on the person who pays the fee,” Goodman said.
From Mark Fass, New York Law Journal, 8/2/05
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1122929108666
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CADDIES VIOLATE DRESS CODE AT GOLF CLUB
       NAPERVILLE, IL -- By the time police got to the scene of the crime at the Country Lakes Golf Club here, the golfers and their caddies – the caddies happened to be exotic dancers at local clubs -- had moved the “Blackjack’s Exotic Dance Club Ninth Annual Golf Tournament” inside tents provided for the event. Police couldn’t see what was going on inside the tents, and yellow-shirted security guards refused comment on what was going on (and also refused to say whether they were off-duty police officers).
       Luckily for law and order in Naperville, the intrepid ABC Channel 7 “I-Team” had gotten advance warning of the event, and had videotaped golfers cavorting about with their semi-clad caddies. Some residents shot their own video (The course winds through residential and business areas).
       Police are looking at the videos. Depending on what they reveal about what was revealed, laws may have been broken.
       “The charges in this case could range anywhere from disorderly conduct to public indecency or depending on what happened, prostitution could be involved,” said Naperville Police Chief David Dial.
From Chuck Goudle, ABC Ch 7 News, Naperville, 8/2/05
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/news/080205_ns_golf_outing.html
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ADULT STORE A MAGNET FOR STING OPERATIONS
MILFORD, CT -- When a 21-year-old man was arrested recently for soliciting a prostitute in the parking lot of the Penthouse Boutique here, critics of the controversial adult store were quick to point to the event as proof that the store is a magnet for crime. When the boutique first opened in July, 2003, protestors railed outside the store, waving signs that both condemned adult entertainment and predicted increases in sex crimes. When the anticipated crime wave failed to materialize the protestors went away.
      Now, however, after the recent arrest of hapless Milford resident Wendall Kimper, local activists are back.
       “I am not surprised. It is to be expected. [Pornography] breeds that,” said anti-pornography activist Thomas Huebner. “Sexual crimes are going to increase,” he said.
      It is worth noting, however, that the prostitute young Kimper solicited was actually an undercover cop posted in the store parking lot as part of a sting operation.
      Store manager Eric Anderson said Penthouse Boutique is a professionally run business that follows the law. He said he is concerned that police may be unfairly targeting the business.
From Greg Shulas, The Connecticut Post, 8/1/05
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8797129
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STORE JUMPS THROUGH COUNTY HOOPS
       TUCSON, AZ -- The owners of the 11-store Fascinations chain of “Romance Superstores” are trying to prove that they can meet a Pima County requirement that no more than 25 percent of the store's offerings will be adult-oriented at its proposed new site. The store has submitted a 112-page inventory list to the county and officials are reviewing the list.
        Construction work on the new Fascinations was halted recently by order of Superior Court Judge Charles V. Harrington, who fined the company and said work could not continue without proper permits and a required occupancy certificate, which the county has refused to grant. The judge’s actions came after months of controversy. A group called the Las Lomitas association has gathered 5,000 petition signatures opposing Fascinations.
       The problem is that it is difficult for Fascinations to prove it can meet county requirements unless work can continue so that the store can be opened.
       “We are willing to accurately and completely demonstrate the store’s zoning compliance by fully stocking the Oracle Road store,” wrote Fascinations General Manager Pat Jagos in a letter to the county, “… giving you an ‘as stocked’ floor plan of the store, giving you an inventory list, taking photos of all the merchandise in the store to depict the way it will look on the day that it opens, and allowing you to take whatever pictures you want. We will make any changes you deem necessary,” Jagos wrote.
       That’s not enough for some critics.
       If the store is allowed to get that far, it could gain a foothold making it harder for authorities to dislodge it later, suggested Cathy Morales, a neighbor and Las Lomitas volunteer. Plus, said Morales, the store could later increase its adult-oriented content.
From Tony Davis, Arizona Daily Star, 8/2/05
http://www.dailystar.com/dailystar/business/86545.php
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NO ADULT CLUBS NEAR GOLF COURSE
       UPPER MERION, PA -- Entrepreneur Shannon Leach, who wants to open an adult cabaret, is challenging a Township zoning decision rejecting her proposal. The planned club site is zoned commercial, on a lot formerly occupied by a gas station, adjacent to a Home Depot, and across the street from the Valley Forge Golf Course.
        So what is the zoning problem? Well, it so happens the site is within 1,000 feet of the golf course, which is on land that is zoned for agricultural use (AG). Since AG zoning permits single-family dwellings, officials are interpreting their sexually-oriented businesses code in a way that it bans adult businesses within 1,000 feet of land zoned to allow residential, even if it is not currently a residential area. The owners of the golf course, says the Township, are “expected” to submit plans in the future for residential housing on the 130-acre parcel.
       Leach has requested a zoning code variance to allow the club. If she is denied she could take the case to court.
From Keith Phucas, The Times-Herald, 8/2/05
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=14960931&BRD=
1672&PAG=461&dept_id=33380&rfi=6
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UpComing Events

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

AUG 23-27, – Annual Gentlemen’s Club Expo, Madalay Bay Resort, Las Vegas, NV http://www.exoticdancer.com/expo.php

AUG 31-SEPT 5, – Southern Decadence, New Orleans, LA, http://www.southerndecadence.net/

SEPT 2-4, – Qwebec Expo 2005, Montreal QC, http://www.qwebec.com/

SEPT 5-9, – FSC Industry Retreat

SEPT 29, – FSC Membership Meeting, Warner Center Marriott, Woodland Hills, CA, 818-348-9373

OCT 5-9, – 13th Barcelona International Erotic Film Festival http://www.ficeb.com

OCT 9, – Tampa Show 2005 Caravan Of Stars http://www.tampashow.com/