Porn store sues over tower

BROWNSTOWN - Owners of a Uniontown adult bookstore claim the nuisances created by protesters on public property there have cost the company $300,000 in the past 180 days.

That claim is part of a lawsuit filed in Jackson Circuit Court on Monday. The lawsuit asks the court to order the county to remove "structures" and signs built on public property by protesters adjacent to The Lion's Den.

Commissioners attorney Stephen Pierson told commissioners during their meeting at the courthouse annex Tuesdaymorning he had received the lawsuit.

"The ball's in our court now," Pierson said.

That means the county can file any counterclaims it deems necessary, Pierson said.

According to the lawsuit, the structures and signs posted on public property by protesters at The Lion's Den violate county code because permits were not issued by the county plan commission office.

Several protesters attended the commissioners' meeting and questioned Pierson about the lawsuit, as well as lawsuits the county filed against The Lion's Den three days before and shortly after that business opened Aug. 19, 2005.

The older lawsuits were based upon county contentions the business violated ordinances governing the operations of sexually oriented businesses. One of those ordinances was enacted by commissioners shortly before the business opened. Later that year, a second ordinance was enacted.

The owners of The Lion's Den later filed a counterclaim against the county. No court ruling has been made on any of those lawsuits.

The newest lawsuit contends the protesters, part of Jackson County Watchdog, have erected, occupied and maintained various structures and improvements on county property without a permit, and that the defendants, who include commissioners, county Building Commissioner Mike Weir and the county plan commission, have not acted to prohibit the structures.

Pierson said the newest lawsuit indicates the store is losing money "left and right."

In the lawsuit, the owners of The Lion's Den are asking for damages in an amount to be determined by a trial because of civil rights violations, including the right to free speech and equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

Pierson said the lawsuit will eventually be tried in court, but not as quickly as protesters would like.

"It will probably take a year or more," Pierson said.

Vernon Smith, one of the protesters, said they continue to maintain their vigil at the store, which began when it opened three years ago, without much help.

"We definitely need some help," Smith said. "We need our county officials."

Smith said protesters have a right to be at the store and also questioned why the original county lawsuits were not moving forward.

"Other counties are fighting this and winning big with ordinances just like Jackson County's," Smith said.

Smith said the only answer protesters have ever had from county officials was that the county did not need to be tied down by a long-running lawsuit.

"We have the rest of the taxpayers to look out for too," commissioners President Gary Darlage said.

In the new lawsuit, owners of The Lion's Den said they wrote letters in July and October 2006 bringing attention to the alleged zoning violations by protesters and the county has not acted to prohibit those structures.

Pierson said he has talked about the lawsuits with Scott Bergholdt, a Nashville, Tenn., attorney specializing in fighting sexually oriented businesses. Bergholdt is being paid by protesters.

"He's clearly thought about the case," Pierson said of Bergholdt.

"There's some ordinance work he and I feel like needs to be done."