By Susan Redden
sredden@joplinglobe.com
CARTHAGE, Mo. — The Jasper County Commission on Thursday will consider another ordinance — this one aimed at adult video and bookstores — to regulate sexually oriented businesses in the county.
The new measure was being circulated Tuesday in advance of the Thursday session.
The measure was drafted at the commission’s request, but John Bartosh, presiding commissioner, said he is not sure the panel will act on the proposed new rules at Thursday’s meeting.
“We just got it today, and I want us all to be able to study it and make sure it says what we want,” he said Tuesday.
The commission last month approved an ordinance targeting adult cabarets such as a juice bar that was being proposed for a new building just off Interstate 44 east of Carthage. Action on the measure came at the urging of a residents’ group that organized to fight the proposed operation. The group also urged the commission to strengthen regulations on related businesses, such as adult-video arcades and bookstores.
Ernest Doyon, of Wichita, Kan., who earlier proposed the juice bar, also has applied for a county license for an adult-video operation in the same building. Initially, Doyon had sought licenses for a video store and arcade, and for a juice bar that would have featured seminude dancing. County officials say plans were altered to include the video operation and a bar that would serve alcohol.
Joplin attorney Bill Fleischaker, who represents Doyon, said the county’s latest measure “is the third time they’ve made or changed an ordinance trying to block my client’s business.”
He said requirements in the measure make it “impossible for my client to comply with the license, because of the lighting required, and they’ve made it so that no one can view a video in privacy. No one will rent a video they can’t view, so they’ve made it impossible for the business to run profitably.”
He said the proposal and earlier action by the commission “are destroying my client’s First Amendment right to make this material available.”
“We’ll have to look and see what we can do in court,” Fleischaker said. “If they want to risk the county treasury to promote a political agenda, that’s up to them.”
The new measure would apply not just to Doyon’s proposed business, but to other adult-video stores and related outlets now operating in the county, said Blake Wolf, legal adviser to the commission.
“They would all have to get licensed under this ordinance,” he said.
Much of the measure is based on an ordinance in Jackson County, Wolf said.
John Putnam, a spokesman for Citizens for a Decent Environment, a residents’ group opposed to Doyon’s operation and other sexually oriented businesses, said his group is pleased that the commission will take up the measure.
“The ordinance in Jackson County has become pretty standard, and I’m told it’s been upheld in a number of states,” he said.
Fleischaker has questioned whether Jasper County can adopt the same type of ordinances as Jackson County, which operates under a home-rule charter form of government.
Putnam said the group sought assurances earlier that the new measure would apply to existing businesses.
The measure defines a sexually oriented business as one that has as its regular or substantial purpose the sale or rental of materials relating to specified sexual activities or anatomical areas.
At those businesses, a licensed manager would have to be at the business and would be required to prevent anyone 18 or younger from entering. The manager would have to ensure that there is no loitering, alcohol sales, sexual activity, gambling, prostitution or controlled substances on the premises. The business would have to allow inspections by county officials, ensure proper lighting, and ensure that video booths are open, contain only one person at a time and can be viewed by the manager.
Failure to comply with part of the measure would be grounds for suspension or revocation of the operating license, while violations of other parts of the measure would be criminal violations punishable by a fine or jail time.
Commission meeting
Members of Citizens for a Decent Environment have attended meetings of the Jasper County Commission ever since plans for the adult business off Interstate 44 became public. This week’s general session is set for 9 a.m. Thursday in the Jasper County Courthouse.
