Seminar touts adult business regulation
Study confirms most communities unprotected by ordinances
From, The Kentucky Citizen Digest, Novemer/December, 2001.

In the battle against sexually oriented businesses, The Family Foundation just launched a significant counter attack by hosting a seminar called Effective Regulation of Adult Businesses.
   
“Our purpose was to educate public officials about the fact that they do have a number of significant regulatory powers at their disposal,” said Kent Ostrander, executive director of The Family Foundation.  “To do that, we secured the services of two of the most knowledgeable attorneys in the nation in this area of law.”
   
The seminar, held at Lexington’s Radison Hotel on Oct. 4, was conducted by.  Scott Bergthold, president and general counsel of the Community Defense Counsel, of Phoenix, Ariz., and David Langdon, a First Amendment attorney from Cincinnati.  Bergthold, a 4-year veteran of Community Defense Counsel,  was the curriculum coordinator for the seminar.
   
 “Local officials are often surprised to learn that there are simple and constitutional ways to regulate adult businesses to prevent the negative impact they cause,” Bergthold said.
   
More than 25 attended the seminar from cities across central and northern Kentucky.  Among the attendees are county and city attorneys, detectives, clerks, and zoning officials. 
   
A survey commissioned earlier this summer by The Family Foundation prompted the fall seminar.  Ostrander said the study gave hard evidence for what many have suspected – that Kentucky is under-protected from the strategies of adult-entertainment entrepreneurs.  “We felt we needed to act expeditiously,” Ostrander said.
   
The study shows that only 21 of Kentucky’s 120 counties have ordinances, and that only eight of those 21 have a comprehensive strategy, covering all three criteria allowed by state law: 1) time and place, 2) zoning, and 3) licensure. Only 44 of the 185 cities surveyed have ordinances, and only 11 of those 44 have a comprehensive strategy covering all three areas.  Even those that address all three areas did not necessarily do so effectively.
    
A few states, including Kentucky neighbors Tennessee and Indiana, have enacted statewide umbrella laws, which ban both nude dancing, and real or simulated sex acts in such businesses. These laws eliminate the most obscene adult-business practices and then allow local communities to regulate time and place, zoning and licensure.  Currently Kentucky has no statewide prohibition, although legislation for it has been introduced in each of the last three sessions of the General Assembly.
   
Recent efforts to start sexually oriented businesses in Upton, Richmond, Glasgow, and Crofton as well as regulatory controversies in Georgetown and Covington illustrate the need for local governments to evaluate their ordinances and pursue the strategy that is best for their community.
   
A seminar for western Kentucky was originally scheduled for Oct. 3 in Hopkinsville, but was rescheduled for, Nov. 13.  A second Lexington seminar is scheduled for, Nov. 14.  (Call 859-255-5300 for  more information.)
   


 

Key Family Foundation Contacts: Kent Ostrander , Executive Director Martin Cothran , Senior Associate Policy Analyst