What is a strap on? Is that something one uses when transporting a freezer in the back of a pickup truck to keep it from falling out?

Hey Dan, please tell me it WAS my wife !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ha!

so, at least one kelty supporter shops there…or at least stops by to look around every once in a while…

while i don’t want a place like this in my backyard, i can’t reconcile kelty’s “private enterprise knows best” platform with his views that places like this must be heavily regulated…even though there is obviously a market demand for them in fw…

FWA. I don’t recall Kelty publicly saying places like this must be heavily regulated. I know he spoke against these types of places (not stores, but the actual STRIP CLUBS) as bad influences on our children. I happen to agree with that.

Nothing wrong with businesses like this.

We still live in America…

I think…

If this business offends you then stay out of it…

Mike Sylvester

“I don’t want it in my backyard!” Now, whose backyard do you want it to be in? What person or what business should be forced to have them next door?

Here is a reason why this issue matters. In over forty in-depth “land-use” studies, over the last three decades, the findings regarding sexually oriented businesses have been so consistent that the US Supreme Court has said that any city can cite any of these studies as legal justification for zoning and reglulating adult businesses in an effort to reduce their negative secondary impact which are lower property values and increased crime, particularly sex-crimes.

In Oklahoma City a five year study was conducted following that city’s enforcement of strict reguations of strip clubs and they found that had those regulations not been enacted, nearly 1,000 more women would have been raped.

In the Indianapolis study the researchers found that adult bookstores and strip clubs had a worse economic impact on surrounding residential properties (read as the rest of us paying higher property taxes) than even a drug treatment center, or a group home.

Crime and property values are big issues in Fort Wayne or any city and it is impossible to argue that adult businesses don’t have a negative effect on those two topics.

Tom Henry had a chance to do something regarding enacting Constitutionally allowable regulations that South Bend, Mishawaka, Indianapolis and numerous other cities had enacted with bi-partisan support and he refused . . thus explains why the smut peddlers like his candidacy . . . but as a father and a husband, I worry for my daughter and my wife and all women and children in Fort Wayne who may be the victim of some “well entertained” out-of-control customer of these places.

Free reign of strip clubs is not economic developlment because it ignores the problems that always come with such establishments. People are free to view porn on the internet or whatever, but when it comes to places that spawn crime or raise taxes or hurt homeowners, then its no longer a matter of individual choice. . . its a public problem that requires people to look at the greater good over a temporary purient interest.

Voters who care about crime and the condidtion of Allen County really need to think twice before they support a candidate who has the open support of the porn industry.

If they don’t get it in Fort Wayne, they’ll just get it somewhere else.

while the store mentioned in this post is pretty close to, if not located in, a residential neighborhood, any other adult oriented business i can think of in fort wayne…and i’m sure i don’t know them all…are quite a ways from residential areas. i might very well be wrong on that issue, i’ve not looked into it, i’m just thinking of the places along the coliseum corridor and a couple others - one near glenbrook and one on w. jefferson blvd.

as far as this statement is concerned:
“In Oklahoma City a five year study was conducted following that city’s enforcement of strict reguations of strip clubs and they found that had those regulations not been enacted, nearly 1,000 more women would have been raped.”

there is no way any study could say definitively that any action prevented any number of crimes…impossible.

Fellow bloggers…please write or e-mail your legislators supporting Governor Daniels plan to change our archaic system of remonstrances. His plan is to let the voters decide by switching out the remonstrance process to REFERENDUMS. Referendums are a step toward a more pure democracy as the voters get to decide if and when we spend tax dollars. This will prevent tax and spend jerks like Wendy Robinson from wasting tax dollars on questionable “projects”. I’d like to hear your thoughts and thank you. Joe Silva

Sylvester…you are correct. Government should have no say in what type of businesses thrive or fold. Let the people decide. It’s simply known as freedom.

Fort Wayne Anonymous . . . sure there is.

It is true that it is somewhat correlative and not definitive, but the study said that had Oklahoma City not adopted those regulations and the city’s sex crime rate concerning rape simply followed the statewide average over the same five year period, nearly 1,000 more women would likely have been raped. Of course we don’t know what would have happened for sure because they DID enforce the regs and the number of rapes declined, but had they not done this . . .well, maybe not a thousand more . . . maybe 500 more rapes . . is that acceptable? Of course not !

A study of convicted rapists in 1985 found that 86% admitted to regular use of pornography and 57% admitted to acting out actual scenes they had viewed in commission of sex crimes. ( A study by the FBI of pedeophiles found it it to be 100%) Am I saying that all who view porn or go to adult businesses will commit crimes . . of course not, but I am saying that I agree with study after study has found that adult businesses breed crime and have a negative impact on a city.

Those studies are posted on the Community Defense Counsel’s web site, a legal group that works with city leaders (though obviously not Tom Henry) on such matters. Do some research of those studies and you’ll see that few people disagree that adult businesses have a dark side to them that contributes to crime and urban blight.

After all, why did someone post here that they wouldn’t want such a place near them . . its common sense, that these places are not benefitial, but today, no one has the courage to say so because they get smeared as prudes, relgious nuts or bigots. . . I’m not a bigot or a religious nut, I simply care about the safety of my family and of the good people of Fort Wayne. . . its called good citizenship, the golden rule, the public good, etc, etc.

Concerned Dad gets it. FWA is wrong.

I agree with Mike Sylvester and Joe Silva.

This is supposed to be a free country. If a sex store remains open then there is a demand for it. If you don’t like stores like that then don’t visit them.

It’s all about choices and personal responsibility.

Kody, I don’t think anyone has suggested closing adult businesses.

The only way that is possible is to declare it a public nusiance, but that is usually done by the county prosecutor and Karen Richards does not have the backbone for that. In some cities this has been done after a place racks up scores of police runs. . . but it usually only occurs after numerous court battles and hearings.

The ordinance Henry opposed simply regulates hours of operation (so police can patrol the neighborhoods late at night instead of making runs to clubs). . and it prohibited contact between dancers and patrons in an effort to curb prostitution, and to protect emplyees from customers who attempt to grope them. . . novel concept isn’t it? But every porn star or club worker is still someone’s daughter.

Interestingly, such provisions (that Henry opposed) are statewide law in Ohio now. Under the constitution adult businesses have a right to operate, but cities also have the ability to regulate them in order to protect its residents from their negative effects.

Its still a free country . .. take a deep breathe, porn is still rampant and widely accessible . . . but Fort Wayne could do better in protecting property owners and potential victims of crime. . . it seems to me that those are legitimate functions of government. Tom Henry, apparently does not understand this duty.

If the GOPhers, and Dem-ass-ess had been doing their jobs, their daughters, wives, girlfriends, (mothers) would be working at jobs such as GM, GE,etc. where they would be earning more than at a burgerflippers wages. As it is, girls at strip clubs make nearly what a GE/GM/etc worker earns, plus they have fun too.

And whats wrong with “porn stores”? Its a valid outlet for singles, and couples to enjoy the physical pleasures of love with consenting adults.
Of course, nobody condones rape, or other crimes, which I think occur more because there are no brothels , or legal prostitution where they can obtain their physical gratification.
I would like you people to find some facts from nations, and states where prostitution is legal, and compare them to repressed places where it is not.
also- as Mamoud, the Iranian nutjob said “There is no homosexuals in Iran. Is there no rapes, or domestic violence in Iran, either; the Islamic version of the “perfect theocracy that all the local kool-aid drinkers envision for Fort Wayne?
The fact is women sell “it”, and men pay for “it”-one way or another$$$-So why not just legalize sex between consenting adults, and as long as minors arent involved, leave it be.
I would also say that it be cleaned up, and not be sleazy, or degrading to women, because many too much porn is still misogynist, but the feminist women in the porn industry have been making great strides in bringing sex out of the gutter, and restoring it to a natural act between consenting adults.
and regarding zoning, etc- politicians and many churches are the biggest political, and religious prostitutes out there. “You have truned my temple into dens of theives” was the red lined quote, as I recall.
And in a secular society, in the eyes of the law, a church should be no different than a whorehouse- meaning that worshipping god, or “Venus” should enjoy no discrimination, nor preferences. such as not allowing liquor stores next door to churches, or porn stores across the street from churches.
everybody in america has the right to worship, or not wherever they wish, and also the right s to enjoy “the inalienble pursuit of happiness- whatever it may be( as long as minors arent allowed.)
Democracy, and plurality isnt pretty, sometimes, but we are all forced to accept, or at least tolerate conflicts between groups of people.
which is worse? vacant properties, with no taxpayers, or at least a nominal business, which pays taxes, and creates jobs.
budoir Noir was a vacant building for a long time. I would suggest that the failure of our so-called business leaders, and politicians has created “urban blight”, and they need to be pro-active in econoic development.
Porn stores, etc are placeholders.
and if there wasnt the demand, there would be no supply.
If wone cant get sex toys, or laid, they will buy cucumbers, and other phallic vegetables, and satisfy their needs at krogers, and scotts( not in the store- idiot- when they get home. )
what this is really about it the continuing opression, and repression by the church, and our hypocritical moralistic institutions to exert authority on every possible aspect of human existence, and tax it. The church, the state, the rich, etc; through blackmail, extortion, moral indignation, etc.

adult entertainment and stores are only a “blight” because the church, and the state want sex outlawed, and hidden away, as something dirty.(if done right- woody allen)instead of accepting sex as something natural, as other physical appetites, whether for pleasure, or procreation.
Europe, and other much more “civilized” liberal- gasp! countries have done so, and their statistics are much more favorable than the USA’s.
and by the way- Jesus was a socialist!! so bite me! and his BFF was a “whore”. and Jesus had a foot fetish, too. freaky lord!
giggle!

I think “roach” was looking for an 19 year-olds AOL chat room and took the wrong turn.

“so bite me”? “BFF”? “giggle”?

Don’t forget to vote on the 7th dude.

Actually roach,I think you had a few points that could have been rationally debated, not that I believe you were was right on anything. But roach, come on. You put a lot of time into creating your post, but you wasted all that effort with your attitude and inflammatory approach. You could have have gotten a much better response and respect from the participants here, but by your actions, you have relegated yourself to the rank of troll.