Tuesday, March 14, 2000
Opponents of adult club to renew picketing efforts
BY TOM O'NEILL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
UNION TOWNSHIP — Protest pickets are expected to return this week to an adult cabaret business in Mount Carmel, a neighborhood in this western Clermont township.
A group of local churches and anti-pornography activists, led by the Rev. David Cooper of the Christian Life Center Assembly of God, met Monday night to strategize.
They plan to begin picketing outside Deja Vu on Old Ohio 74 on Friday and Saturday. Picketing began in September and continued through November, but has not been conducted since.
Their goal: drive Deja Vu from the community.
“The goal tonight is to refocus our efforts for peaceful protests, to rally the troops,” the Rev. Mr. Cooper said Monday. “We're going to pursue what we're doing because we believe it does help.”
Attorney H. Louis Sirkin of Cincinnati, who is representing the club in its legal battle in federal court against Union Township, said history has shown that goal to be counterproductive.
“We certainly believe in free speech, they have the right (to picket) as long as they do so peacefully,” he said Monday. “All they do is bring attention to the club, but they're entitled to their viewpoint.”
In December, attorneys for Deja Vu and Union Township delayed their arguments in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati, where they hoped to establish how far the nude dancing ordinances can extend. Instead, they will wait until the U.S. Supreme Court decides an obscenity case from Erie, Pa., next year.
According to the Rev. Mr. Cooper, picketers will include members of his Christian Life Center, St. Veronica Church, Bells Lane Baptist Church, Greater Cincinnati Church of God, and Citizens for Commu nity Values.
Their battleground expanded recently, when Deja Vu opponents bought space on billboards along Ohio 32 and Ohio 125 in the Eastgate and Withamsville areas. The billboards say that pornography victimizes women and children.
“They're very effective because of the people driving by, 35,000 cars a day on 32,” the Rev. Mr. Cooper said. “And the victim's message, we want the community to know that the sexually oriented businesses have victims to them.”
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Opponents of adult club to renew picketing efforts
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