By Cindy Schroeder
The Cincinnati Enquirer

LAKESIDE PARK - The Sharonville anti-porn group that pulled the plug on adult movies in some Tristate motels presented the case for a Northern Kentucky sexually-oriented business zone at a town meeting Thursday night.

The leader of Citizens for Community Values said that designating specific areas where sex businesses can operate helps communities restrict strip clubs, adult bookstores and massage parlors.

"It's basically the same problem we went through five years ago in Cincinnati when Phil Heimlich led the charge to zone sexually-oriented businesses,'' said Phil Burress, president of Citizens for Community Values.

"People said, 'Wait a minute. We don't have these places, and you want to give them a place to open?' We said, `If you don't zone, then they can open anywhere they want.'"

The suggestion that cities and counties provide zones for sex businesses often upsets residents, Mr. Burress said. But he pointed out the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that communities must provide zones for sexually-oriented businesses no matter how undesirable some may find them.

The town meeting at Lakeside Christian Church was an attempt to educate the public on efforts by the Adult Entertainment Prevention Committee to develop uniform zoning and regulation of sexually-oriented businesses in Kenton and Campbell counties. The committee is led by Kenton County Attorney Garry Edmondson, who is seeking re-election next month against Democrat Kate Molloy.

Although only 45 people attended Thursday's meeting, including five elected officials, Mr. Burress said that he thought many people were educated on the issue by the half-page newspaper ads that the CCV ran this week. The organization was recently in the news for successfully lobbying authorities to remove adult in-room movies from hotels in Newport and Warren County.

CCV members also have worked with communities from Madeira to West Chester on tightening licensing and zoning codes for sexually-oriented businesses.

At the request of the Adult Entertainment Prevention Committee, the cities of Bellevue, Covington, Edgewood, Independence, Villa Hills, Park Hills, Taylor Mill and Crescent Springs and the Kenton Fiscal Court have agreed to take part in a $53,000 study by Duncan and Associates, an Austin, Texas consulting firm that specializes in zoning issues.

The study would examine whether Kenton and Campbell counties could be considered a multicounty "community.'' It also would look at the feasibility of uniform adult entertainment regulations for the two-county area, and it would consider whether existing zones allowing adult entertainment in four Northern Kentucky cities are sufficient.

Otherwise, there are dozens of potential locations in Campbell and Kenton counties where communities would be required to let sexually-oriented businesses set up shop should they choose to do so, Mr. Edmondson said.

Mr. Edmondson and Kenton County Commissioner Barb Black, who successfully pushed for tougher licensing requirements for adult businesses in Kenton County, asked those at Thursday's meeting to explain the situation to their neighbors and to ask their elected officials to support the multicounty study, if their government hasn't already done so.

Mr. Edmondson asked Boone County residents, in particular, to talk to their elected officials about supporting the study because of the county's population and expressway access.

Joan Jacobs, a Boone County resident who attended Thursday's meeting, said she plans to talk to her elected officials.

"When I came to tonight's meeting, I thought, `If they zone a place (for sexually-oriented businesses) it's like inviting them in,''' she said. "Now I see it differently.''

Mr. Burress said 16 studies cited in the 1986 U.S. Supreme Court case, Renton vs. Playtime Inc., showed that sex businesses are harmful to communities because they increase crime and urban blight and decrease property values.

E-mail cschroeder@enquirer.com