Judge orders Adult Depot to close

A Circuit Judge has ruled that a southern Laurel County pornography store must close its doors until a lawsuit pending against it is settled.
Laurel County Circuit Judge Greg Lay handed down the ruling Tuesday morning against the owners of The Adult Depot, which is located on the Cumberland Gap Parkway just north of Corbin. In his ruling from the bench, Lay cited other cases as precedence and said that allowing the store to stay open may cause irreparable harm to the county.
Laurel County Attorney Elmer Cunnagin filed the motion for a temporary injunction against the store as part of a broader lawsuit after the county’s fiscal court unanimously agreed to the action in October. Cunnagin asked in the civil complaint that the store be closed permenantly, primarily because owners have failed to obtain a permit to operate a sexually oriented business in the county.
The ruling came on the heels of a lengthy hearing that began last Friday.
Adult Depot attorney Eric Edwards challenged the hearing by first saying that Steve Hale, the storeowner, was never served with proper legal paperwork. Cunnagin claimed Hale was avoiding the legal process and said authorities had tried to serve him on numerous occasions at the store.
Edwards also said that a temporary injunction against the store would equal “prior restraint on what we believe are constitutionally protected activities.”
Cunnagin countered that, technically, a hearing wasn’t necessary but that he had requested one anyway.
During the hearing, Cunnagin and Adult Depot Attorney John Herbison – a Nashville-based lawyer who specializes in the legal defense of adult-oriented stores – questioned Laurel County Judge-Executive Lawrence Kuhl, Adult Depot owner Steve Hale, Laurel County Sheriff’s Deputy Buddy Blair and London Mayor Ken Smith.
During testimony Hale, who is a resident of Jacksboro, Tenn., said he is the sole owner of the store. He said when police searched the store in August and then began to bring charges against employees and him, he immediately stopped selling DVD movies until legal issues were cleared up.
The most contentious issue centered around the stores attempts, or lack thereof, to obtain a special license to operate a sexually oriented business. The store opened in July and has been operating, on and off, without permits required by an ordinance the county’s fiscal court passed in March. The strict ordinance regulates adult-oriented businesses – following the lead of several other area cities and counties. The law requires steep business license fees, employee fees, square-footage requirements and mandates at least a 1,000-foot setback from any public access road.
Hale and his attorneys assert that the county’s ordinance is a “sham” and said county officials had no intention of issuing a license, and stalled Hale when he asked for proper paperwork.
Hale said he asked “at least six” times for forms to apply for a license, but was never provided them until two weeks after Adult Depot opened.
“Basically, we had to generate some revenue,” Hale said.
The store still hasn’t applied for a license, although attorneys confirm that the proper paperwork is now in hand.
“Rather than acquiesce to the government’s stalling techniques, he went ahead with it,” Herbison said. “We may (still apply). That’s a decision we’ll make as we go along. We have some concern about whether the ordinance is valid. Concerns we will address in court. We contend that it is not.”
Herbison questioned Kuhl about a license that was denied to Fantasy World, a similar store on KY 80 near London. That store appeared to meet all the requirements for a license, but magistrates did not issue one because a motion to do so died for lack of a second.
Cunnagin pressed Hale on why the store had also declined to apply for an entertainment permit since the Adult Depot has a mini movie theater and individual booths where patrons can pay for pornographic movies.
The hearing ended Friday with attorneys and Lay expecting to watch Tuesday over 11 hours of pornographic DVDs seized by Sheriff’s Deputies in order to determine if they were obscene. Herbison offered to remove the movies from the stores inventory to avoid closure, but Cunnagin declined the offer.
Lay ruled on the motion Tuesday without the movies ever being played in open court.
Adult Depot was closed as of Tuesday. Copies of Lay’s order were posted at each entrance.