2 Arrested in Christmas Adult Store Burglary
OCEANSIDE, Calif. — Two men, 48 and 26, were arrested on charges of breaking into an Oceanside sex shop in the late hours of Christmas Eve and stealing $700 worth of adult videos and magazines, police said.
Police officers responded to a burglar alarm at adult store Sinsations and found the two men nearby with a bag of stolen merchandise.
The officers then discovered that one of the windows at the store had been broken.
The men were booked on $30,000 bail each.
MARYLAND
Worcester County Commissioners Restrict Adult Businesses
SNOW HILL, Md. — County commissioners restricted adult-oriented businesses with the passing of two bills, one involving zoning and the other involving public health.
The first bill defines adult-oriented businesses as businesses that gained 20 percent or more of their income from adult merchandise. It prohibits adult screenings at drive-in theaters and the use of adult materials on signs other than the signs for the business. An amendment requiring the businesses not be located within 600 feet of a highway or boundary of any parcel was added.
The second bill passed was concerned with the interior of the businesses, establishing lighting and management standards.
Art galleries were exempted from the bills, and individual towns within the county can draft their own regulations that would override the county regulations.
"If they pass a law in Snow Hill that says you can put up whatever you want and have any live sex show you want, then they can have it," County Attorney Ed Hammond said.
Consideration of a third bill, involving massage parlor regulations, was postponed pending state consideration of the same bill.
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NORTH CAROLINA
Topless Club Fight Moves to State Supreme Court
RALEIGH, N.C. — Business owners in northwest Raleigh have filed a petition asking North Carolina's Supreme Court to block plans to open a topless club there. The objecting business owners' last appeal unanimously was rejected in November by three appellate court judges.
Phong Nguyen and his partners want to build an adult business called The Runway on a plot of land near the intersection of Interstate 540 and U.S. 70.
The two groups have been battling over the planned club since Nguyen applied to the Raleigh Board of Adjustment in 2005 for a permit to open the club. Adult establishments are among the businesses that need a special permit from the Board of Adjustment to operate in Raleigh.
The board agreed to issue a special permit, but neighboring businesses sued Nguyen and his company, PRS Partners, claiming that the club would diminish their property values and bring unsavory patrons to the area.
A Superior Court judge sided with the neighbors, but the N.C. Court of Appeals overturned that judge's decision in November. The appellate court reinstated The Runway's permit, and Nguyen flew in an architect this month to start designing the club.
Nguyen has said the club would cater to an upscale audience, and he expects to spend $2.7 million on the project.
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TENNESSEE
Murfreesboro Initially Approves New Adult Business Regs
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — The Murfreesboro Planning Commission approved changes to the city’s ordinance regarding sexually oriented businesses, including raising the percentage of materials which could be adult oriented without the business being labeled as an adult bookstore from 20 to 30 percent.
The commission also removed the restriction that stores could carry 200 adult-oriented items before being called an adult business.
The city council must hold a public hearing and vote three times to pass the new ordinance into law.
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