GREENWOOD, IN – Charles Henderson, Mayor of Greenwood IN, says he wants to give local police and officials who issue business permits the ability to send a clear message to those who would open adult businesses in his city.According to reports on the IndyChannel.com and local Channel 6 News, Henderson stated that he wants to give such local officials “the real authority, the clear language, to say ‘No, we don’t want you in our community and we’re not going to allow you in our community,’” to businesses that want to sell adult materials, including sex toys.
In pursuit of that “clear language,” the Greenwood Common Council has passed an initial version of an amendment to a local ordinance under which the city regulates adult entertainment businesses. A second hearing and a possible final vote on the amendment to the ordinance is scheduled for November 20th.
The sudden urgency to draft the amendment stems from rumors that a woman who runs a Web site from which she sells adult merchandise is planning to open a store in downtown Greenwood.
City officials told Channel 6 that a tip set off an investigation that has led them to believe that a sex-toy business is what Michelle Koontz, the woman in question, has in mind for her downtown store.
When Mayor Henderson caught wind of the rumor and realized the city’s ordinance did not cover sex toys, he called for “emergency” action on the issue.
At a hearing concerning the proposed store, Henderson stated “I for one don’t think we need this in our community and I think a lot of our citizens think we don’t need it.”
Koontz, at the same hearing, said that the city has it all wrong; Koontz told Channel 6 that what she intended to open was simply a “lingerie boutique,” a business that would comply with the city’s ordinance. Koontz added that she was confident her store would open, as planned.
Following the hearing, city officials appeared to be less committed to the idea of preventing Koontz from opening her store, according to TheIndyChannel.com, but stated that the amendment to the local ordinance is still needed, just in case a business that does want to sell “hardcore sex merchandise” wanted to open in the city sometime in the future.
