KANSAS CITY, KS — It has been said that obscenity, like art and beauty, is in the mind of the beholder. An assortment of beholders in the guise of Kansas City grand juries, appear to be living proof of the old saying, having handed down indictments against a number of area adult businesses while leaving others alone.Two misdemeanor obscenity charges were issued after investigations into accusations against businesses in Wyandotte County, and the only adult business under suspicion in Platte County has stopped selling its questionable products upon being contacted by the prosecutor.
No indictments were delivered in Clay County, although several businesses were looked over. Although a Jackson County grand jury has addressed other matters, it has not yet expressed opinions on the matter of any possibly investigated adult businesses, but Jackson County Prosecutor Jim Kanatzar told the Kansas City Star that had there been a case in which evidence was considered and an indictment not made, the matter would become public.
As is generally the case, the investigations occurred after citizen petitions were circulated urging grand juries to determine whether six area counties were allowing adult businesses to engage in obscene and illegal conduct. In this case, the driving force behind the cases was the Kansas City chapter of the National Coalition for the Protection of Children & Families, which has never hid its loathing for pornography. As is traditional, the group and its petition drew support from various religious groups and Christian churches.
Clay County Prosecutor Daniel L. White told the press and disappointed moralists that “The grand jury is a cross section of Clay County citizens, and if indictments were not returned, it is safe to conclude that obscenity did not exist.”
Nonetheless, Philips Cosby, the executive director for the Kansas City morality group was frustrated by White’s assurances. “No indictment is unusual – they are in the minority,” he insists, suggesting that there may be more elements in force than at first appear obvious when he added, “The dynamics that drove that will not be known.”
Cosby indicated that he was eager to see the Wyandotte County cases brought to trial.
Meanwhile, Wyandotte County District Attorney Jerome A. Gorman displayed a confusion concerning the matter at hand when he suggested during a news conference that the indictments might be useful as a way to “educate convenience stores and other places that might carry this line of obscenity.”
While that county’s grand jury indicted both the M&M Inc. convenience story and Krishna USA (doing business as Smoke Easy Cigarette Outlet) on misdemeanor counts of promoting obscenity, the idea that a “line of obscenity” might be readily available on the mainstream market seems unlikely. M&M received its indicted due to a magazine and Smoke Easy was handed two misdemeanor counts due to two DVDs and five magazines. A felony charge was also assigned for possessing drug paraphernalia with intent to deliver.
Each of the Wyandotte County businesses have responded by pleading not guilty and are scheduled to appear in Wayandotte County District Court for a pretrial conference next month.
Daniel Weiss, senior analyst for media and sexuality at Focus on the Family Action gloated about the indictments, proclaiming them a victory for citizen action when law enforcement agencies refuse to act. “Citizens have no way of establishing their community standards unless something like this is done,” he insists on the organization’s website. “The dearth of law enforcement locally and across the nation really comes down to citizens not voicing their outrage and not making their district attorneys and their police chiefs aware of how much these crimes impact the community. This example in Kansas should demonstrate the power and importance of speaking up.”
Indeed, supporters of and workers within the adult entertainment industry would be well advised to heed Weiss’ words – and speak up accordingly.
