KANSAS CITY, KS — The National Coalition for the Protection of Children & Families claims to really care about the health and wellbeing of the monogamously and heterosexually married, as well as their offspring. Topping their list of threats to these demographic groups is not environmental toxins, nor heavy tax burdens, nor lack of affordable health insurance options, nor poor educational services – no, the number one threat to children and families living within the great state of Kansas – is pornography.Because the group is convinced that adult entertainment is a danger to society, the Missouri chapter has been pressuring six county prosecutors in the Kansas City area to launch investigations into 32 of the area’s strip clubs, video rental shops, and other mature businesses in the hopes of snagging some obscenity convictions.
In order to get the legal ball rolling, the Kansas City Star reports that the organization’s local chapter handed petitions to each prosecutor during mid-May, seeking grand jury investigations of the businesses.
Unlike Kansas, Missouri law does not allow a grand jury to gather based purely upon signature petitions from citizens. Phillip Crosby, leader of the Missouri group, claims he’s making headway with the prosecutors, however.
Jerome Gorman, district attorney for Wyandotte County, says that a grand jury hasn’t been seated in at least 40 years and he’s not yet sure what the organization wants jurors to see, but believes that “… each community has to answer for itself what it will tolerate.”
Officials in the Johnson County district attorney’s office have declined to comment on the situation, except to explain that the grand jury process would likely begin today. Five businesses in the county have come under attack from the National Coalition for the Protection of Children & Families. Platte County only has one business on the group’s list and it immediately suspended sales of adult products after it heard from prosecuting attorney Eric Zahnd’s office, meaning the morality group already has one minor victory to proclaim.
This is not the first time that Crosby has been a thorn in the side of adult businesses. Approximately four years ago he went after an adult bookstore that had located in an old Stuckey’s restaurant. Although he successfully saw 29 grand jury indictments made against the Lion’s Den, they were all dismissed due to a technicality.
Although each county has responded differently to Cosby’s group’s demands, all have sent letters to the targeted businesses reminding them of the obvious: that they must comply with the state’s obscenity laws.
