JOHNS CREEK, GA – Attorney Alan Begner isn’t about to advise his client, John Cornetta, to close his Love Shack store – not when he believes the law is on his side and his client has any other option.Federal District Court Judge Tom Thrash Wednesday ruled that Cornetta had to close his shop’s doors by 3:00 pm local time Thursday if the shop was still selling a “substantial” amount of adult material.
Rather than shutter the doors to the Shack, Begner says his client is going to reduce the amount adult material so it comprises a mere 5-percent of the store’s inventory.
“We believe this is an insignificant amount under anyone’s definition,” wrote Begner in a letter he faxed to the Fulton County Attorney’s Office. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Begner faxed the letter in part to point out to local officials that Judge Thrash’s ruling only allows the store to be shut down if it sells a “significant” amount of adult material.
According to the paper, Begner also stated in the letter that he was distressed by comments made by County Commissioner Lynne Riley following Wednesday’s hearing; following the hearing, Riley indicated that the county would shut down the store at 3:00 pm Thursday, unless the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals intervened.
“Judge Thrash’s order is enforceable by contempt, not by padlocking,” Begner wrote, according to the Journal-Constitution. “It will cause another… constitutional deprivation of Love Shack’s rights. You are directed to notify Commissioner Riley that her stated plan should be called off. Act accordingly.”
At Thursday’s hearing, Judge Thrash ruled that the Love Shack is, in fact, an adult store, and as such was operating illegally because it lacks proper permits and certificates of occupancy from the county. Thrash stayed his order until 3:00 pm Thursday in order to give Cornetta time to file an appeal to the 11th Circuit.
Cornetta found himself scurrying about Wednesday night, in search of “innocuous” products, like clothing and non-adult movies, in order to dilute his inventory in time for the Judge Thrash’s deadline.
Cornetta said an audit of his store showed that he had less than 17-percent adult material, per the definition in the county’s ordinance, before Thrash’s ruling. Now, he has pulled more videos, magazines, and sex toys from the shelves, just to be sure.
“I want to be in total compliance until the 11th Circuit Court reviews Judge Thrash’s order and they absolutely will throw it out and then we’ll be back where we were,” said Cornetta.
In late November, just one day before the city of Johns Creek technically came into being, Cornetta opened his new 10,000 square-foot Love Shack at Jones Bridge and State Bridge roads, in what was soon to become Johns Creek.
Back in July, Cornetta had applied to Fulton County for the permits necessary to open as a non-adult business, claiming that the store sells enough non-adult merchandise to qualify as a regular store as defined by the county rules.
The county didn’t buy Cornetta’s pitch for a non-adult Love Shack and refused to give him permission to open.
Cornetta opened the store November 29th, nonetheless, just ahead Johns Creek’s incorporation as a city became effective, hoping to get Love Shack “grandfathered” by being open before Johns Creek’s city codes became effective.
Fulton County sought to stop Cornetta from opening at all, but Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter declined to grant the county’s request, ruling from the bench that the county’s claim was not an “emergency,” and ought to be settled by the Federal Court handling the ongoing dispute between Cornetta and Fulton County.
Following this latest ruling by Judge Thrash, the case now likely will head to the 11th Circuit, where Begner and Cornetta are both confident the Love Shack will prevail.
At least one local business owner hopes they are wrong; Michael Garrison, the co-owner of the North Atlanta Dance Academy, located directly across the street from Cornetta’s new Love Shack, told the Journal-Constitution he worries the Love Shack will drive away prospective dance students.
“We’re very encouraged,” Garrison said, “but were sure we haven’t heard the last of Mr. Cornetta.”
