HARRISBURG, PA — Add this to the laundry list of trumped up excuses to interfere with perfectly legal adult businesses: using bank holidays to force sex related shops to close or endure legal sanction.Fortunately for the owners and managers of the Lawrence County township, the state appeals court concluded yesterday that the idea is ridiculous.
Drawing the biggest sigh of relief is likely those associated with the Adultland XXX shop, which was looking a year of forced closure in the face because it had dared to remain open on Flag Day in 2006.
Prior to that heinous infraction, the shop had been so bold as to remain open on Columbus Day the year prior.
The moral forces behind enforcing the Pulaski Township ordinance were understandably outraged, what with both of those holidays being a cause for nearly national celebration and paid leave. In an attempt to right a great moral wrong, an 1893 state banking law was dredged up and applied to the shop’s days of operation, thus making the conducting of business on any day during which a bank is closed illegal. Alas for the brilliant legal minds behind this decision, the law in question was never explicitly mentioned in the ordinance, thus making it – according to the court – too vague.
“The township invokes the 1893 act but does not explain why the other holidays, such as Arbor Day, designated by the General Assembly as deserving recognition, are not also ‘state recognized holidays,’” the Associated Press quotes Judge Mary Hannah Leavitt as writnig for the unanimous court. “It does not explain why the township did not bring action against Adultland for being open on Saturday afternoon, also a ‘state recognized holiday’ under the 1893 act,” she continued.
Adding power to her prose was an observation that the state courts remain open on Flag Day.
Adultland XXX’s owner Eric V. Boron pointed out in legal briefs that literal reading of the act could include barely known holidays as Hubert J. Humphrey Jr. Day, Commodore John Barry Day, Bird Day, and Shut-In Day. Boron refused to close his shop during the appeal and his attorney, Joseph T. Moran, has maintained that the ordinance’s lack of clarity violated both state and federal due-process rights.
“Any time that you have a law, you have to give the citizenry notice of what’s expected so they can comply with it,” Moran insisted.
Leavitt summed up the situation by saying that “The inescapable fact is that the General Assembly has enacted numerous statues calling for recognition of a wide variety of days and for a variety of purposes, from closing banks to exhorting Pennsylvania’s citizenry to honor the commonwealth’s long and distinguished history.”
Pulaski Township solicitor Dick Harper says officials rattled by the open sign displayed in adult businesses on holidays during which banks close have not decided whether to appeal the decision or not. He opines that the township may amend its ordinance.
