Story by Chris Graham

Is there a disagreement among the principals behind the Citizens Task Force Against Pornography on the direction of the community effort?

I don’t think so. But there does seem to be at the least a difference of opinion as to what the task force’s goals should be.

“Our number-one goal was to get the ordinances on the books. That was our number-one focus. Our number-two focus was just to be a watchdog over the business that we had here in Staunton,” task force head Andrea Oakes told me.

“Our intention was never to see this man put in jail. However, we did want to be a watchdog to make sure that whatever we could do to help the city out to make sure that no laws were being broken and especially to make sure that the secondary harmful effects do not end up hurting our children,” Oakes said.
But then I talked with Kurt Michael, another driving force behind the formation of the task force, and he told me that his view was that the effort was entirely about getting the city of Staunton to amend its zoning ordinances so that stores like After Hours Video could not open in the heart of residential areas in the future.

“This was all about good zoning. It was not about that business,” said Michael, the chair of the Augusta County Republican Committee.

“We as a task force came together and said, Our goal here is not to put this guy out of business. There were people saying at the first meeting saying, Let’s put these people out of business. Let’s protest in front of it. I said, Well, that’s not what I’m about. We said, What we’re about is getting good laws on the books to protect us in the future. Whatever happens in the future with this guy, he’s in, that’s his business,” Michael said.

“We never said, Take away their pornography rights. We don’t want certain businesses in certain places. That’s always been our focus - and that’s been our goal,” Michael said.

Staunton City Council has already taken care of, then, what Michael and Oakes both agree was the task force’s first aim - adopting revisions to the city zoning code that will block adult businesses from following in the footsteps of After Hours Video and opening in commercial-zoning pockets in residential parts of the city.

It would seem, as a result, that the task force had done its job - though Michael is quick to point out that there is a similar effort under way to get Augusta County to update its zoning ordinances to put stricter regulations on adult stores.

“It’s always been a zoning issue. This is not a crusade against pornography. This is good zoning,” Michael said.

“But let’s face it. There is not an outcry for the protection of porn in this town. People are like, Yeah, whatever. Yeah, put it somewhere away from me. I don’t want to deal with it. I don’t care if you have it - just keep it away from the Woodrow Wilson Library. We don’t want a porn shop there. We don’t want a porn shop next to the Shakespeare theater. We don’t want it in the middle of Fishersville. We don’t want it in our town in Churchville,” Michael said.

Revealing, to me, is the answer that Oakes gave to a question that I posed to her about After Hours Video. What if, I asked her, the store had not opened on Springhill Road, but had opened in, say, the downtown district, or Greenville Avenue, areas that are for the most part considered commercial districts?

“It would’ve gotten my attention - however, what really helped motivate me was the concern for the children in the area. However, any pornography shop in the city of Staunton would have gotten my attention - just because the citizens task force believes that Staunton is not the right venue for such a business,” Oakes said.

That probably stops short of crusade - but it’s in the ballpark.

Filed under: 4-January 2008 Issue