Pro-Family Crusader Credits Honest D.A. for Local Porn Crackdown
by Rusty Pugh
November 14, 2003
(AgapePress) - An Ohio-based family advocate who has fought against pornography for years says it finally took a prosecutor who is more concerned with the law than with politics to start shutting down pornographers in the Cincinnati area.When the owner of "My Movie Store" found out that the pornographic tapes he offers in his store would be played as evidence in court, he opted for a deal to get out of the business altogether.
To Phil Burress of the goup Citizens for Community Values, that is the bottom line -- getting rid of the porn. He credits the efforts of prosecutor Robin Piper for the agreement that forced the porn dealer out of business, and says Piper is one public official who is more concerned with upholding the law than with playing politics.
Burress says as far back as 1988, his group actually had a meeting with the former prosecutor and the video store's owner. The purpose of the meeting was to confront the vendor about the fact that he was selling hard-core videotapes that were not protected by the First Amendment and that were, in fact, in violation of state law.
But at that particular meeting, Burress says, "the prosecutor turned to me and said to leave this fine businessman alone; he's not doing anything wrong. We then realized we didn't have a pornography problem -- we had a political problem."
According to the pro-family advocate, it took the election of an honest district attorney to get My Movie Store out of the porn business. Burress says Piper was also successful in convincing the West Chester Marriott Hotel to discontinue offering in-room pornography, and the D.A. is currently working on an investigation involving another Cincinnati area hotel.
