No F'n Way: Store Clerk On Trial For Selling Adult Toys

[SudsyFist 0]

http://www.click2houston.com/news/5088658/detail.html

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HOUSTON -- A Houston store clerk could face up to a year in prison because of the provocative items being sold on his north Houston store's shelves, KPRC Local 2 reported Tuesday.

Houston police charged Jose Escalante with obscenity because he was in possession of adult toys with the intent to promote and sell them. If convicted, Escalante could face up to a year in prison and a $4,000 fine.

Escalante is an employee of the Adult Video Megaplex location on Interstate 45 in north Houston. The store sells items that are considered obscene because they are designed to be used in a sexual act.

I can only hate on the vice cops if they're not actively enforcing this law elsewhere; they're just doing their job. That being said, though...

How, exactly, in the fuck does this kind of legislation make it to the books? Who votes for this kind of shit? Or was it just a rider on some other unrelated measure as part of a back-alley political deal?

[ReBirth 0]

I've heard of other cases in TX in the past where people did jail time for owning adult book stores.

Hell, Tommy Chong did a bullet for leasing his name to a company that sold water pipes on the internet.

[tigra 0]

Actually, I think last year they arrested a woman who did the home sales and demonstrations (you know, the f***erware parties). That was Texas also and they claimed she was arrested not for selling the products but for explaining how they were meant to be used. I'm pretty sure she was not convicted.

[SudsyFist 0]

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That was Texas also and they claimed she was arrested not for selling the products but for explaining how they were meant to be used.

Look, I don't think it ought to be blasphemy, just saying, "Jehova."

[Channman 2]

Well this is an interesting story. It was'nt all that many years ago that I served as Foremen on a jury dealing with the same subject.

At the time there was a policy that officers could spend 2 weeks in another unit for cross training. A female officer who usually worked traffic took a two week assignment with Vis. She was trained and asked to go into an adult book store were you had to be an adult to purchase a therapeutic device i.e. dilldo. The Cost if I remember was about 57-67 dollars and surely could replace any man, the thing was big.

The clerk was required by law to have any individual who may wish to purchase such an item to fill out a form as to why they were making the purchase as well as give them there name and signiture.

The officer gave a false name and stated she was making the purchase for medical reasons.

I'm not an attorney and don't remember all the details as to the 5 legal reasons you could make the purchase. The store is required to label such items as therapeutic and they could be purchased for Medical reasons with a perscription, therapeutic, law inforcement purposes, and two others I don't remember.

Once she made the purchase the cleark was arrested and placed on trail. We the 6 jurors found him inocent because we felt he made a legal sell to an adult above the age of 18. She was informed of the penal code relating to the purchases of adult toys. He in good faith made every effort to conduct the sale in a professional manner and as the law required.

The other reason was law enforcement officers were actually making the purchase for law enforcement purposes which in its self was a legal act by the clerk.

It is possible the toys in this current case did not meet the requirements per City Code.

[EricTheRed 0]

Perhaps when the FBI starts arresting a few people in the RED states for buying a copy of Hustler, they will realize that voting for GWB was kinda a bad idea.

Yep, no fake peni (isn't that the plural of penis?) allowed in Texas. Only real dicks allowed.




Not sure exactly how laws like this come about but having lived in Texas for several LONG years, this isn't the weirdest TX law I've heard of.

illegible usually

[tso-d_chris 0]

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Look, I don't think it ought to be blasphemy, just saying, "Jehova."

[Everyone in Speakers Corner stones SudsyFist]

[TrophyHusband 0]

reguardless of how this shit makes it on the books, aren't there things that are higher on the priority list in texas? is this where the tax payers in texas want their law enforcement efforts placed? not being in texas, my opinion is that they should secure the national border first and then worry about what people are doing in their own bedrooms.

"Your scrotum is quite nice" - Skymama
www.kjandmegan.com

[miked10270 0]

Yeah... As soon as the "S--" word comes up in a commercial setting, then the (frequently self appointed) Feck-Police are in there like flies 'round shit!

An acquaintance of mine actually owns a couple of "Sex Shops" in a nearby city. Incidentally he objects to the term Sex-Shop 'cos he doesn't actually sell sex - He's scared that Trading Standards (Consumer Enforcement) are going to have a go at him for misrepresentation!

Anyway, he has some brilliant tales:

A nearby church (2 blocks away) which only meets on Sundays objected to his trading. He suspects that they were really objecting to him being closed on Sundays.

He was selling stilletto boots & riding crops. He was told to stop selling them - he pointed out that the same boots were being sold by several local shoe shops, and the local equestrian shop (where he goes for stock ideas) hadn't been closed down!

Mike.

Taking the piss out of the FrenchAmericans since before it was fashionable.

Prenait la pisse hors du FrançaisCanadiens méridionaux puisqu'avant lui à la mode.

[kelpdiver 2]

Texas has a few weird things going on - in the late 90s it went after the Nolo Press for the legal self help books. Trying to ban dildos and vibrators is laughably stupid. Ban cocks, not guns!

[billvon 2,397]

>is this where the tax payers in texas want their law enforcement efforts placed?

Texas, being fairly conservative, seems to place a fairly high value on regulating the sex lives of others. Religious conservatives often see lewdness and pornography as contributing to the overall decline of society, and thus regulation/repression of it helps halt societal decay.

[TrophyHusband 0]

if i were a texan i would still rather that they concentrate their efforts on the guy who wants to steal my car or break into my house before they go after the guy shoving a fake dick up his wife's ass. stopping people from enjoying their sex lives in whatever way floats their boat will also not stop mohammed from sneaking across the border and blowing something up.


in the interest of fairness, i would however like to hear from some of the religious people on this forum who agree with these laws and the enforcement of them. so far this seems like a one sided thread.

"Your scrotum is quite nice" - Skymama
www.kjandmegan.com

[Tink1717 2]

It's Texas. What do you expect?

Skydivers don't knock on Death's door. They ring the bell and runaway... It really pisses him off.
-The World Famous Tink. (I never heard of you either!!)
AA #2069 ASA#33 POPS#8808 Swooo 1717

[JohnRich 4]

Web site poll on this story: "Should it be illegal to promote or sell adult toys that are designed to be used in a sexual act?"

Results so far:
Yes: 5%
No: 95%

Vote Here

[newsstand 0]

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>is this where the tax payers in texas want their law enforcement efforts placed?

Texas, being fairly conservative, seems to place a fairly high value on regulating the sex lives of others. Religious conservatives often see lewdness and pornography as contributing to the overall decline of society, and thus regulation/repression of it helps halt societal decay.

Having lived here for 20 years I can say that Texas doesn't fit a stereotype. While I have been here we have moved from being a "yellow dog democrat" state to being conservative. Granted that even Texas Democrates were on the conservative side but this is the state that provided Lyndon Johnson.

One of the many reasons you can purchase a dildo in this state is as a teaching aid. A person I knew needed one for a Lorena Bobbit halloween costume and had a female friend purchase it. Weird bunch I used to hang out with.

Recently an adult video store I pass daily was closed down because the owner was convicted of bunch of crimes. Took about a month and it was open again. New owner, probably exactly the same stock. It is all about keeping the voters happy. Since this particular store is outside the Austin city limits most residents don't see it and will assume one less "den of eniquity" exists in town.

Oh yeah and when it comes to location and regulating lives keep in mind where the current president of the USA came from.

"Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening."
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes

[wmw999 2,121]

There's more to that story. None of it good, though . She lives in Burleson, one of the buckles on the Bible belt, and wore sexy rather than conservative clothing, along with selling sex toys. Definitely stood out, I'm sure. Her name is Joanne Webb. more

Small-town Texas can be really dumb. However, when you wear a sign that says "I'm flouting local conventions" you should expect to be noticed, as well. Not that it's right, just that it's human nature.

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[mr2mk1g 10]

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Texas law allows for the sale of sexual toys as long as they are billed as novelties, BeAnn Sisemore, a Fort Worth attorney representing Webb, told the Houston Chronicle before a gag order was issued by the judge presiding over the case. But when a person markets sex toys in a direct manner that shows their actual role in sex, then that person is subject to obscenity charges, she told the newspaper.

And in a new move today, Texan Women will be required to wear Burkas while out on the streets.

The more things differ, the more they look the same.

[diverborg 0]

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Texas, being fairly conservative, seems to place a fairly high value on regulating the sex lives of others. Religious conservatives often see lewdness and pornography as contributing to the overall decline of society, and thus regulation/repression of it helps halt societal decay.

This is what i disagree with. When I was in Dallas, I saw more tittie bars and porn shops on one street that I've seen in the rest of the world combined. How are these any better than selling a dildo in the eyes of morality. Seems like there's another motive behind this law. Maybe some lawmaker's wife replaced him with a toy and its his mission to save the men. Maybe its just an outdated law that a couple enforcement officers seem to be holding on to. Either way, I would think a big Texas city would have a little more to keep the officers busy than busting dildo dealers.

[EricTheRed 0]

Maybe they should be looking for these guys...
http://www.crime-stoppers.org/rogues2.html

illegible usually

[Shotgun 1]

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Texas, being fairly conservative, seems to place a fairly high value on regulating the sex lives of others. Religious conservatives often see lewdness and pornography as contributing to the overall decline of society, and thus regulation/repression of it helps halt societal decay.

This is what i disagree with. When I was in Dallas, I saw more tittie bars and porn shops on one street that I've seen in the rest of the world combined. How are these any better than selling a dildo in the eyes of morality. Seems like there's another motive behind this law. Maybe some lawmaker's wife replaced him with a toy and its his mission to save the men. Maybe its just an outdated law that a couple enforcement officers seem to be holding on to. Either way, I would think a big Texas city would have a little more to keep the officers busy than busting dildo dealers.

Yeah, I think it's a case of there being a few outdated laws (which exist in all states of the US). Austin has plenty of stripper clubs (some fully nude), adult video stores, and sex shops. And there seems to be plenty of nude beaches, nudity clubs, swingers clubs, S&M clubs, etc. in Texas. The deal with the sex shops (at least in Austin) is that there are a few weird laws about what you can and can't sell - like you can sell vibrators as long as they don't look like a real penis (but I believe it is legal to order one from somewhere else if you live there). So having lived in TX most of my life, I would say it is only slightly more conservative than CA...

But it any state, I do think that law enforcement and especially our prisons should be reserved for people who have committed "real" crimes, not those who commit "victimless" crimes. I'm pretty sure that the number of people in prison for victimless crimes is one of the main reasons that the US has such a ridiculously high prison population. Of course, this is up to the voters to change that; the cops are only doing their job.

[billvon 2,397]

> When I was in Dallas, I saw more tittie bars and porn shops on
>one street that I've seen in the rest of the world combined.
>How are these any better than selling a dildo in the eyes of morality.

Well, I never said they had less porn. Heck, I went to an all-male catholic high school, where they had regular lectures about the evils of sex, pornography and loose living. There was way more porn there than at the local public high school, and guys were pretty regularly finding out they had gotten someone pregnant.

The issue (IMO) is that when you try to supress something (like sex, or sex-related industries) you just inspire more interest in them. How many women throughout Texas have just heard about these stores/parties for the first time through these stories?

[Shotgun 1]

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How many women throughout Texas have just heard about these stores/parties for the first time through these stories?

Well, seeing as you pretty much can't miss the big neon signs for the sex shops, I would say most women in Texas already knew about them. Parties and such are advertised in some of the papers and elsewhere, so they're not hard to find if you're looking for that sort of thing. Believe me, it's not a big state full of sexually repressed women.

Texas really isn't much different than CA (or any other state) as far as having people who want to control what other people can do with their lives.

[SudsyFist 0]

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So having lived in TX most of my life, I would say it is only slightly more conservative than CA...

From my (admittedly lesser) experience, I've found the regulations pertaining to adult entertainment, themselves (as opposed to the mere presence of storefronts/clubs), to be much, much more stringent than California's, regardless of how much more conservative the state is overall.

Take strip clubs, for example. Lap dances, where even available, are relatively tame and often with full bikini, compared to the fully-nude grind-and-hand-fests you can get just a half-hour or so from Perris. And that's not even taking VIP rooms into consideration.

Or the "novelty/gift shops." Heaven forbid you display a flesh-colored poking apparatus in TX. Nay, you must go into the back, where you thumb through a catalog, pick the one you want, and have it brought out to you sheathed from view in brown paper. Out here, you can play Jedi Battle with faux schlongs of all shapes and sizes and colors, right in the middle of the aisle!

I do a great Darth Maul impression with the double-headers.

[Shotgun 1]

Yes, CA has much more "interesting" stuff in the sex shops than TX, and probably more than a lot of the states (but TX seems to be so much more fun to pick on than the other states. ) But it's not that big of deal, since there is a much larger selection to order from online...

As for the strip clubs, you probably just didn't go to the right clubs in TX if you were looking for the "fully-nude grind-and-hand-fests". (Ok, I'll admit that I don't know that from personal experience - I've only been to the tamer "topless" clubs, but I've heard from male friends about the raunchier fully-nude clubs, especially the VIP rooms - I just never had any desire to go there myself because I am a prude. )

[ReBirth 0]

When in high school, we'd always try to get invited to parties where all the parochial school kids were going. Why? Because the Catholic school girls put out way more than the public school girls. Well, usually it was just oral because then they stayed "virgins" and could still go to heaven (they rationalized). But we took what we could get.