I couldn’t resist reporting on this. When a Lion’s Den (adult store) opened in Uniontown, Indiana, four years ago, I’m sure the owners were not prepared for the community reaction. Thirty-five residents have protested outside the Lion’s Den in shifts for four years—365 days a year, 24 hours a day. Their website boasts: this is the longest running protest against a sex business in the United States.
They are the Uniontown Watchdogs.
When a truck driver pulls into the Lion’s Den parking lot he sees a sign: “Warning Truckers. If you visit this adult bookstore we will take your picture and send it to your employer. Plus post it on website War-Line.net.” Similar signs warn other potential Lion’s Den customers. And the Watchdogs make good on their promises (their website features dozens of pictures of Lion’s Den patrons, many whom seem rather . . . um . . . irritated by the Watchdogs).
According to the owner, Ronald Stone, the business model estimated over 200 truck visits per night. However, 90% of the potential customers turn away when they see the signs. According to the protesters’ website, the Lion’s Den property is now up for sale, and two local buyers are soon to make offers on the property (to be used for anther type of business).
What else has the protest accomplished? One of the protesters signs offers free Bibles to Lion’s Den patrons: they’ve given away over 1,000 Bibles to date. Protesters have also prayed with customers who wanted help for addiction or relationship problems. The Watchdogs claim over 100 customers have prayed to accept Christ in the last four years. In addition, a parole officer from another county ran the plate numbers recorded by the Watchdogs and discovered several sex offenders violating their parole.
What do you think about this protest? Some have mentioned that the protesters are guilty of harassment and intimidation (Title 35, Article 45, Chapter 2 of the Indiana Code). Others say the protesters are merely exercising their first amendment right to assembly. Some say they are doing injustice to their anti-porn message with their methods. Others think they are being good concerned citizens doing their part to rid Uniontown of adult businesses.
I don’t think this survey has enough answers. I like the offer of the Bibles and prayer. That has obviously worked. The sign and posting of pictures has worked too, but if it is illegal and infringing on their right to privacy, I don’t feel good about supporting illegal activities “for a good cause.”
Their methods have obviously been effective and I would love to see another store like this shut down, but I’m not pro breaking the law to do it. If no laws are broken, I hope this movement/method spreads.
@Bradley – There is a question about legalities to be sure. Because this is somewhat a gray area, it would really be up for the courts to decide. So far no amount of protest from the business has shut down the protest from a legal standpoint. The other issue is even if they are not technically breaking the law, do they appear as if they are abusing the law? This may have a bearing on how their message is received by others.
Ah. So I stumbled upon this. Lol. Rather ignorance of a issue. Your saying that people can stand out in front of a legitimate business and pick it and protest their stupidity. Yet, we have a problem with folks not being able to do as they wish in their own personal life? Are you f$&#?;@ kidding me? So let me ask this question to you. Who, in the hell died and made all those closet sinners God? I sure as hell didn’t get the memo on that one. The problem we have today is stupidity and ignorance. Mostly from a bunch of Jesus freaks. I’ll tell you this much. I don’t care what people do in their personal life. If it is not harming anyone else. Then by all means do what you want to do. Nobody, and I mean no one controls another person’s life. So, with that being said I think it’s time for people to sit down and really start looking at their own. Instead of others who are not harming anyone.
“Let those among you who is without sin cast the first stone ”
Jesus The Christ.
I think it is overdone… it is an infringement on people’s freedom and even though we do not like it, people will do what they do. Was it effective.. YES! Am I happy that it has had a negative impact on their business…YES! Pornography hurts and I would love to see it gone.
It is one thing to leave a message that gets the point across without blatantly overstepping personal boundaries and saying and doing something that totally advertises the fact that they were there. I am all for protesting, but it needs to be done in a way that is not intrusive.
@Donna – Thanks for your thoughts. I am interested to see people’s reactions because there’s a strong desire for many to protest adult businesses but great disagreement about how it should be done. Thanks!
It seems to me that this protest is being done within the boundaries of the law, and tastefully as well. Insofar as being “intrusive” – so be it! Pornography stores “intrude” the peace and tranquility of many neighborhoods, as well as people’s lives, with their dispicable smut. Both the protest, within the limits allowed by the law, and (unfortunately) pornography, are protected Free-Speech items. for the moment, one will have to tolerate the presence of the other.
Actually this action is a violation of private property laws. And can carry serious fines and jail time. The reason these protesters are getting away with it is simply because the county is turning a blind eye to the activity because the county does not want the store there.
According ng to the law you must have permission of an individual to take their picture unless they are a public official. Such as police or of a public gov office.
In addition threatening an individual’s job or safety is considered assault in most states. Which is what these signs do. Posting an individual’s picture on a website without there expressed permission is also considered lible and harassment. In addition the courts can rule the action as malicious (which this obviously is) and press federal criminal charges on the individual’s responsible.
Several trucking companies will throw the hammer and book at you if you harass their employees like this. Many (protesters) have been found guilty and sentenced to more then 10 years in federal prison for doing this.
So is it a good way to get what you want? Only if your in the Bible belt and the county will ignore your obvious illegal activity and violation of federal state law and constitutional civil rights of the customers and business owner.
I think this is great!
My life was personally efffected by pronography, ending a 35 year marriage. My ex was completely consumed by the addiction and was unable to conquer it. It chipped away at what remained of our marriage one piece at a time until nothing remained. I am agnostic and so won’t bring religion into my comment except to say, if it helps some, then all the power to them. I personally believe that the methods the activists have taken is a non-violent act and that it is the right path to take. The fact that it has helped in the capture of numerous sex offenders is the most one could hope for. I wish them success in their attept to create a pornography free community.
I am a CHRISTIAN too
but I believe that the approach should be in a loving way I am a truck driver too. I have done it for over 6yrs . I now do local driving but thier methods should be not so thrustful ..if you wnt to talk more please ….
The first amendment works both ways. I think this is a great example of that in action. To say these people are infringing on others’ freedom by exercising their own makes no sense. Porn stores have the freedom to sell their wares. Individuals have the freedom to buy them. Protesters have the freedom to assemble and take and display photos in public places.
While I believe porn is sinful, I do not believe it should be illegal. This is a great example of how people can stop porn and limit its effects by exercising their first amendment rights rather than trying to quash others’.
PS: Bradley, what specifically, is illegal about what they’re doing? Anyone can take your photograph and do what they want with it if you’re in a public place.
I agree with the sign, it just reinforces how wrong pornography is, pornography can really destroy a family.
I am one of the Uniontown protesters. Thank you for your blog article. It was accurate and balanced.
I would like to clarify our taking pictures and posting them on the web is absolutly legal. In fact, if you look on our website you will see a number of porn customers taking pictures of us. The Lion’s Den has a state of the art camera taking pictures of us 24/7 along with all their customers.
Many of their pictures of us are posted on pro porn websites. The 4th amendment of the constitution does not protect privacy in the public forum.
@Rob – Thanks for visiting our blog! I was hoping to get some feedback from those in your area. Some have raised concerns about legalities, but doing this for four years without prosecution convinces me and many others you aren’t breaking any laws. I was just trying to get a feel for how people are reacting to this protest. Thanks for all you are doing there in Uniontown!
Just so you know, as of now (August 28, 8:50am), there have been 46 responses to this survey, and 35 believe you have a right to protest the way they are doing it, and I think your methods are an effective way to promote your anti-porn message.
Luke,
We at Uniontown appreciate your blog. We welcome your comments and those from your readers. The situation is changing here making us closer to victory. You can keep up with our situation on http://www.war-line.net. We will also arrange a link on our website to yours.
It’s not only you appear to be of the same mind as us that impresses us. You were fair, balanced and accurate. In our work here we live live surround by lies, not only from the porn business and customers, but also from local government. You are a breath of fresh air. We will be happy to answer any questions from you or your readers.
Our victory is near. We will keep you posted on the details as they develop.
I feel that this will cause more extreme measures to be taken
to satisfy their needs. Drawing people to Christ should not include exposing them in this manner, sin is not sin to the unsaved. I think this could do more harm then good. I’m not saying that everyone is going to that next extreme (kidnapping, rape, and sex trafficking) but when someone can’t get their fix, they will find it elsewhere.
Jesus said, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” John 8:7
Hi Stefan,
I’m from the Uniontown protest. We understand your feelings as they are a common misconception of our protest. If you look on our website you will discover we do not judge anyone (John 8:7). We do not call Lion’s Den customers rapists, molesters, etc. We simply apply scripture to the activity the customer is doing at the moment.
The scripture we apply to ourselves is Ephesians 5:11 – “Take no part and have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds and enterprises of darkness, but instead expose, reprove and convict them.” That’s the the purpose of our taking pictures and posting them on our website http://www.war-line.net
The result is we have stopped 90% of their business (it’s now up for sale), we have counseled thousands of porn customers, hundreds have come to Christ right here in front to the porn store and we have given away over 1,000 Bibles.
We do not judge, ever. We put on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:11-13) and stand fighting off the evil that comes in our midst. This too is the duty of all Christians. God in turn has blessed us with opportunity to witness to thousands and hundreds of salvations of the lost souls who come into our community for porn but leave with a Bible and Jesus in their lives.
I think this is wonderful what the protesters are doing. The courts certainly aren’t doing their job and neither is the churches in the area! Somebody has to do something and it’s working! It’s keeping many away and hopefully will shut down the place asap!
By the way, I was molested as a child and porn was a part of it. Pornography should be illegal as it harms everyone in society. I know it nearly wrecked my life and cause me a lot of pain both as a child and adult.
@Amy – I hear more and more stories about how pornography has played a significant role in sexual abuse. I am so sorry to hear you went through that.
I am so happy that someone (or all of you) are standing up for what is right. The Lord allows these sick individuals to get away with this, as well as purchasing women for sex because we (as the body of Christ) are responsible to put an end to it. The Lord has said that His children will have his strength to rid the Earth of these aweful acts, but we have to act! You are doing just that! You are amazing and an example for all of us to live by! Thank God for all of you standing up for what is right!!!
Amy,
All of us at the Uniontown protest hold you in a special place in our hearts and prayers. We have counseled hundreds of women here in front of the Lion’s Den in Uniontown. The common denominator is sexual abuse with all of them. One survey of rape victims shows 85% of all rape/molestations is a reninactment of a porn scene. The purpose of the sex acts in porn is to arouse the male and desensitize the victim. Porn messes up our hard wiring regarding sex. If you look on our website you can see pictures how messed up people become with porn addiction. They become very dangerous. This is why we must all stand together fighting porn.
Protesting a porn store isn’t going to stop sexual crimes. Porn is not illegal. Go protest some meth dealers’ houses.. you know, a real problem in Indiana.
This is incredible safe, and easy, and makes some retired pathetic Christian idiots feel like they’re doing something with their time. I’ve been to that store… they sell lingerie and dildos. They sell massage oil. They sell things that MARRIED COUPLES use when they make love. Is this also wrong? Just because these people haven’t gotten laid in years, that doesn’t mean they should take it out on other people.
They just look pathetic and ridiculous, and everyone is laughing at them. Instead of getting involved, they should just turn their head. If it’s really so wrong, their “God” will punish the people. But I think even God would hope that these Christians would do something more constructive with their time.
Porn is illegal to God! And as far as doing something constructive, absolutely constructive it is! Making these truckers think twice. We all have some type of diversion from our wrong doings and this might be surely one that could turn these truckers to a different path, The True. There is only two the Right Way and the Wrong Way. No in between. I even read the article in full if I remember correctly that people even got Saved. People took Bibles and Literature. Do something constructive, PRAISE the Lord for there commitment to ridding the neighborhood of ungodliness. Watcha think!
This is dangerous to post peoples pics and License #. esp. if You are asked to not post. What if a misguided soul who thinks that they are doing work for the Lord looks at the information that is being posted on War-line.net and finds some of these people and does them Harm, all in what they think is in the name of the Lord? How are the protesters going to feel to know that they Personally helped some of these people to get hurt? This is wrong Expecially when asked not to post pictures in a polite way.
I just want to say that yes you are allowed to protest. But when it comes to destroying a truckers job, that is going a bit far. Me and my husband (who is a truck driver). Go to church every Sunday when he is home and I volunteer at the homeless shelter and we donate money to causes. We enjoy some of the items these stores have to keep flair in our marriage. We also were both virgins when we were married. Where in the Bible does it say that a man and women should not enjoy each other. Also i remember a pastor telling his couples to have relations for 30 days straight. Also look at the Catholic priests that have abused small children. Just because some of us go to these stores does not mean we are abusers and such. There are sex therapist out there that will tell a couple to buy certain items to get things going. Like for me i have a medical condition in which i have a low sex drive. So there are things in these stores that help me. Also the pictures you take of these rudes gestures, would those gestures happen if you were not there with your cameras. Remember you get more flies with honey. Just make sure that when you say all who go to these stores are bad, some are not. I mean congrats if you can shut your store down. But the porn industry is huge. It has been around for many years. Even back in Jesues day. There were prostutes. So please think before you speak or act. And I know that you say you respect truckers, if you do leave them out of this. Some of them are good guys, with families. I am sure their spouses know of what they do.We are not all sickos and abusers.
I’m from the Uniontown protest. Many people writing in have misconceptions about our protest. Much of this is due to the misconceptions about porn.
A primary concern of the protesters is “secondary effects.” Sexually oriented business bring thousands of people from out of the area and a significant percentage engage in unsocial, often illegal and very often violent behavior. Take a look on our website http://www.war-line.net “GOTCHA PAGE” and see this daily behavior residents face 24/7.
Uniontown is a small community of just 50 people. The sex business is smak in the middle of this small community. We hve no police force in the area due to its small population. Even Mayberry had Andy and Barney.
Federal stats regognized by the federal courts confirm a 77% increase in crime around sex business. This has happend in Uniontown and more. We’ve had breakins, sex toys in our yards, countless indecent exposure, violent attacks on residents. On at least two occassion children were sexually assaulted here near the porn store while adults were present. Twice we have stopped pimps setting up prostitution here and we can’t count the times we’ve stopped drug activity by our 24/7 protest. These problems did not exist here for the 150 year history of Uniontown. Only since the Lion’s Den arrived.
We can show much more but you get the idea. If any reader feels they would be concerned with this activity going on next the them, they can understand why we keep a 24 hour active watch on this place.
I don’t think that it is about the legality if the protest, but rather the methods imposed.I don’t really see how it is in a neighborhood since there is no housing close by.I don’t see why these protesters would have their family hang out in this area when they are so against the porn store in the first place
I am with the Uniontown Protesters. We are please to post a link on our website to this blog.
We thank you for a fair a balanced story and your reader comments, (pro and con) are open and honest.
We welcome any dialog you or your readers may want to engage.
I drive by the protesters at the Lion’s Den in Uniontown everyday, and checked out their website. What is so amusing about their commentary is that they repeatedly refer to the area as a residential community with children and families present. Ha. Anyone who drives past there knows this is patently untrue. For the webmaster, I recommend Matthew 19:18: ***”Which ones?” the man inquired. Jesus replied, “‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony,***
The Lion’s Den is off the exit of a busy interstate. No one lives anywhere near there, everything nearby is businesses, half of them closed. Good job putting more employees in your piddly town out of work, esp in this economy, not that you care about the poor. Might I recommend Proverbs 22:22?
Most products in stores like these are great for married couples to keep the spark alive and keep some fun in their lovemaking. The protesters are a bunch of prudes who need to find something REALLY Christian to do with their time, like, I don’t know, FEED THE POOR…or CLOTHE THE NAKED…or NURSE THE SICK…or VISIT PRISONERS. Picking up litter would be a more useful way to spend their time. This protesting just makes them feel like they’re on the front lines against evil, but really, they’re battling a paper tiger. BTW, there’s this magical place called The Internet. Shut down any brick-and-mortar store with real employees that contribute to the tax base, and guess where couples will get their lace and lube?
In response to the above comments the writer should know there are at least 4 occuped homes and one currently unoccupied home withing 1000 feet of the Lion’s Den. There are also three small family businesses along with two churches. One church is over 150 years old. Also, the little “mini-mart” directly across the street has families and children there 24/7. This place is used as a rest from families traveling up and down busy I-65. This family business is also a midway stop for divorced parents to trade children for weekend visits with the other parent. Often the children are there for a couple hours waiting for the other parent to meet. There have been a number ocassions of where children have witnessed the dangerous and illegal behavior of Lion’s Den customers. On two occassions, Lion’s Den customers have assaulted children in front or directly across the street from the Lion’s Den even though adults were present. The fact that Uniontown is not a large residential community does not change the fact it is still a community where families, local and out of town, frequent for personal business. Families, and especially children, should have a reasonable expectation of safety in a residential community. This is why the federal courts have consistantly allow communities to zone sex businesses away from residential. We have done that here but like virtually every other sex business they ignore the law and local government is too passive or corrupt to enforce it. The protest here has changed the dynamics and we have personally brought this to court and expect a ruling in July.
I would also like to clear up another important point about the writer who says The Uniontown Lion’s Den is a place for married couples to get merchandise to increase their sexual pleasure. While the Liojn’s Den sells these products, they are a small percentage of the sales.
The majority of sales in such places are what we refer to as “virtual child porn” and “virtual rape porn.” They have such titles as “Try a Teen,” “Cherries, ” Best of Teenage Gangbangs.” In most studies, this type of porn is around 70 percent of their sales. This type of porn is more than simple sexual fantasy as the porn addicts like to claim. One study of rape victims shows 85 percent of rape/molestation is a reinactment of a porn video/dvd.
Uniontown is a community of just 50 people and no police. Right before the store opened a 10 year old girl here was abducted, raped and murdered. This horrible incident devastated this small rural community. The man arrested and convicted of this outrage admitted porn played a part in his behavior according to court transcripts.
Look on our website http://www.war-line.net and click to the “GOTCHA” page and see the unsocial, illegal and violent behavior of Lion’s Den customers. If you would find this type of activity health and safe around your wife and children, take up a petition to have the Lion’s Den move next door to you.
One final thing, we do pick up litter here. Most of what we pick up are sex toys, sex magazines, sex ads and condoms (used and unused) thrown out by the Lion’s Den customers. On occassion children here find them in their yards.
On two occassions we have stopped pimps setting up hookers here and have stopped drug trafficing here more times than we can count. A number of sex crime violators on parole have been caught here. This is just a small sample of the danger this place brings to a residential community.
@Rob – Thanks for stopping by again. Yes, you can most certainly re-post any of the dialogue from our blog on your site. Any time you want to do that, feel free. Glad we can provoke some more dialogue.
Luke,
Thanks for your cooperation. We have now posted some of the comments from your readers on http://www.war-line.net. You will find them on our OPINION page. We have referred to your website on several pages on ours. We hope this effort bring additional dialog on both websites.
Several weeks ago me and my girlfriend stopped at the min mart across the street from the Lion’s Den. Before we left I took several pictures of the protester
sitting out front. As we were driving away he flipped my girlfriend off. I was in total shock. Is this not some of the behavior you talk about on your website? Did I mention there were other customer’s outside of the mini mart? What about the child sitting in the car? Am I missing something here? Is this the way your group
acts when the camera’s are off? It’s always amazed me that the one’s that claim to be so righteous are the ones that are so unrighteous. The vast majority of things listed on your website would never happen if your group wasn’t there inciting them. There are so many things your group could be doing to help others.
sitting outside the Lion’s Den day and night isn’t one them. Flipping my girlfriend off for no reason isn’t
one of them either.
I am from the Uniontown Protest. I’ve checked with all the protesters and can assure everyone NONE of our group has ever commited any unsocial behavior as you described.
We’ve heard it all before. We’ve been accused of all sorts of things. Some far more serious than your claim. ALL of them have been proven false. We keep detailed records of everything here PLUS we have a 24 hour survalance camera trained on us for security. NOTHING like this has EVER showed up on our recordings except by porn customers. We can always prove everything we say.
If you want to dialog on this we will be happy to to engage. If you are going to make accusations, be prepared to prove them in public. The Uniontown protesters are completly prepared to prove all our accusations including personal behavior.
You can start proving your story by sending us a picture of the protesters you said you took. From that picture and from our survalance video we can determine a lot of things and we are well prepared to examine every part of your story.
I posted here to share my experience with others. Not to debate with anyone about what one of the protesters did. I don’t expect any of the protesters to admit to doing something that they are protesting against. I can assure EVERYONE it did happen. I was there and saw what happened. I know what happened and that’s all that matters. Someone that wasn’t there can’t assure anyone about what did and didn’t happen. Some will believe it happened other’s wont. Some agree with the protester’s others don’t. If you happen to pass through Uniontown hopefully your experience will be better than the one Me and my Girlfriend experienced. Thanks to the owner of this site for allowing us to post here.
To John Y –
If you are not willing to supply pictures you claim you have, than your accusations have no merit. The protesters, on the otherhand, are well prepared to prove all our accusations against the Lion’s Den and their customers. We post them for all to see on our website WAR-LINE.NET. We can multiply all we show on the website a hundredfold with our array of security cameras and audio recorders.
If you happen to pass by Uniontown again, stop by and see us and dialog with us man to man instead of making accusations on a third party website and refuse to provide anything to back it up. We also invite you to dialog with us on WAR-LINE.NET. You will see we post pro and con comments. We are not afraid to dialog with anyone.
Anybody had a chance to read this article? Interesting read if you have a few minutes.
http://crothersvilletimes.com/?p=511
To John Y –
We find it typical of people who accuse us of anything to back off when challenged. You did this in your last post. Then the typical next step is when our accuser fails in his argument to suddenly change the subject. That’s OK. We go through this all the time. It’s all old news.
The “newspaper” you link is a simple one man operation and is more a newsletter than a newspaper. In fact, we’ve seen company newsletters much bigger than this pamphlet.
The owner/operator/editor/writer/janitor and delivery boy (yes, he personally delivers his little newsletter around town) is one who actively oposses our protest and refuses to interview us nor publish any news (except negative) about the Uniontown protest. We’ve tried many times over the years to dialog with the “editor” but he refuses. He certainly is no journalist who seeks out balanced information from both sides.
For example, the “editor” neglected to mention the sister of the accuser who was there at the time, testified to police that no such incident happened. The father of the girls also disputed his daughter’s accusation. There are logical reasons for this, but we do not wish to go further as we are talking about an underage person.
The “police officer” in question is also considered something of a joke by residents. He, too shows obvious signs of opposing the protesters. He has performed a number of harrasment acts against the protesters including following a protester around the county in his police car for no purpose and far outside his jurisdiction. Let’s just say there are many things about the police officer many residents feel are suspect. The leader of the protesters went to Crothersville town hall and in no uncertain terms told the town government of the police officer’s illegal harrassment and that we will take action if it happens again. From that time the officer has had an “attitude adjustment” and now leaves the protesters alone.
Again, the protesters can easily provide proof of all we do and say. You, on the other hand, still refuse to not only provide proof of your original accusation, but not even provide a simple picture you say you took. Instead you do what others have done when challenged to come forth, you change the subject. You are about the 500th person to do that.
We are happy to dialog with you. In fact we welcome it. We respectfully request to please stay on subject or quit bothering the good readers of this website.
Rob I respectively ask you stop trying to derail my post. I simply came here to share my experience with others. Since then in a roundabout way you have done everything you can to call me a liar. I’m sorry that you find it hard to believe that one of your protesters acted in such a repulsive way.
I never changed the subject. I have posted my experience and a post I thought was very interesting. You’re the one coming in trying to derail my post and change the subject. You act as if this is a court of law needing pictures, video, audio and the list goes on. Just because I don’t have a picture of one of the protesters flipping my girlfriend off doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. At the very least there are three people that know it happened a Protester, Myself and my Girlfriend. There was only one man there that day in the little guard shack. Unless it was you I ask you to stop derailing my post and alluding that I’m some sort of porn loving liar.
You have offered to dialog with me. What you mean to say is you want to try and convince me of your views. I have read through some of the postings by various individuals. They make many valid points, but you never listen. You are a very close minded individual and always try to justify your actions.
Rob I’m not going to get caught up in some sort of ongoing argument with you. You can choose to continue posting and defending one of the protesters all you want. I will be no part of your agenda on here. I pray and hope others don’t have a similar experience as ours.
It’s very well documented that many of the protester’s have arrest records. We have all sinned and made mistakes including one of the protesters. Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
In closing I leave you with these words.
Luke 6:37-38, 41-42
1“Stop judging, so that you won’t be judged, 2because the way that you judge others will be the way that you will be judged, and you will be evaluated by the standard with which you evaluate others.
3“Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye but fail to notice the beam in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when the beam is in your own eye? 5You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you will see clearly enough to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
John – We have not been attempting to derail your post. You made accusations and we defended them. You presumed another allegation on us and we answered and defended that with all the facts. You see, we live with this kind of stuff every day from porn customers. We like all the facts to come out not just the allegations or one side.
For example you alleged in your recent post aboput the “arrest records” of protesters. There is some truth to this. But the full story is 17 protesters have been arrested at the site. ALL of them aquitted in court. I myself was almost arrested because a female customer alleged I “assaulted” her. Police were all set to arrest me but fortunately our security cameras picked up the incident. In reality the video clearly showed the woman assualted me!!
But to clear the record, I have been arrested on numerous occassions due to porn customers alleging complaints on me through the years. In each case I was aquitted. From this I hope you see we are sensitive to accusations. You may not agree with our position but hope you at least admire we stand up and sacrifice for our beliefs. Your allegation was minor compared to the garbage porn customers try to do to us.
We agree with your Scripture referance Luke 6:37-38, I can honestly say we do not judge. We never call any Lion’s Den customer rapist, molester or other slander. That is against our beliefs. In your first post you stated: “It’s always amazed me that the one’s that claim to be so righteous are the ones that are so unrighteous”. I believe reasonable people would call that a judgment.on the protesters.
We won’t judge you either. We never accused you of lying. We simply requested you to provide us with information (pictures) you stated you possess to give credence to your position. That is the same standard we hold to ourselves on anything we say in public.
So let’s leave it at that. There is much more to the story of the Uniontown Protesters than you know. Please don’t assume anything you read or hear is accurate. We welcome you to come by the protest anytime you are in the area. If you stop by and see us you will not receive an obscene gesture but a warm smile and handshake. We look forward to that day
God bless,
Rob
Why not let these people make their own choices to or not to look at smut. God gave everybody a soul if they burn their own soul its up to them. Besides Each protester probably has a neighbor that gets porn online or by mailorder. Seems to me if a church has that many people with that much spare time they would use their time to help the homeless, big brother big sister cleaning an elderly persons house or mowing for them. When you throw a bible at someone it just hits them and falls off. They have to want to be saved. I dint know how many people in that area are needy but all that time spent down there sitting would have helped alot of needy people that are asking for help.
We have not physically stopped a single customer from choosing to go to the Lion’s Den for smut (your defination – not hours). We simply take pictures and post them on our website http://www.war-line.net. The result is 90 percent of Lion’s Den customers CHOOSE not to patronize because they do not wish to be exposed (Ephesians 5:11). This is also absolutely constitutionally legal.
But beyond that we are there due to “secondary effects.” Porn customers act in unsocial, illegal and violent behavior. You can see the proof on WAR-LINE.NET’s “GOTCHA” page. Customers expose their body parts in public, give obscene gestures and shout obscenities to residents, physically attack residents including children, throw sex toys, sex magazines, condoms (used and unused) in our yards that children have found plus many other dangerous behaviors. Three times we have stopped pimps setting up hookers at the Lion’s Den and we interfered/stopped drug trafficing on the Lion’s Den property more times than we can count. Lion’s Den customers have attacked children three times in Uniontown even though adults were present. All this is typical “secondary” behavior around sex businesses according to federal court statistics. The proof this is also true in Uniontown is on our website.
Uniontown is a community of just 50 people. We do not have a police force here. Even Mayberry had Andy and Barney, It thus becomes the responsibility of the residents here to look out for each other. The Lion’s Den bought a 9 acre plot to hold 200 trucks per night to layover overnight here while watching porn. This means there would be four times the population of smut watching truckers than residents living here every night. Our remote, rural infrastructure (including no police) cannot handle this. The danger is obvious. The pictures on our website prove it.. Would you want this dangerous behavior next door to your wife, children or family 24/7? Please understand its around our families 24/7 and we suffer from these customers dangerous behavior every day. We might also add a 10 yeral old girl in our area was abducted, raped and murdered right about the time the Lion’s Den opened. . The man who did this outrage was caught and in court testimony, the man and his wife testified porn played a part in his behavior. The man went to prison for life and his wife lost custody of their children. All this suffering because they chose to view smut.
The issue is not about the right to view smut. Our issue in Uniontown is safety for residents. Jackson County has a constitutionally correct ordinance that allows the Lion’s Den or any other sexually oriented business to operate in the county in accordance with federal law. The federal courts and Supreme Court also grant the local community the right to zone sex businesses away from residential to give a reasonable expectation of safety for families and children. The Lion’s Den has dozens of locations they can operate in Jackson County. The only condition is they be just 1,000 feet from residential zone. This is far less restrictive than in other communities. In fact, it’s more than reasonable. Other businesses operating in Jackson County (example: night clubs, bars, liquor stores, industrial buildings, etc) have far more restrictions than the Lion’s Den.
The Lion’s Den, however, refuses to abide by the law all other local businesses obey, even to the point of refusing to pay the mininum fee ($50) for a business license that every other Jackson County business complies.
As you can see, there is much more to the Uniontown story than you and other people realize. We thank you for asking and allowing us an opportunity to respond.
What we explained here is just a small tip of the iceberg.
To T Roberts
I’m from the Uniontown protest. To partially answer your question please look at a previous post I made to John Y that I expect to be posted here soon.
To be specific about your inquery I can explain the following:
The protesters are not from one church. There are 50 of us and we come from a variety of churches in the area including Baptist, Methodist, Nazarene, Pentecostal, non-denominational plus others I am not aware. Some protesters do not attened a church.
We do not throw Bibles at people. In fact to get a Bible from us a person usually must drive up and request it. We have given out close to 2,000 Bibles in this way including some to employees of the Lion’s Den. We’ve counseled hundreds and countless have accepted Jesus at our protest site.
You ask why we don’t “better” spend our time working with Big Brother, Big Sisters or helping the aged or needy. Who says we don’t? With 50 protesters, we schedule people for 4 hour shifts. Most of us are there only 1 or 2 shifts a week. We have plenty of time to share with others in community projects and many of us do.
We are there at the Lion’s Den to protect our families. Look on http://www.war-line.net and see the dangerous behavior of Lion’s Den customers yourself.
We are glad to see you have a giving heart and care for such groups as Big Brothers, Big Sisters and desire to help the needy and elderly. We assume you are already personally participating in these fine endevors setting an example for all instead of simply advocating others to do them instead of you. That would be very shallow of you if that was the case.
So we urge you to keep on helping Big Brothers, Big Sisters and helping the aged and needy. We will be happy to join up with you and the good work you do for others when we are done here.
Yes I do help (did) I did work for hospice (a cause for good people who are in desperate need of help). I won custody of my son and dont have the extra time anymore. Its good to see somebody fight for what they beleive in. By the way it looks like you are on the verge of winning (they are selling it). Good luck!
To T Roberts –
Your previous work for Hospice shows a good heart and loving character. I personally received Hospice services during the terminal illness of my father in 1994. They made the unbearable a time for understanding and healing for me and my family. It takes very special people to reach out and help the terminally ill and their families. They were a blessing.
All good Christian people should work to make this world a little better for our lives God grants us. We thank you for your service to Hospice. We also do what we can to do similar good work for our little rural community. It’s amazing the number of people who came here for porn that left with a new life in Jesus. They just needed to talk to people who cared about them. We are like a Hospice service for the spiritual terminally ill.
God bless.
Ahhhh religion the only legal pyramid scheme. I thought christians were not supposed to judge others. I hope these idiots don’t vote….
Hi Scott –
I’m from the Uniontown Protest. If you are referring about our protest in Uniontown and http://www.war-line.net I can assure you we do not judge anyone. We never call customers rapists, molesters and other such names. Quite the contrary we openly call for dialog there at the Uniontown site and on our website plus on other websites including this one. You appear to have some preconceived notions about us (i.e. judgement) so we invite you to dialog with us on http://www.war-line.net or this site. We won’t judge you.
Oh, by the way, ALL of us vote. We hope you do too. It is the great American privilege. Many of us in Uniontown served in war (Vietnam, Desert Storm, Iraq, Afganistan) to help preserve our freedom for all of us, including you.
We look forward to dialog with you.
Preserve freedom thats what you call what you are doing. OK everybody has on opinion of “freedom” I am curious to see how many of you protesting idiots wind up divorced now that the store is closed and you will have to spend time with your wives and children rather than your groupies. Your mission was accomplished, I hope you are proud of yourselves. I find you self rightous and egotistical.
I gotta tell ya…. Posting pictures of people, notifying their employer (which they may be on break, you do know truckers get lunch hours, and time to themselves while traveling as well right?) is none of your business… If i were a trucker and lost my job due to you mailing my boss, I’d drive a car right through your guard shack. Peddling bibles for your own self-rightous cause is more annoying than the people who would “normally” go into the store, get their stuff, and go home and enjoy it.You’re presence promotes their behavior as they are feeling “attacked” by you taking pictures and threatening their jobs/livelihood. How Christian is that? Ruining peoples lives? You’re doing all kinds of good!!! If my girlfriend and I want to use a little toy in bed there’s no reason why you should put our business online, whether it’s your “right” or not. It’s crappy, cowardly, and really makes me wonder how you’ve survived this long. Normally people like you get straightened out in high school…
About 99% trucking companies have policy of not parking at a sexually orienedt business. Main reasons are the image of the company but most important sexually oriented business are busy properties for prostitution and drugs. This affects insurance rates.
If you look on our website http://www.war-line.net you will see constant illegal and dangerous behavior by customers. Despite what you may think, our camera did not cause this behavior. It happens at every sex business where no police or residents keep watch.
Your closing sentence “. . . .really makes me wonder how you’ve survived this long,” shows you agree customers at sexually oriented business can be dangerous and violent.
We are a small town of just 50 people with no police. We twice prevented Lion’s Den customers assaulting a child in our community, three times stopped pimps setting up hookers at the Lion’s Den and interfered with drug activity there more times than we can count.
Yes, we agree with you in your comments “We’re doing all sorts of good!!!
I stopped in awile ago for my girlfriend to use the restroom, on our way out the protesters started taking pictures, so what… but when I got out of my pickup and started taking pictures of this lady she became enraged, she proceded to get on the phone and tell me she was calling the police, for what may i ask, i have pictures of this woman takin pictures of me and on the phone. the best part i would have to say is the fact that her side-kick was laughing at the whole ordeal (also seen in photos). I have to ask, what is up the the hypocrisy of your protestors, they saw nothing wrong with taking pictures of me, so why the the mean face when i take pictures of them, oh and a more direct response would be great as opposed to the generic
” Hi iam from the uniontown protest, please see our site”
You can’t reason with an individual or group that has such extremist views. They believe everything they are doing is justified because they say it’s in the name of God. They try to use embarrassment to force their beliefs on others. Unfortunately these are people we will see on the news. I live in Jackson County. I am scarred that people like this live so close to me and my family. As Americans we have all seen what radicals have done to this country. As Americans may we never forget….
I’m a trucker and my employer is a major trucking company. My company is one of the top 5 trucking companies in the USA. My company as well as I find your group to be very UNAMERICAN. Our country was founded on Freedom and free speech; haven said that it is very disturbing that people in our country have such extremist views. As Americans we must stand for what is right and exterminate such radical views in our country. And I ask all American citizens in this country to join me against such radical views. And that we never shall allow such radicals as we did on 9/11 to infiltrate our country. That we stand united against such radicals. That we are the Land of the Free and United.
@Rose – I’m not quite sure why you call the protesters “unamerican.” Certainly many people who’ve commented here disagree with the views of the protesters, but why are they unamerican. If the nation is founded on freedom of speech, like you say, then aren’t the protesters exercising that very right? Freedom of speech means that people can have their “extremist views” and not be afraid to share them. Regardless of what you think of their views, I’m not sure how they could rightly be labeled “unamerican.”
I’m from the Uniontown protest. I would like to clarify some assumptions some readers may have:
Our views are not extremest. Look on our website
-LINE.NEt and see the dangerous behavior happening around us 24/7. Uniontown is family residential of just 50 people with no police. The danger is obvious.
The Lion’s Den was in violation of three constitutionally correct ordinances. They didn’t care. It took 5 years to bring it to court but Indiana Superior Court found the Lion’s Den guilty violating all three ordinances.
The ordinances allow for the Lion’s Den to operate in Jackson County, just be 1,000 feet from residential neighborhood. They had over 100 locations they could operate but refused. The ordinance also allowed the Lion’s Den to operate for 18 months at their current location. The Lion’s Den ignored this.
The ordinance calls for ALL businesses to hold a simple business license. All businesses in Jackson County comply with this law EXCEPT the Lion’s Den who ignored this too.
Virtually every trucking company has strict policy of their trucks parked at a sex business. The reason is safety, insurance and public image. Prostituyion and drugs are rampet at sex business and thus danger and damage can take place. This effect insurance rates along with bad inage/advertising for the trucking company,
All companies have strict policy for workers not to use company computers to surf pornography. If a worker does this anyway and you see it, company policy requires you to inform managment. If the worker is fired for breaking company policy, who caused the termination. The employee who broke company policy or the person who turned him in? Same applies here.
To the person who say we retorted to her taking pictures of protesters, this is incorrect. If you look on our website you see people taking pictures of us all the time. Some have appeared on pro porn website. Google Uniontown Protesters and you will find some of them. We’ve never retorted to people taking pictures of us. If this person has such pictures please send them to us. We have a 24/7 digital camera traind on all activities and we can easily verify. A date would also be helpful.
We just ask anybody to look at the pictures of Lion’s Den customers on our website. Would you want this illegal, violent behavior around you family, children 24/7 365 days a year? If you wouldn’t want it next door to you, thane we are not as extreme as yu ming judge. The differance is we took action.
This is a follow up to my previous comment. I noticed a couple of typos. The website for us is WAR-LINE.NET.
There were several other typos and I apologize.
Also, the Lion’s Den is now closed and they have packed up and moved out.
Finally the embarrassing circus is over. It’s one thing to protest. It’s another to harass a lot of innocent people. Where there some bad apples that went to the Lion’s Den? Sure there was. There are bad apples that go to Wal-Mart, gas stations, restaurants, bars and the list goes on. But by in large most weren’t.
Actions speak louder than words. Anybody with any sort of common sense can quickly see that the War Line website was solely setup to embarrass and judge people. For someone to say it wasn’t is clearly trying to underestimate people’s intelligence. Just as they judged so they will be judged.
Maybe since the protest is over the protesters will find something productive to do with their time. But I doubt it.
For those of you that aren’t from the area here’s an article from the local newspaper. At the bottom of the article are many comments from local people.
http://www.tribtown.com/news/celebrate-24168-lion-owners.html
Oh man, thanks for this. Your little ‘protest’ website has made my family and friends laugh so hard we almost fell out of our chairs.
I’m so glad we have people like you and your cadre around, because it helps keep organized religion to a minimum in this country by exposing how extreme and harmful they are, as well as hypocritical and ignorant.
By the way — you protested a porn store, and yet you post pictures of indecent exposure on your website?
Definition of pornography as per Websters dictionary: “The depiction of acts in a sensational manner so as to arouse a quick intense emotional reaction”
All I can say is… LOL. Guess what? All those people sensationally exposing themselves to you to arouse a quick and intense emotional reaction from you? Interpretively, you run a website that shows pornographic pictures.
….GOTCHA! ;D
Also, try not to misinterpret my above comment, as it’s purely opinion, which from what I’ve read here you are open to. It’s good that you were able to get rid of such violence, crime, and other heinous activity in your community, I’m very glad you were able to accomplish that and protect yourselves and your families. I’m not a proponent of pornography or peddlers of it, however, it’s not within my right to stop them from doing it as they have the same freedoms I do to open a business.
There were better ways to go about getting the bookstore shut down, though. I sincerely hope that the protests actions doesn’t tarnish the name of your community, and wish you the best… pictures are fine, but maybe you should reconsider the ones that are rather inappropriate for children to see.
I am however very open to debate as to why you chose to take that route if you have a plausible reason.
Actually, it’s within any citizen’s right to work to stop any business that is operating illegally. The Lion’s Den was in violation of three constitutionally correct ordinances in Jackson County. The details of that ordinance on on my August 25 comments on this forum.
We agree with you every business has a reasonable right to operate. Also every business must comply to reasonable laws for the protection of the community. For example, you probably would not be allowed to open a punk rock nightclub bar in the middle of a quiet family neighborhood. The reasons are obvious. Multiply those obvious reasons by 100 and you get what we faced in Uniontown.
Uniontown is a residential community of just 50 people. We have no police. The Lion’s Den purchased 9 acres of property and lied to local government they were opening a grocery/store/truck stop. This was in clear violation of the county’s adult business ordinance but they ignored that and decided to bully the small rural local government.
They boasted in the local newspaper they would park 200 trucks PER NIGHT. That’s 1,400 trucks per week watching porn in a little town of 50 people with no police. That’s pretty overwhelming! Even Mayberry had Andy and Barney. You should also know that at the same time the Lion’s Den was being constructed, a local 10 year old girl was abducted, raped and murdered. It broke the hearts of all the people in our little community. In a town of 50 people, every neighbor, every child is “family.”
The man they captured was convicted and now serving a life sentence. Court testimomy showed porn played a major part in this horrible crime.
The Uniontown Lion’s Den was constructed totally to attract truckers off I-65, the major north/south Interstate from Chicago to Florida. Tens of thousands drive by us every day.
Using our method of protest we cut off 90 percent of their business. They projected 1,400 trucks per week. Our protest lowered that customer count to just average of 6 trucks per week. Three times we intefered with out of state customers attacking children:on four occassions we stopped pimps setting up prostitutes at the Lion’s Den and stopped drug activity there more times than we can count.
If we had not banded together and kept watch, several more horrible crimes would have happened in Uniontown since there is no police force here. The drug and prostitute activity would have been overwhelming.
Look at the pictures on our war-line.net website and see the typical behavior they did here. All this in presence of families and children in our little town. Would you want this behavior by thousands of out of area customers next door to you and your children? Add to this no police in the area to respond to your emergency and a local government too cowardly to enforce the law, and you can see our problem. We understand you may consider our pictures inappropiate for children on our website. We also ask for understanding that our children had to see this actual behavior 24/7 every day for 1,827 days. Our families and children did not enjoy the “blue bar” censoring you got on our website. We endured this and far worse acts that we never posted.
What we did was a “proactive” protest. We could have passively held signs, but Christians have done this for 40 years with no success. We took pictures and posted them on our website.to expose their crime and/or sin (see Ephesians 5: 11-15). Our pictures documented their illegal acts and discouraged most others from coming in. We never judged the customers. In fact we witnessed to thousands, gave out 2,000 Bibles and hundreds of Lion’s Den customers (and some employees) accepted Christ right here in front of a porn store.
We consider that our major victory in Uniontown. Closing the sex business was simply God’s promise if we stayed faithful. Since we had no police force, we had to take measures to protect ourselves and our children.
In response to you again Rob, why does your area have no police force? Does the state not allocate funds to your area? I’m just curious about the bureaucracy of it all.
Who actually responds if someone dials 911 in your area when law enforcement intervention is needed? That seems incredibly unsafe and not very responsible of your civic leaders of that state and your region.
This post isn’t criticism… just honestly curious why the state itself didn’t help you out in this case since there was so much crime. It seems like they would care a little bit more, yanno?
Jackson County is a rural agricultural county and no urban cities. The largest “city” is Seymour (about 8,000) and the county seat Brownstown (about 3,000). Virually all other communities are under 1,000 population, the vast majority under 500 people. Uniontown has about 50 people scaterred in about 20 homes.
Rural counties, as a rule, do not have serious crime stats as urban centers. Thus we have only two law enforcement stations to serve all of Jackson County. Seymour has a small Indiana State Police station in Seymour and Brownstown has a County Sheriff station. That’s about it.
These law enforcement centers are about 20 miles away from Uniontown on opposite sides of the county. That’s not the worst part, however. These law enforcement locations are thinly manned. For example, most nights only one deputy sheriff officer is on duty for the entire county. Indiana State Police have a few more on night duty but they patrol mainly north Jackson County. The average police response time to Uniontown is 45 minutes if they show up at all. It runs 50-50 most times. For example, when a Lion’s Den customer attacked some residents in Uniontown one night, we were told the officer would not respond because he was taking a drunk driver back to Brownstown to be put in jail.
Indiana pays for police totally by property taxes. State regulations call for a mininum of $200,000 property tax per year tax revenue to man even a small local police station. To pay for this mininum requirement each home/business in Uniontown would have to pay an additional $1,000 PER MONTH to operate a two man police station plus dispatcher and part time officer, (the mininum allowed). We thus have to depend upon either State Police or County Sheriff for whatever law enforcement we may need. Up until the Lion’s Den opened, we rarely needed law enforcement.
Also, typical of small police forces, corruption runs rampant. During our protest 17 protesters were arrested at our protest site. Their crime was protesting! Every protester was acquitted in court. On the other hand the protesters were attacked hundreds of times by Lion’s Den customers. We had pictures of the attacker, pictures of the attack, license plate number and full description. Despite all this information the local law enforcement refused to arrest a single attacker. One man who attacked us actually turned himself in to State police after he attacked one of our people TWICE. Still the law enforcement refused to arrest him. They told him to come down and apologize to the person he twice attacked! Local police were not the least interested in protecting our first amendment rights. Many residents believe (with some justification) local officials were paid off by the Lion’s Den. We have no proof of that but their lack of enforcemnt of attackes on residents and the obvious illegal behavior of Lion’s Den customers that you see on http://www.war-line.net give a strong clue where their loyalty was applied. If the Lion’s Den had been allowed to continue our law enforcment would not have done anything for what little they could do anyway. This is not unusual in rural communities in any state.
Like most rural communities across America who face this situation, we take care of ourselves. Basically what we were doing on our protest was a 24/7 Neighborhood Blockwatch group.
It sounds like you need to bring all this to the attention of federal entities. Obviously the state isn’t going to help you out. My sympathies go out to your community.
Actually we did have federal Department of Justice involved, at least for a little while.
President Bush had issued a directive to the Department of Justice that each federal district (there are 9) must prosecute at least 2 cases against pornography. DOJ people inquired and one even visited our protest. We cooperated of course providing everything they requested.They finally agreed they would place our case on their 4th District docket for prosecution against the local government for a “writ of mandamus” (I.E. order the local government ot enforce the ordinances or face federal prosecution). This was in 2008.
The process apparently is detailed and was taking several months. This was not unexpected in first amendment cases. We had some expection our case would be heard in February or March in 2009.
The national election of 2008 caused a change in administration. In January President Obama reversed the Bush executive order and in a new executive order had all cases pending against pornographers to be immediatley dropped from case files. We have no idea why our new president would do this. We got no response from Department of Justice. It just disappeared.
As you can see, government, be it local, state or federal, was not our friend. This just added to our cause we had to take measures ourselves to fignt the Lion’s Den and local government. We continued to protest locally and finally won in court after 5 years of battle.
By the way, we personally paid for the attorney who won our summary judgment. The county refused. We thus raised money for the county commissioners to enforce their oun ordinance that by law they were soley responsible to enforce. We, the residents paid over $18,000 in personal funds to the special constitutional attorney who handled our case. Ironically, while it was the residents who paid his bill, the attorney by law represented the Jackson County Commissioners who refused to pay him or make any serious attempt to enforce the law.
Rob it sounds like you are a very unhappy person in life. I have looked at your website site and read through some of your comments. Other than the handful of protester you put down everyone else. Just to list a few you put down local, state, federal government, local police force, local newspaper (pamphlet) and anyone that has a negative experience with the protesters. You remind me of a man named Pastor Terry Jones. Just because your tactics slowed the traffic at the Lion’s Den and is temporary closed doesn’t mean they were right. It only takes a few minutes of searching on the internet to see the majority of local residents highly opposed the protesters actions and behavior. I’m from Jackson County (same county as Uniontown). Their are very few people here that have much good to say about the protest. As a Jackson County resident I’m very happy to hear, “the residents paid over $18,000 in personal funds”.
Rob, it’s time to look in the mirror and see who has the real the problem.
Appeal filed in porn suit
http://www.tribtown.com/news/porn-24228-filed-adult.html
The findings I stated are not my opinion. They are public record. When we presented the lack of enforcement by both police and local government at various commissioner meetings and other public gatherings we also presented the public record. The public record findings were considered so serious the Federal Department of Justice in 2008 moved forward to prosecute a mandamus order (i.e. court order to enforce the law) against the local government and law enforcement. The only thing that stopped it was a direct order from President Obama in January, 2009 who ordered all federal cases pending against pornography be dropped.
We did far more than slow the traffic at the Lion’s Den, we stopped over 90 percent. For example, The Lion’s Den stated in the Tribune in July, 2005, they expected 1,400 trucks per week (200 per day). The average semi-truck traffic during our protest was only 6 trucks per week. In July, 2006, The Lion’s Den tried to stop our protest by court order claiming loss profit and stated their loss figures. They lost that case, of course. From Lion’s Den own figures filed in their court papers we can accurately say they lost over $4 million in sales during our protest.
If you claim the majority of residents opposed the protesters, you must dwell in a very small crowd. I can show you by comparison.
Three residents gathered over 20,000 names on a petition in just 4 days. The petition was presented to the County Commissioners BEFORE the Lion’s Den opened (public record). A few months after the Lion’s Den opened, supporters of the Lion’s Den attempted to gather names on a petition supporting the Lion’s Den. I recall they made quite an effort. They never turned it in. I’m told from a source (who claimed he had signed the petition) that they got just over 100 names. They were too embarrassed to turn it in. At least there is no public record of it.
Jackson County residents staged a protest against the Lion’s Den 24/7 for 5 years. During that time we had over a dozen times pro porn proponents on our website http://www.war-line.net saying they too would come out and counter demonstrate against us and in favor of the Lion’s Den. Not a single time did any of these demonstrators appear. One customer in opposition to our protest claimed he would get at least 100 people and perhaps 200 people to come out and counter protest. The total number to show up was ONE (plus the man who called for the counter protest). They held up a couple of signs across the street for about 15 minutes and left. That is the full measure of active support the Lion’s Den got from Jackson County residents in 5 years.
At every commissioners’ meeting dealing with the issue of the Lion’s Den, opponents packed the chambers. While a number of these opponents were protesters, more than half were other residents opposed to the Lion’s Den. The Lion’s Den got a total of ONE resident to show support at commissioners meetings (July 2005) and he did that only once. During the last few years even the employees didn’t bother to show up. Residents supporting the protesters always packed the court chambers at the various court hearings. NO resident support EVER showed up to support the Lion’s Den in court. At the last “summary judgment” hearing where the judge would make the final ruling about the Lion’s Den NO employees even came to support. The only person supporting the Lion’s Den was their paid attorney. Very sad showing for the “big majority” of residents you claim that support porn.
The residents raised $18,000 to pay legal fees plus much more to handle the expenses of the protest. There was also an attempt to set up a fund for supporters of the Lion’s Den but it never transpired.
The only avenues for those who support porn are on forums such as this one. This way they can say anything, not have to back it up, not invest money and remain anonymous. It seems to us that if there was an actual majority of people who opposed the protesters there would be a much better showing than this in the public rather than on forum pages.
The real fact is in every community where porn is an issue, surveys clearly show 85 percent are against the sexually oriented business and only 15 percent support it. The several examples I pointed out support the same percentage would apply to Jackson County.
You point out the Lion’s Den has appealed. You seem to claim that as a victory and confident they will win. Actually the opposite is true. The reason the judge ruled in all counts against the Lion’s Den is the upper courts have already ruled on the same issues. The Indiana Superior Court judge had no choice but to rule against the Lion’s Den because the VERY SAME appeals courts and federal courts that the Lion’s Den can appeal have already ruled and the judge had to rule likewise or be unconstitutional. The Lion’s Den has a slim to none chance according to our constitutional attorney.
Oh, by the way, I am a very happy man. I have a beautiful wife to whom I’ve been married 35 years and two beautiful daughters who are grown and making wonderful contributions in their lives for other people.
On the other hand, during the 5 years we protested we counseled thousands of people who came for porn. Every one of them we counseled was very unhappy, but a huge majority left with a new positive outlook on life without porn. Many of them have come back to tell us they are much happier and now have great sex lives. Many came back to testify they discovered after talking with us porn was destroying their relationships and sex lives. They are much happier now. A portion of the $18,000 we raised was from former porn addicts who came back to thank us. I don’t believe any people who discovered porn after the Lion’s Den arrived here contributed to support the Lion’s Den in any way to show their gratitude. Happy people always show gratitude. Unhappy people never do.
Look on our website http://www.war-line.net on our GOTCHA page and you can see Lion’s Den customers illegal behavior. Any behavior therapist will tell you such illegal behavior is done by people unhappy in their lives. That’s where the real problem is whenever a sex business operates in a residential neighborhood.
Have a happy day.
I have many customers in and around Seymour I deal with on a regular basis. Regardless of what you want to believe most people in the area totally disagreed with the protest. What you fail to understand is most people have a life. Most people aren’t going to waste their time standing in front of the Lion’s Den supporting or protesting the Lion’s Den. As someone above mentioned this is very extreme behavior.
“You point out the Lion’s Den has appealed. You seem to claim that as a victory and confident they will win.” As you have done in many of your postings you assume things. I never made any claims about them winning their appeal. I posted a link to the local newspaper so others could read it.
“Very sad showing for the “big majority” of residents you claim that support porn.” I never claimed they supported porn. They didn’t support how the protest was carried out.
Over the years I have drove past the Lion’s Den hundreds of times. I wouldn’t call having one and at times two protesters there major support. In one article I read you mentioned how there was very little support from local churches. Did you ever ask yourself why? I can tell you my Church nor its member’s would ever get caught up in something like this. War-line website is a good example. It’s as bad as the things you are accusing others of. This isn’t something Church’s would be affiliated with.
Rob are you from Uniontown? Live in Uniontown? Live in Indiana?
Self-righteous and arrogant church folks…… Not all people who look at pornography are bad,……Some are not so lucky like most of you to have stable relationship, marriage life, etc, ….so pornography is a substitution. I’m a long distance trucker and I look at porno. It’s an on and of thing for me. So please stop condemning every body who look at porno, because you happy life wasn’t the way it is, you would be looking at porn too or paying for sex ,etc.
Geronimo, Jesus Christ is the substitution!!
The fact that lingers for me is that of just and fair exposure. If everyone were armed with cameras to photograph moral or religious failure, or “sin”, then I would be safe to assume the protesters owners of the website would also be part of the photo album, complete with a witty description of their shortcomings. Am I right?
I heard about this website from a friend. To say the least, it is infuriating.
For the record, this is a prime example of Christianity at is bleakest and most meaningless and yet another reason why I’m proud to exclude myself and my family from such witch burning.
Shame on you, War-Line. Your passion, time, and resources might be better placed with people and causes that could really benefit from your efforts.
I personally would not want this in my back yard. With that said, I have to say that I really find the protest repulsive. I have read the protest web page.
First, they say that bad things (obscene gestures to the protestors) are being done in plain sight. If this is the case, why did the protestors have to build a tower to peep over the fence to get the pictures. If your neighbors were peeping over your privacy fence at home and photographing your activities, then publishing the photos on the web…I’m sure you would have a problem with that.
Second, reading the web site, there is some rediculously WRONG mathematics being told regarding probabilities of people looking at porn versus committing violent crime. If you read this and the math sounds right to you…I PITY YOU. You need to quit protesting and go back to school, because any 6th grader can tell it is wrong. If you feel reading material is causing violent crime… what was the Uniontown protestor reading who was convicted of child molestation?
Touche!! I thought it real ironic that one of the protesters was convicted of child molestation. There is nothing wrong with adult businesses. They don’t have an effect on a person’s kids. If you think they do you obviously doubt your own parenting skills. My ex-wife became a dancer after we separated. My son knew what is mother did for a living. He just joined the Navy and is still a virgin at 25. I raised him well, yet I still went to the occasional strip club and adult novelty store. I once bought a toy for a girlfriend. I guess I am going to hell. These people who protest really need to get a life, and stop trying to take others rights away. If you want to protest do it with prayer, or do you think that prayer would just be falling on deaf ears.
All I can say is I think GOD prefers Kind Atheists over Hateful Christians