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.
Anybody had a chance to read this article? Interesting read if you have a few minutes.
http://crothersvilletimes.com/?p=511
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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?
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.