Adult Store

An adult movie and accessory store in Halethorpe that has been the target of neighbor complaints and Baltimore County penalties for years was ordered by a judge on Monday to stop showing videos and to dismantle viewing booths. Circuit Judge Dana M. Levitz's preliminary injunction ordered the Lovecraft store on Southwestern Boulevard to stop showing videos as of 5 p.m. Monday; it will soon have to remove the video booths. "It's about time," said Mike McAuliffe, president of the Halethorpe Improvement Association, which has been complaining about the store since it opened in 1999.

An adult movie and accessory store in Halethorpe that has been the target of neighbor complaints and Baltimore County penalties for years was ordered by a judge on Monday to stop showing videos and to dismantle viewing booths. Circuit Judge Dana M. Levitz's preliminary injunction ordered the Lovecraft store on Southwestern Boulevard to stop showing videos as of 5 p.m. Monday; it will soon have to remove the video booths. "It's about time," said Mike McAuliffe, president of the Halethorpe Improvement Association, which has been complaining about the store since it opened in 1999.

Another purveyor of adult magazines, videos, lingerie and sexual aids has bested Howard County zoning authorities, rendering a law meant to push the stores away from prominent locations near residential neighborhoods virtually meaningless. A zoning violation case against the Lovecraft adult store in the median of U.S. 1 in North Laurel fell apart last week when two county inspectors found the place stuffed with enough nonsexual material to evade the legal definition of an "adult" store.

The Archdiocese of Baltimore has launched its own investigation into a Towson priest arrested this month on charges of indecent exposure at an adult store. Mark Stewart Bullock, 47, is scheduled for a March 6 court appearance in District Court in Harford County on misdemeanor charges that carry a maximum fine of $1,000 and three years in prison. Church officials have removed "all his faculties to function as a priest," said Sean Caine, archdiocese spokesman. "The archdiocese is doing its own investigation and will be speaking to anyone who might help us understand what is happening in his life," Caine said.

An Anne Arundel Circuit judge has postponed a hearing scheduled for today to decide the fate of a Severna Park adult book and video store and ordered that the store remain closed another 10 days.Judge Eugene M. Lerner yesterday rescheduled the hearing for 9 a.m. April 25 to consider the county's request to close Ritchie News and Video.Judge Lerner had ordered the store closed for 10 days on April 5 based on a request from county attorneys, who said it violated zoning codes. Judge Lerner had set a hearing for today to hear from both sides before deciding the permanent fate of the store in the Ritchie Robinson Plaza in the 400 block of Ritchie Highway.

The large signs adorning the Love Craft adult video store in the median of U.S. 1 in North Laurel make its contents very clear. One says "Adult Store" in big letters, while others warn people younger than age 18 to stay out. Still others advertise videos, lingerie and private viewing booths inside. The sales clerk is a mild-mannered man who said his name is Paul but declined to give his last name or comment on who owns the place during a recent visit by a reporter. The business is one of 18 similar stores in the Baltimore metropolitan area advertised as a group in a free magazine available at the stores.

The legal wrangling over Adult Video & Books on U.S. 1 in Elkridge continued yesterday in court, and the fate of the business remains up in the air.A Howard County circuit judge denied the business' request yesterday to block a county effort to shut down the operation. The judge made his decision after a county attorney assured him that his office would not enforce an injunctive order until the court rules on Adult Video's pending appeal.Deputy County Solicitor Paul Johnson told Circuit Judge James B. Dudley that the county reserves the right to file a motion for an injunction but would not enforce an injunction until after the court reviews an Aug. 27 Board of Appeals decision ordering the business to close.

Maryland's high court dealt a setback yesterday to Howard County's attempts to regulate an Ellicott City adult video and bookstore, ruling that county officials could not appeal a decision by a local judge that, ultimately, allowed the store to stay in business. In its 18-page decision released yesterday, the state Court of Appeals said that only the accused in a civil contempt case - in this case, the adult store Pack Shack - can appeal an unfavorable ruling under the law. County officials had sought to overturn a July 2000 decision by Howard Circuit Judge James B. Dudley who found the store not guilty of violating his order to stop operating as an adult store after the business offered testimony that it had added substantially to its "nonadult" stock.

A Carroll circuit judge let stand yesterday his decision ordering the county to pay nearly $20,000 in legal costs for an adult-themed store that successfully fought county attempts to shut down the business. In his written ruling, Judge Raymond E. Beck Sr. rejected the county's arguments that the law does not allow the Circuit Court to consider and grant Love Craft's request for attorneys' fees. Beck cited cases in which the courts have awarded legal costs under a federal civil rights law - which gives the courts discretion to grant the prevailing party reasonable attorneys' fees.

Maryland's intermediate appellate court has voided a Howard County judge's decision favoring an Ellicott City store accused of violating the county's adult-business code. In its opinion, released yesterday, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals stopped short of saying whether Pack Shack, which has been embroiled in a protracted legal battle with the county, had violated the order. Instead, the judges said Howard County Circuit Judge James B. Dudley should not have required the county to prove beyond a reasonable doubt - a standard common to criminal proceedings - that Pack Shack, which argued that it was no longer an "adult" business because it had added "nonadult" items to its inventory, was violating the order.

Another purveyor of adult magazines, videos, lingerie and sexual aids has bested Howard County zoning authorities, rendering a law meant to push the stores away from prominent locations near residential neighborhoods virtually meaningless. A zoning violation case against the Lovecraft adult store in the median of U.S. 1 in North Laurel fell apart last week when two county inspectors found the place stuffed with enough nonsexual material to evade the legal definition of an "adult" store.

The Love Craft adult video store in North Laurel violates zoning laws and must close or move, Howard County officials say, though they expect a prolonged legal battle over the issue. The county recently lost a decade-long legal struggle to displace a similar store - the Pack Shack - on U.S. 40 in Ellicott City. But zoning inspectors had never visited Love Craft or tried to force the store's owners to comply with provisions of a law restricting the location and regulating operation of adult stores.

Howard County's 11-year zoning battle with the Pack Shack adult store is over, and even county officials concede that the store won. The owners of the store, which peddles books, videos, sex toys and lingerie in Ellicott City, have fought off a series of attempts to force it to move or close. Outside the run-down building, located on U.S. 40 around the corner from the county government complex, the big free-standing sign announcing "ADULT VIDEO" is visible to the thousands of motorists who daily pass through the county seat.

The large signs adorning the Love Craft adult video store in the median of U.S. 1 in North Laurel make its contents very clear. One says "Adult Store" in big letters, while others warn people younger than age 18 to stay out. Still others advertise videos, lingerie and private viewing booths inside. The sales clerk is a mild-mannered man who said his name is Paul but declined to give his last name or comment on who owns the place during a recent visit by a reporter. The business is one of 18 similar stores in the Baltimore metropolitan area advertised as a group in a free magazine available at the stores.

The Pack Shack adult video store in Ellicott City has lost another legal round to Howard County government, but don't look for the long-embattled business to close or move soon. The county's battle to use zoning laws to force the store out of its location on U.S. 40 across from the Normandy Shopping Center started nearly a decade ago, and the store's attorney said he plans to appeal the latest ruling, a hearing examiner's opinion declaring that the store is violating current law. "Of course," was attorney Howard J. Schulman's reply to a question about whether he would appeal.

A Howard County Circuit Court judge has ordered the county to pay the Pack Shack, an Ellicott City adult book and video store, $187,690 in court costs after the county lost a legal battle in trying to make the business relocate. Judge James B. Dudley's ruling - which was filed Friday and mailed to lawyers Tuesday - awarded the business, on U.S. 40 near Normandy Woods Way, somewhat less than the $224,837 it had sought. "It clearly vindicates my client's First Amendment rights," lawyer Howard J. Schulman, who represents the store, said yesterday when he learned of the ruling.

Recently, private investigator John E. Burns went on a hunt for pornography and other adult material in Howard County. He found it everywhere: Playboy magazines at convenience stores in Columbia and Ellicott City, sex toys in The Mall in Columbia, adult films at numerous video stores around the county. Burns' report is now an exhibit of evidence in the Pack Shack vs. Howard County case, which will decide whether the adult book and video store can stay open -- and which might have broader implications for county efforts to regulate such businesses.

The Archdiocese of Baltimore has launched its own investigation into a Towson priest arrested this month on charges of indecent exposure at an adult store. Mark Stewart Bullock, 47, is scheduled for a March 6 court appearance in District Court in Harford County on misdemeanor charges that carry a maximum fine of $1,000 and three years in prison. Church officials have removed "all his faculties to function as a priest," said Sean Caine, archdiocese spokesman. "The archdiocese is doing its own investigation and will be speaking to anyone who might help us understand what is happening in his life," Caine said.

Maryland's highest court has thrown out Carroll County's latest appeal to restrict adult-themed businesses, saying in a written opinion that even though there were procedural errors from all parties in the convoluted history of the two-year-old case, ultimately county attorneys failed to file the required paperwork in a timely manner. Because of what a county attorney called "a procedural lapse," the county lost a chance to appeal a 2003 Circuit Court decision in favor of the Love Craft store outside Hampstead.