Word: porn
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...encounter parlors, nude dancing clubs, hard-core movie houses and so-called adult bookstores that offer private booths in which patrons can watch 25¢ peep-show movies and engage in anonymous sex with other patrons through holes cut in the walls. Because of the dearth of zoning laws, the porn traffic, instead of being centered in one "combat zone," as in Boston or Washington, turns up everywhere, even near churches, schools and nurseries. "I think Houston is getting a reputation for being soft on this kind of thing," says City Councilman Frank Mancuso, whose district is littered with user-friendly...
Public pressure has prompted Houston police to develop one of the nation's largest antiporn squads, with eleven officers, and has given Houston courts the dubious honor of apparently leading the U.S. in the number of porn cases tried (200) and the percentage of defendants convicted (91%). Sergeant William Brown, head of the city's vice squad, calls the antiporn crusade his city's "No. 1 priority." Says Brown: "Twenty years ago, all we saw was black-and-white movies. Now we're seeing live sex onstage. What's next? Sex with children...
...businesses under a 1983 city ordinance, but establishments that were in operation before the law was enacted escaped regulation, while others simply ignore it. Although civic protests, police actions and a more recent ordinance governing the operation of the sex arcades have produced some small victories over the porn merchants, police say that only a few arcades have closed. Mayor Kathy Whitmire, who promoted the antiarcade ordinance, is seeking re-election on Nov. 5, and her opponent, former Houston Mayor Louie Welch, has made the proliferating sex industry a major election issue. Said one attorney who is defending several antiarcade...
Despite the increasingly vocal public concern, laissez-faire Houston does not appear to be at all ready to enact the sort of comprehensive zoning laws that have helped contain the porn industry in some other cities. After closing down one particularly offensive club, Civic Activist Frank Phelps, 65, said that even though many sex-prone businesses remained in his area, residents could "live with what we've got." The remaining joints, said Phelps, "don't have the hideous signs up, and they don't advertise, and they are down near the freeway, away from the residential area." Translation...
Some critics object to the content of the messages, especially the dial-a-porn calls, but others protest that advertisements for the call-in services do not make it clear enough that there is a special charge for the calls. The California Utilities Commission agrees. It has ordered a one-time rebate to consumers who phone the numbers without realizing there is an extra charge. INVESTIGATIONS Closing Down Sneak Previews...