Word: tanners
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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FLORIDA law allows a majority of voters in each county to define obscenity. When 300 citizens of Volusia County signed a petition supporting Tanner's endeavors to prosecute video store owners who rent out pornographic materials, he declared that he had this majority...
Conveniently, Tanner threw away letters written by the opposing sectors of the community and contested a petition drawn by the Friends of the First Amendment (FOFA), a group that formed to fight Tanner's attempts at censorship. The petition offered by FOFA boasted 10,000 signatures...
Finding himself between a rock and a hard place, Tanner has tried to clear himself with everything from plea bargaining with the store owners to using public funds to distribute anti-porn literature from left-wing Christian groups. When I left Daytona in September, it was apparent that Tanner had realized that he was quickly losing ground...
...tragedy of this episode is that eliminating pornography is a noble cause; most people would agree that it is not a valued art. But by going about his campaign in such a negative way that attacks the very heart of the Constitution, Tanner has only succeeded in alienating voters and dividing the citizens of a once united community. Furthermore, Tanner's tactics take attention away from the real issue and focus it instead on the question of First Amendment rights...
...TANNER'S battle against pornography is not the only example of censorship gone awry. Some judges and law enforcers in Florida are also seeking to ban the music of the controversial group 2 Live Crew from music stores. Again, Florida's obscenity laws are cited, and the same threats of prosecution are made. The bittersweet irony is that 2 Live Crew's album, "As Nasty As They Wanna Be," is enjoying record-breaking sales...