An adult sexually oriented business in Uniontown closed its doors last Tuesday in response to a Jackson Superior Court I ruling on Friday.
But signs taped to its front doors could be an indication the store’s owners plan to appeal that ruling. A sign on the door of the business at 11769 E. Ind. 250 stated the business was “closed temporarily by court order.”
On July 30, Special Judge Stephen Heimann submitted his ruling on a request for a summary judgment against The Lion’s Den filed by county attorney Susan Bevers.
That request was filed in February and is based upon a lawsuit commissioners filed against The Lion’s Den shortly after the business opened Aug. 19, 2005. That lawsuit sought a permanent injunction against the business because the company had failed to obtain a permit to operate a sexually oriented business, in violation of the ordinance.
Commissioners sued the owners of The Lion’s Den in an attempt to stop the business from opening, claiming it violated a county ordinance enacted three days before the store opened.
Heimann’s ruling stated the ordinance the county enacted was a licensing ordinance, not a zoning ordinance; that The Lion’s Den should not have been grandfathered into the ordinance; the ordinance was constitutional because it did not ban sexually oriented businesses countywide; and that a counterclaim by the owners of The Lion’s Den against the county’s request for a summary judgment was not justified.
Protesters, who have been at the business from the day it opened in 2005, have indicated they planned to stay the course and not leave until they saw inventory being taken from the store.
In answer to questions about the possibility of the store reopening, Bevers said if the owners of The Lion’s Den reopen the store, the county cannot send the sheriff down to close it.
“We have to go back to court,” Bevers said.
Owners of The Lion’s Den have 30 days from the date of Heimann’s ruling to appeal it.
