NEW CASTLE, PA. Judge rules against Adultland business

The township police chief initially denied the permits after visiting the business.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Adultland XXX and its employees won't be getting licenses to operate a sexually oriented business in Pulaski Township anytime soon.
A Lawrence County judge denied their bid to force township supervisors to hand over licenses for the business, located on U.S. Route 422 near the Ohio state line.
Owner Eric Boron of Salem, Ohio, could not be reached to comment.
It was unclear Tuesday what move township officials will make next. Atty. Bernard Matthews said he had not consulted with supervisors about the judge's decision yet.
Boron and two employees were denied permits by Police Chief James Morris Jr. in February 2001 under a township ordinance regulating sexually oriented businesses.
Morris said that during an inspection of the business he found a woman working who had not applied for an employee permit as required by ordinance. Boron later said she was only trying out for a job and was not an employee.
Hours of operation: Morris also said that Boron refused to comply with the hours of operation outlined in the ordinance -- 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
Adultland XXX is open from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. Monday through Saturday, and Boron has said he eventually wants it open 24 hours a day.
Boron appealed the police chief's decision to township supervisors, who also denied the adult business permits.
The matter eventually went to common pleas court, where Judge Dominick Motto handed down a decision Tuesday. The judge agreed that Boron wasn't complying with the township's regulation on hours of operation and called Boron's claim that the woman working at the business was not an employee a "weak attempt to put the truth in masquerade."
Boron had also claimed that the township ordinance was unconstitutional.
Motto noted in his decision that Lawrence County Common Pleas Court Judge Ralph D. Pratt already ruled the ordinance constitutional in another matter involving the bookstore last summer.