AUSTINTOWN Trustees investigate anti-home rule flier

Babylon representatives have opposed a resolution regulating strip clubs.
AUSINTOWN -- Trustees here say a flier urging residents to vote against home rule was paid for by opponents of the township's strip club resolution.
The flier notes that home rule, a limited form of self-government, has been voted down in the township three times in the past. It makes its fourth appearance on the ballot today.
"In baseball, 3 strikes and you're out!!!" The flier exclaims. "What don't these trustees understand?"
In the Town Crier
A township press release says the group that paid for the flier is not listed on the flier. The release states that the flier was sent to Austintown residents in a recent copy of the Town Crier newspaper.
"With the cooperation of the Town Crier, it was discovered that the owners and/or operators of The Babylon strip club financed the delivery," the release states.
The Babylon is a strip club on Javit Court. Club representatives helped collect signatures on petitions to put a strip club resolution on the November 2003 ballot.
"It did not make sense to the trustees why strip club money would be used to try to defeat home rule," the release adds.
Scott Cochran, Babylon attorney, said he did not know who paid for the fliers. "I didn't know the flier was coming out until I saw it in the paper," he said.
Not misleading
The attorney added that he disputes claims that The Babylon is trying to mislead the public.
"Even if my client was opposed to home rule, that doesn't mean it has anything to do with adult cabarets," Cochran said. "So I don't know why they [trustees] are trying to connect the two."