NEW AFFAIR LOUNGE Charges dropped against man who painted messages on his building

The building's owner has filed five police reports since October.
YOUNGSTOWN -- A municipal court judge agreed Wednesday that the messages that James Ludt scrawled on his East Midlothian Boulevard building attacking a bar next door that features semi-nude dancers are constitutionally protected free speech.
Magistrate Anthony Sertick dismissed three charges of violating the city's anti-graffiti ordinance. Police issued the citations Oct. 25, 26 and 27.
Ludt's lawyer, Randi A. Barnabee, argued that the ordinance, as applied to Ludt, restricts his constitutional right of free speech. She said the ordinance prohibits defacing public or private property "without privilege to do so."
She said it's clear that Ludt had his own permission to paint messages on his own building. Police reports show the business as 680 Auto Sales.
City Prosecutor Dionne M. Almasy said Thursday that she didn't oppose Barnabee's motion and considered the lawyer's arguments well founded. The prosecutor said the lawyer pointed out that Ludt owns the property where he posts messages and the city's zoning ordinance that governs graffiti is not being applied in a neutral fashion.
The prosecutor used the analogy of someone having a temper tantrum and kicking in his or her own garage door. "Is that criminal damaging? No."
Barnabee, in her motion, said Ludt's property abuts the New Affair Lounge, a bar that operates with semi-nude female dancers. She said the business is not properly licensed as a "burlesque theater" nor has it been granted an exemption to operate within 500 feet of a church, public or private school, library, playground, park or private residence.
Zoning proposal
"The city may not like the fact that [Ludt] has called attention to flagrant and illegal zoning violations that the city has failed to remedy to date," Barnabee wrote. "The city's disapproval of such [attention] does not permit it to wield the heavy hammer of criminal sanctions for the purpose of silencing the defendant."
Barnabee said Thursday that her client provided her with a Vindicator story that ran four months ago about city council and the New Affair.
In August, the newspaper reported that city council sent a controversial proposed zoning amendment to its legislative committee. The new law would cut the distance to 300 feet from the 500 feet now required between adult-oriented businesses and places such as churches, schools, parks and homes.
The change would make legal the activity at the New Affair Lounge. The proposed zoning law, however, could also bring other adult-oriented businesses closer to homes and schools across the city.
The bar has a nightclub permit. But critics of the bar say its scantily clad dancers put it under the city's adult-oriented businesses category.
Councilman Mark S. Memmer, D-7th, said at the August meeting that he didn't support changing the 500-foot zoning law at all, let alone for one business. The bar is in his ward.
Barnabee said she also represents Ludt in a case pending in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. The owner of the New Affair is seeking a temporary restraining order, she said.
Five reports
Ludt, meanwhile, has filed five police reports since early October:
*Oct. 3: Someone shot numerous paint balls at his building and a pickup truck parked in the front lot. The damage was estimated at $200. Ludt told police he believed the vandalism was in retaliation for his ongoing contention that the New Affair violates zoning regulations.
*Oct. 6: A 4-foot concrete barrier was moved, which allowed access to the corner of his property for vehicles.
*Oct. 16: A property barrier, a 28-foot telephone pole, was moved around 3 feet.
*Nov. 4: Someone fired four shots. Bullets hit the entrance door jamb, wood landscaping ties and portable sign. Police collected four .45-caliber casings. Damage was estimated at $100.
*Nov. 18: Letters, 45 of them worth $25, were taken from a billboard sign that had been mounted in the bed of a pickup.