RESIDENTS' GROUP TARGETS ADULT STORES, HEAD SHOPS

ANDERSON, Mo. - A grass-roots campaign aims to banish adult book and video
stores, strip clubs and head shops from McDonald County.

"We don't need this in our county," said Kim Day, a minister's wife from
Noel. "We have a problem here with teen pregnancy, sexual abuse and drug
abuse. This is only going to make it worse."

Day said she believes products sold at the stores degrade women and marital
relationships.

Day met earlier this month with the county's three commissioners,
encouraging them to take action against businesses that profit from sex and
illegal drugs.

Her appearance came as a head shop - a store that sells drug paraphernalia
- - opened south of Jane, and as Mid-Nite Video, an adult book and video
store, prepared to open on U.S. Highway 71 between Anderson and Pineville.

The head shop has been closed in the wake of a raid by McDonald County deputies

"There is not much we can do as a 3rd Class county," said John Hobbs,
Western District commissioner. "We don't have planning and zoning. That can
only come if a majority of people vote for it."

The commissioners told Day she needed to get support from the community
before they would put a planning and zoning measure on the ballot.

So, Day and a handful of supporters are organizing an effort to persuade
the commissioners to ask voters whether they want to limit or eliminate
adult book and video stores, strip clubs and head shops.

She and about a half-dozen others have been writing letters to churches and
religious groups, and are planning to speak to civic and professional
groups in an effort to rally support.

"We need to do something now; otherwise McDonald County is going to become
a very seedy place where people come to peddle their seedy wares," said
Nancy Burkes, McDonald County Crosslines director who has become involved
in the campaign.

Mid-Nite Video manager Earl Freeman said he sees no reason for concern over
the future of the store. He said customers spent $1,000 the first day it
was open.

"We're a legitimate business, and we're not worried about this at all,"
Freeman said. "We went to court up in Jasper County and we won. We proved
we're just like any other business."

The store is one of three owned by Roger Begnoche, a Joplin businessman.
The others are in Kansas City and Joplin.

In July 2000, a Jasper County jury deliberated 90 minutes before ruling
that movies bought at Mid-Nite Video by Jasper County deputies were not
obscene.

Jasper County Prosecutor Dean Dankelson said he filed the civil action
after receiving about 30 letters from residents who had complaints about
the store.

"You can always find people who are against something," Freeman said. "I
can find as many people against the church as they can find who are against
the store."