A bachelorette party which became "a little risqué" became a local controversy when photos taken at the party were confiscated in negatives, with a ShopKo store refusing to return the film to the woman who dropped it off for development.
Officials at the Missoula store say the negatives will be destroyed eventually because they show "objectionable, sexually explicit" scenes. Store officials say they won't give them back because they show objectionable, sexually explicit scenes.
The Associated Press says a clerk at a photo process center can notify a store manager if he notices offensive negatives, and the store decides whether the negatives should be printed or returned. The policy is not printed at ShopKo processing centers, a store official admitted.
The woman who dropped the film off for development is Jill Steilman, who is a secretary at the State Bar of Montana - which represents some 2,000 practicing attorneys. She says risqué is one thing but there was nothing sexually explicit on the film.
An attorney for the state bar, Betsy Brandbourg, told news organizations here, "This could be very funny if it didn't have some chilling overlays." She says ShopKo doesn't appear to have any lawful right to hold Steilman's property. A county official here says she also doesn't know where the store claims such legal authority.
Steilman dropped the film off 17 June after it was taken from the bride-to-be's camera, says the AP. She says ShopKo has no right to keep the film - but the store says oh, yes it does.
A store official apparently wrote Steilman later in June that the negatives were found to be sexually explicit and would not be returned. They will be sealed, stored for four years, and then destroyed.
