A local man who photographs adult bookstore customers to post on anti-porn Website has caused trouble for a pair of area firefighters, one of whom quit under pressure while the other was suspended after an encounter with the man.
John Reneer – who was sprayed with a garden hose by a store worker a few months back over his photography – had a Dec. 3 incident with firefighter recruit Justin Jones, who went to the store for a part-time job. ABC affiliate The Louisville Channel said Reneer accused Jones and another of blasting sirens at him after he took their pictures, but Jones denied the accusation.
Reneer told the channel Jones made an obscene gesture, which Jones admitted on the air, but Reneer also said he'd have listened to Jones "if (he would) reason with me." The unnamed volunteer firefighter who accompanied Jones – who was wearing a fire department T-shirt when he applied for the part-time bookstore job – was said to be suspended.
Reneer refuses to stop his photography of the adult bookstore customers. "If they have the legal right to go in there, that's granted to them by the Constitution and the statutes, the same Constitution gives me the right to take photos if I want to take photos," he told the Louisville Channel.
On the other hand, Reneer doesn't exactly have a lot of sympathy from local law enforcement: He is himself a convicted rapist and sex offender, which irked Jones even more. "The guy should not be out of jail to begin with," Jones told the station. Reneer is on probation for armed robbery, sodomy, and murder, and has said publicly that while he can't change what he had done, he could make a difference now.
The Louisville Channel also ran a poll on whether or not Reneer or anyone should be allowed to just take photographs of adult store customers. As of the end of the day Dec. 11, the poll results showed 78 percent of 1,053 votes saying "no."
Buying adult material is not illegal in Louisville but the channel said in November Reneer is trying to shame those who buy it. He has also accused the store's owners of trying to bribe and threaten him, in addition to the hosing incident. The store has denied those accusations.
