Gene Gruender is going to war. The owner of two Missouri adult stores and 35 billboards, Gruender and his attorney, Richard Bryant, expect to be in court within the next two weeks to seek an injunction against Missouri State Bill 870, which prohibits locating “sexually-oriented billboards” within one mile of a state highway.
“The legislators themselves know this bill is unconstitutional,” Greunder told AVN.com, “but this is an election year, and no one wanted to be seen voting against it.”
While the bill specifically prohibits “sexually-oriented” billboards, Gruender contends that the bill’s sponsor, Republican State Senator Matt Bartle, is clearly after the stores behind the signs.
“It doesn’t really matter what’s on the signs themselves,” claimed Gruender. “My signs are pretty conservative. I even offered to help get some of the less conservative signs toned down, but [the bill’s sponsors] weren’t interested.”
The “state highway” element is the hook the bill hangs on — but it’s pretty difficult to get anywhere in Missouri, said Gruender, without getting within a mile of a state highway. In essence, he explained, the bill bans all potentially productive outdoor advertising.
The law, which went into effect on August 28, 2003, and was amended effective August 28, 2004, contains a “grandfather clause” stating that any signs posted prior to the law’s implementation had three years in which to comply. In keeping with the law of unintended consequences, many adult-store owners purchased new billboards just before the deadline (Gruender added “six or eight”), leading to a proliferation of the proscribed signs.
The law originated in 2003 as Senate Bill 615. As written, it concluded: “Business owners who violate this act are guilty of a Class C misdemeanor. “ However, as amended in 2004 and renamed Senate Bill 870, the sentence now reads: “Business owners who violate this act are guilty of a Class C misdemeanor and each violation shall constitute a separate offense.
Senator Bartle has sponsored many other bills, including a ban on the use of public funds or facilities in human cloning (SB 765) and compulsory submission to DNA profiling (SB 1000). He has also co-sponsored a proposed state constitution amendment, SJR 029, to the effect that only marriages between a man and a woman will be valid in Missouri.
