Two Wisconsin adult stores have lost before judges high and local. The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected an appeal on the operating hours of a Hallie adult novelty store, while a circuit judge in Elkhorn says an adult toy store here violates zoning law, overturning a local ruling that said the store ran legally.
Last July, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Hallie's law, limiting the operating hours of an adult business, was within the town board's rights. That board passed the law in 1998, keeping adult stores to business hours of between 8 a.m. and 2 a.m. Monday through Friday, as well as 8 a.m. to 3 a.m. Saturdays and noon to 3 a.m. Sundays.
The store owners sued, claiming the law broke free speech rights. Their store had been open 24 hours a day. And one of the owners, Mal Prinzing, said the store would stay open 24 hours a day, selling cigarettes.
Hallie's town attorney said he wasn't surprised the nation's highest court turned down the appeal, in light of a ruling earlier this year. The 7th Circuit Court said the law was a reasonable bid to control secondary effects of adult businesses.
In the Town of Delavan, meanwhile, a judge overturned a county zoning board ruling that an adult toy store operated within the law. The town board called the judge's ruling a big win, since it protested the opening of Exotica V.
Circuit Judge Robert Kennedy sent the question back to the zoning board, asking it to move more consistently "with this court's decision."
"Exotica V is not a gift store under any reasonable interpretation," Kennedy wrote in his April 19 ruling. "It is a store that caters to adult customers for the purpose of personal sex gratification."
"We are overjoyed at the judge's decision," said town board leader Maureen Fahey. "I personally never doubted the outcome because it was the right thing to do." Town attorneys had argued Exotica V wasn't a gift store, such as allowed in the business zoning where it now stands.
