Santa Ana Is Urged to Continue Its Theater Fight

A group of Santa Ana residents Monday implored the City Council to continue its 10-year battle to close the Mitchell Bros. Adult Theatre, but City Atty. Edward J. Cooper said court rulings indicate the theater cannot be closed.

“I do not see a time in the foreseeable future when we will be able to close the Mitchell Bros. Theatre,” Cooper said.

Because the courts have ruled that closing adult theaters is a prior restraint and violates the U.S. Constitution, Cooper said, the only thing the city can do is to get individual films ruled obscene and banned from further screenings.

“And they turn out films faster than we can abate them,” Cooper said.

Despite Cooper’s analysis, the residents, who submitted a petition with 600 signatures, continued to argue for prosecution. Superior Court judges recently ordered the city to pay attorney’s fees in two lawsuits that theater attorney Tom Steele claimed could add up to more than $1 million.

“Please hang in there,” said theater opponent Nancy Rankin. “We’re also talking about human rights--the rights of women and children to be protected from pornography.”

Believes City Could Win

Rankin said she believes that the city could win an appeal on the attorney’s fees rulings. Cooper, however, was less optimistic.

“In my opinion,” he said, “we do have exposure for attorney’s fees.”

City Council members said Monday that Cooper may attempt to work out a deal with theater attorneys soon.

In February, Cooper and former City Manager Robert C. Bobb worked out a tentative agreement under which the city would drop all lawsuits in exchange for Mitchell Bros. dropping all demands for attorney’s fees. However, the city council rejected that deal and instead authorized attorney James Clancy--hired by the city especially to handle the Mitchell Bros. litigation--to step up his prosecution and file weekly lawsuits.

“I think we all agree that if we could find a way to rid ourselves of the Mitchell Bros. blight, we’d take it,” said Councilman Wilson B. Hart.

Councilman John Acosta, who has been the most vocal advocate for the lawsuits, said he believes that the city is closing in on victory in the effort.

However, Cooper said the current batch of 14 lawsuits could drag on until 1996, judging from the timetable of the initial suit, which was filed in 1976 but not completed until early this month. The theater’s lease runs out in 1991, and theater owners say they hold little hope for renewal.

In the past month, Orange County judges have ruled that the city must pay attorney’s fees in two of the lawsuits against Mitchell Bros. Although the judges have yet to decide how much those bills will be, Steele has said they could total more than $1 million.