HUNTINGTON BEACH : Curb on News Racks May Be Widened

A year-old city ordinance that restricts sidewalk displays of publications deemed obscene may soon be extended to include racks inside stores.

An amended ordinance that the City Council introduced this week would require all “harmful matter” sold in convenience stores and other shops to be placed inside racks that block from view at least the lower two-thirds of the material.

Unlike last year’s ordinance, which touched off a feud between anti-pornography crusaders and free-speech activists, the proposed new law has slid into the legislative process virtually unnoticed, city officials said.

No one spoke for or against the proposal at last Monday’s council meeting as the ordinance was introduced. And Margaret Kleckner, the city code enforcement officer who a year ago fielded a flurry of calls from residents on opposing sides of the issue, said she has received no comments this time around.

The proposed ordinance would prohibit store owners from openly displaying magazines or newspapers considered “harmful” under state guidelines. Many distributors of the targeted publications have already sent out blinder racks to stores carrying their material, Deputy City Atty. Sarah Lazarus said.

“This (proposal) is in line with state law as a way of covering up allegedly offensive material so it is out of view from children . . . but it doesn’t require stores to keep it completely out of sight,” Lazarus explained.

The proposed ordinance, which council members will consider for adoption July 16, would also allow city code-enforcement officials to enter private businesses to make sure that the law is being followed.

Violators could be fined up to $1,000 and sentenced to as much as six months in jail, according to the draft ordinance. Store owners could be charged with a separate offense for each day they failed to comply with the rule.

The “harmful matter” statute that the city enacted in July, 1989, mandated blinder racks for all sidewalk displays.

It also limited to eight the number of newspaper racks that could be located within a 200-yard stretch of a public right of way, and established guidelines to determine which publications would have priority for street-side display. Those guidelines effectively prohibited many of the targeted publications from being sold on the street, Lazarus said.