OXNARD : Anti-Porn Members Join Citizens Panel

The Oxnard City Council appointed three members of an anti-pornography group to a citizens committee Tuesday to recommend changes in ordinances dealing with adult businesses.

Saying they wanted to take advantage of the expertise offered by the activists, the council appointed Bill Lindberg, the regional director of California Care Coalition in Santa Barbara, and members Darcy Taylor of Oxnard and Keala Namahoe of Ventura.

Eleanor Brainthoover, Linda Vahl and Ralph Vester, all of Oxnard, were also appointed to the committee. Richard Maggio, the city’s director of community development, Councilwoman Dorothy Maron and Oxnard Police Senior Officer Cliff Troy also serve on the nine-member committee.

“With your help and that of other leaders, we can rid our city of pornography,” said Taylor, pastor of Oxnard’s South Coast Fellowship.

Formation of the committee followed a controversy that erupted in October when Oxnard News and Video, an adult bookstore, received a permit to open on Vineyard Avenue in north Oxnard.

Some residents, joined by members of the coalition, protested the opening of the bookstore, saying that it was too close to residential neighborhoods.

The protest prompted the council to pass an ordinance that bans adult bookstores and movie theaters in “gateway areas” of Oxnard. But the ordinance was not enacted in time to prevent the opening of Oxnard News and Video.

The council overrode Maggio’s recommendation to include representatives from the Oxnard Chamber of Commerce and adult businesses on the committee. Mayor Nao Takasugi also recommended putting a representative from the Chamber of Commerce on the committee.

“(An adult bookstore) is such a repugnant thing to begin with, I don’t see why we need their opinion in the first place,” Councilman Michael Plisky said.

The committee is charged with identifying harmful effects of adult businesses and advising the city how it can restrict them.