Playboy Fans at Remote Station Downplay Ruling

It is by far the loneliest outpost in all of Los Angeles County--a single trailer squatting on a dusty, High Desert plain that more resembles the surface of Mars than planet Earth.

Indeed, county Fire Station 114 in Lake Los Angeles--outside even far-flung Palmdale--is an unlikely source of a 1st Amendment issue that has created a blaze of controversy: Can firefighters read adult magazines or any publication showing too much flesh?

This week, a federal judge struck down a county order forbidding its firefighters to read or possess Playboy magazine, ruling that the measure against sexual harassment violated free speech.

And it is here, where tumbleweeds and Joshua trees outnumber humans about a billion to one, where the battle started.

Fire Station 114 is not a conventional fire station. There are no slippery metal poles that firefighters slide down before rushing to a fleet of waiting firetrucks.

It is a trailer in the far northeastern corner of the Antelope Valley staffed by rotating crews of three male firefighters. The fire crew is responsible for a 400-square-mile desert area where the hottest thing is usually the asphalt on a summer day.

Duty here is perhaps best symbolized by the station’s gear: one truck and one helper vehicle.

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So when Fire Department Capt. Steven W. Johnson decided to contest newly released Fire Department policies on adult magazines, it was like waifs in Siberia challenging doctrines issued directly from the Kremlin.

“We always joke that this fire station is the kind of place the department would send somebody for disciplinary reasons,” Johnson said Friday. “So when I decided to challenge the department, I knew they really couldn’t do anything to hurt me. Heck, I was already working at Lake Los Angeles.”

That was two years ago.

“I saw the policy and said to myself, ‘This is a good thing. They have a policy that will help me as a supervisor,’ ” he said. “Then I got to item 3C, the part about banning the magazines and I said, ‘I’m just not gonna stand for this. I’m gonna challenge it.’ ”

So Johnson, a Corona del Mar resident and Playboy subscriber who brought his copies to the station, decided to fight. He called the magazine’s Western offices. Then he filed an interdepartmental grievance to settle the issue.

When that didn’t work, the matter went to court. County attorneys defended the policy, saying the measure was needed to prevent a sexually charged environment at county firehouses.

At one point during the trial, one county official said the ban would apply to certain issues of mainstream magazines, such as Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone and Sports Illustrated, that contained pictures of partially nude women.

The fellows at Station 114 couldn’t believe it.

“The department already had a policy dating back to 1987 taking care of sexual harassment, for thrusting a centerfold into somebody’s face,” Johnson said. “But when they included the idea that the magazines caused a hostile workplace, I thought they went too far. And the judge agreed with me.”

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On Friday, firefighters at Station 114 were nonchalant about the ruling.

“Yeah, we’re gonna break out the Kool-Aid and cookies and have ourselves a celebration any moment now,” said Adrian Asencio, 49, who has worked at Lake Los Angeles for two years,

Although Station 114 may be a bit rural, the firefighters say they don’t exactly have all day to sit around reading Playboy. The air-conditioned trailer, which includes three bedrooms, a living room with three beat-up recliners and a 30-inch color television, is no fraternity house, they say.

“You know, we probably have more horse magazines around here” than adult magazines, said Capt. Bob Hancock, pointing to a bed stand with three issues of Horse Illustrated, Western Horseman and Horse and Rider magazines.

Still, before the ruling, firefighters at Lake Los Angeles--and many of the Fire Department’s 130 other stations--bought Playboy magazine for the station house with a fund used to buy food, coffee and other essentials.

Most times, the magazines were not left out in stacks. There was too much public traffic at Station 114 for that. They were kept in lockers, hidden away.

“You didn’t have guys sitting her gawking like fools,” Asencio said. “Myself, I like the magazine. I think the articles are great. It’s one of the Cadillacs of magazines for the quality of its stories.”

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Tension over the magazines did not erupt over complaints from any of the 11 female firefighters in the 2,500-member department.

Firefighters say there had been some complaints from a group known as Firefighters for Christ, whose members have spoken out against pornography.

“There are a few individuals who don’t like Playboy,” Johnson said. “And they have decided that the best way to get rid of the magazine are these sexual harassment rules.”

Since the ruling, Johnson has hit the talk show circuit, telling his story on radio stations as far away as St. Louis and Perth, Australia.

“This isn’t just a win for Steve Johnson. It’s a win for the Fire Department and truly for the 1st Amendment,” he said. “Those who don’t like Playboy don’t have to look at it--simple as that.”

At Station 114, firefighters plan to pick up the latest issue of Playboy, which features a spread on female firefighters.

“Ten years ago, the magazine featured a gal posing on a firetruck and it was a hot item,” Asencio said. “I’m sure this one will be even better.”