Pro-Censorship NIMBY Screed No Answer for Strip Clubs

If you dislike strip clubs, stay out. If you do not want businesses near your home do not buy homes near commercial areas.

(SALEM, Ore.) - I just finished reading the self-serving pro-censorship NIMBY screed of Julia Allison, chief petitioner for Measure 54 that she is trying to use to attack free speech and expression in the Oregon Constitution.

We have heard all the sophistry from her kind before. In fact there was, not too many years back, a similar attempt to promote censorship and paint Oregon's 'strongest free speech and expression rights in the nation' standing as a Bad Thing.

I do not consider it to be a bad thing. I consider it to be a good thing, and one of the things that makes this state the best to live in.

Ms Allison's panties are all in a bunch because when Pressley's opened on Commercial SE she and her merry little band of NIMBYs could not stop it. She seems abused of the opinion that South Commercial is part of her 'neighborhood' and that nothing she would not love being right next door to her prissy little home should be allowed there.

If she did not want commercial businesses near her home she might have considered buying a home not right near South Commercial. How is that for a grand exercise by Captain Obvious? But this logic unfortunately just flies through the vacuum between her ears apparently.

Also she and her merry little band of censors are not really big, it would seem, in the honesty department. My what amazing role models they are for their kids they love to exploit, huh? Rape the Oregon Constitution in the name of our kids that we present horrible role models to. Great plan, Ms Allison.

She claims, directly and indirectly, that clubs such as Pressley's are a 'danger' to neighborhood kids, but not surprisingly cannot seem to present any evidence that supports that clubs such as Pressley's are any more of a 'blight' or 'hazard to the neighborhood' than any other average bar. Also, she keeps ignoring that the business in the spot Pressley's now occupies also served alcohol.

Yet not surprisingly we never heard a peep out of Ms "Protect the Kids" Allison until it was an adult business.

That 'censoring for content' aspect is why the neighbors ran afoul, as they should have, of the Oregon Constitution. They were not opposing the business for any harm it had caused. They were opposing it solely based on the content, as perceived by the censors. As far as I know there has been no harm to the neighborhood from Pressley's. I am positive that if there had been, we would have seen Ms Allison riding through town naked to proclaim and shriek about it. (Well maybe not naked, but the rest).

I am not a regular patron of strip clubs. I have been to a couple, sure. And by some amazing stroke of fate I, alone, was not turned into a raving sex maniac with instant and uncontrollable urges to rape and pillage the surrounding populace upon exiting the club. My self control skills must be off the charts!

No one is, or should be, forcing the performers in these clubs to perform. If anyone has any evidence of such they should report it to the authorities immediately. But the women and men I ever spoke to who performed actually enjoyed what they were doing. They were not coerced.

And they could make much more doing what they enjoyed than they could at a 'day job.' Also, nobody is forcing Ms Allison or anyone else to go into and patronize these establishments. If you do not like strip clubs then you should stay out of them. It should not give you any right to deny any patron who wishes to go in the right to do so, nor any right to deny these performers the right to make their living how they wish, harming no one.

The likes of Ms Allison just refuse to get it, If they get their wish and are allowed to censor that which THEY disapprove of, what is to stop someone else from censoring something else this other person or group disapproves of? And little by little the majestic mountain that is our precious Oregon Free Speech and Expression right becomes nothing but a pathetic little pile of rubble. This is something that should never be allowed to happen.

If you dislike strip clubs, stay out. If you do not want businesses near your home do not buy homes near commercial areas.

But just as you want your rights respected, you need to respect the rights of others... even if you disagree with what those others have to say or how they choose to reasonably and legally express themselves.

And bottom line - if you want to be seen as 'moral' you should not lie, misrepresent or fabricate through the use of sophistry to 'support' your points, or your points become pointless as you are exposed as a self-serving NIMBY hypocrite.

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Anonymous October 12, 2007 8:24 am (Pacific time)

Bravo. People like Julia Allison make me want to throw up.

Neal Feldman October 10, 2007 4:51 pm (Pacific time)

Did the little Lolita have fake ID or did the owners know she was underage? And I agree if the owners are knowingly allowing underage folks in that is a problem but an OLCC issue not a constitutional one. As for would I like pantyless dancers in my neighborhood if it is on the street no... if it is inside a closed building only legally accessed by consenting adults and done by consenting adults I would not care if they had live sex acts going on. It is their business not mine and if I do not approve my option is not not go inside the business. It should not be my option to shut down or prevent a business just because I personally do not like the content of it. Voltaire said it best - "I may disagree with what you say, but I will fight to my death for your right to say it." Not many these days appear to understand the concept. And once we lose our valued free speech and expression rights we will likely never be able to get them back. They took a poll once and found that if put up to a popular vote none of the bill of rights would pass. That is a scary thought which proves Benj Franklin knew human nature very well with his numerous on topic quotes. Ah well...

Concerned Also October 10, 2007 4:30 pm (Pacific time)

Concerned if what you say it tru then you need to turn in that information to the OLCC. It is wrong for them to be serving underage females, reguardless what people think about stripping. This is another example of little to do for younger people in our area and why the drug and alcohol problem is so bad in Salem.

Concerned October 10, 2007 3:20 pm (Pacific time)

I am neither for or against allison, i just want to share my first hand experience with the club. I have a 20 year old friend that works at presley's. she got the job by going in to drink AS A MINOR, got up on the stage to dance, and was offered a position. she now strips five out of seven nights a week. She is happy working there, as she will let you know, but mainly because of the money. she gets paid to give PANTYLESS dances! is that something you want in your neighborhood?

Heywood October 10, 2007 1:24 pm (Pacific time)

I understand people who own homes or businesses in the area being concerned. They've invested in the area and think the peeler bar has damaged their investment. That said, I've never understood people that want some freedoms (guns, property rights etc.) yet want the government to stifle others.

Curmudgeon October 10, 2007 11:50 am (Pacific time)

Well, Neal, I find myself in 100% agreement with you. Which is an amazing statement considering I generally disagree with whatever position you may take on a particular issue. But being open-minded and objective, I have no qualms about complimenting an adversary on clearly stating a reasonable and legally sound point of view. Thank you. What nobody has so far bothered to point out is that this club isn't even in Allison's "neighborhood." She lives over a mile and a half away. She and her morally superior cronies would have fit right in in that other Salem back around 1692. I'm sure glad she doesn't live in my "neighborhood." I would be constantly looking over my shoulder to see if she was video taping me wearing shorts and sandals. How crude that I should show my bare legs. I should be arrested and flogged.

Sue October 10, 2007 10:19 am (Pacific time)

People need to mind their own business. If they don't like it, don't do it. I am tired of people thinking they are better than others.

Salem Stripper October 10, 2007 7:56 am (Pacific time)

I think your right we should follow Ms. Allison all day long and tape her every move then if she does something illegal, then give it to the paper and every Portland TV station and show her TRUE colors. $50 bucks says she wouldn't like that too much, letting everyone see where she goes everyday, and airing her dirty laundry. Just move on, or move away!

Neal Feldman October 10, 2007 7:06 am (Pacific time)

Found the last attempt against free speech in an initiative: Ballot Measure 19 was a citizen's initiative in the U.S state of Oregon in 1994. The measure sought to amend the Oregon Constitution, limiting free speech protection for obscenity and child pornography. The measure was rejected by the voters 54.3% to 45.7%. The measure was sponsored by the Oregon Citizens Alliance. If they could not do it to ban 'child pornography' I seriously doubt they will succeed against strip clubs (though child porn was already not protected back then) Ah well...

Neal Feldman October 10, 2007 6:48 am (Pacific time)

According to the reports on the sale of Pressley's it is doing well financially. The owner buys and builds up businesses then sells them to do it over again. Pressley's has 'big profits' so any who buy it would be odd to close it or change it. Unless the neighbors band together to buy it which would be their right. As to the videotaping such is legal unless they try and commit extortion, intimidation, etc. If I had nothing better to do I would tape them right back. Follow then around all day taping their every movement. See how they like it. In public there is no expectation of privacy. And these types of busybodies use that fact to harass legal patrons of legal establishments. Ah well...

Paul Anderson October 10, 2007 6:26 am (Pacific time)

I saw in this mornings paper that the club is for sale. Oh well. However, I found it quite alarming that Allison and her "band of censors" have nothing better to do in the middle of the night then to video tape patrons. Isn't that against the law??? What are they calling husbands walking out of there that we have the tape and unless you sign the petition we will contact you wife. Aren't there bigger battles to fight in Salem like more money for schools, and roads, drug and alcohol problems with kids and adults. Use your time more wisely and JUST SHUT UP!!!

Andy Keizer October 10, 2007 6:20 am (Pacific time)

Thank god someone agrees that this lady should just shut-up. Does she really anyone is going to sign that paper, there is more to worry about in this world than strip-clubs, they have been around for a long time and they will be here long after we are all gone. Quit crying in the local paper and begging for people to sign you stuff. Salem is sick of seeing and hearing from you.

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Pro-Censorship NIMBY Screed No Answer for Strip Clubs

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