News Update

• Scottsdale Arizona officials seek to regulate the spread of sexually oriented businesses through vote.

Crime Statistics

It is widely documented and well established that sexually oriented businesses contribute to rising crime rates. Luzerne County, (Wilkes-Barre in particular) is no exception. Below is a brief excerpt from the REPORT TO: THE AMERICAN CENTER FOR LAW AND JUSTICE ON THE SECONDARY IMPACTS OF SEX ORIENTED BUSINESSES. You can click here to browse the specifics of the entire report. I will also create a permanent link to this report on the sidebar.

McCleary and Meeker (1991) examined 10 years worth of crime statistics and reports for the main commercial street in Garden Grove, California. Using individual crime locations they examined the incidence of crime in relation to sex oriented businesses, taverns, and other locations along the boulevard. The seven sex oriented businesses along Garden Grove Boulevard accounted for 10.5 percent of Part I crimes and 25.5 percent of Part II crimes recorded for 610 addresses along the Boulevard that had crime reports during the 10 year period covered by the study. These figures have less than 1 chance in a 100 of happening at random [8,p.23]. Sex oriented businesses along Garden Grove Boulevard had more locations ranked among the top ten for crime reports than even the taverns along the same boulevard. The taverns that were ranked in the top ten for crimes happened to be located on the same blocks as sexually oriented businesses.

To those who are happy about the presence of sexually oriented businesses in our home area, I would like to request the details of any such existing report that could demonstrate the opposite (IE, that sexually oriented businesses do not contribute to a rise in crime). FYI, it will be difficult to find such a study or report because no such thing exists.

News updates

• Some Gary residents say adult businesses hurt city's image.
• Regulate sexually oriented businesses to the fullest extent allowed by law.

Never give up

Have you read the Weekender lately? I rarely read it before this effort began, but when I heard that Gentlemen's Club 10 was spending good money to poke fun at "Mr. Family," I started checking it out.

I never realized just how many sex businesses were opening and operating in NEPA until I saw the back pages of that magazine. Is it just me, or does the Times Leader seem quite proud to produce that piece of garbage? The only good use for it, in my opinion, is to line the bottom of your hamster cage.

As I paged through it the other day, I started to feel a bit discouraged. I'm constantly asking the Lord to help me to implement the best approach in dealing with this blight on our community. Do I take pictures? Contact the radio and newspaper? Host another prayer rally? I'm seeking the Lord's wisdom here because I don't want this effort to be in vain. So many people express their support, which is encouraging, yet we're all watching terrible and immoral businesses open shop here in our home area. Our young men are being encouraged to participate in this immorality. Our women are being debased. I find it to be a very sad situation for all involved.

How long does it actually take to get a business like Gentlemen's Club 10 out of our area? How much are their investors giving them to stay afloat? How determined are they to push themselves and their warped views of humanity on Wilkes-Barre? I can't answer those questions, but I look forward to finding out.

For over ten years, a community near Boston fought a strip club that was started in their area. The club owners tried to use the EXACT same arguments that Gentlemen's Club 10 is trying to use, but after a prolonged and costly legal struggle, the community won and nude dancing was no longer permitted in the area. You can read about it here. Please check it out.

On another note, I believe that one of the owners/investors of Gentlemen's Club 10 walked right by me in Lowe's yesterday. I would love to have a conversation with them someday, if I thought it would have an effect. I guess for now I will just have to be satisfied with knowing that they read these words. Though their supporters love to promote conspiracy theories and constantly question my motives for hosting this website, I truly am concerned for their well-being. Their hearts may be hard and their eyes may be blind, but I know from experience that the Lord can soften hearts and open blind eyes.

I like the suggestion that was posted by a recent commenter. This person proposes that we all remember to pray about this issue every Friday at 7:00pm. Let's do this and together be amazed at what the Lord can and will do to fix a bad situation.

Have a great Friday,
Mr. Family

Prostitute hired to dance at Club 10 (updated)

Which of these statements seems the most plausible to you.....

1. Gentlemen's Club 10 is a classy, upscale establishment.

2. Gentlemen's Club 10 is a good neighborhood business.

3. Gentlemen's Club 10 has hired a prostitute to dance at their club this weekend.

If you answered #3, you are correct. Because I do not want to give undue publicity to what Gentlemen's Club 10 is doing, I am going to omit the woman's name. This woman openly engages in prostitution, which is something that I was told by other women who dance at Club 10, "Isn't what we do here." At one point, her acts of prostitution gained her an interview on the Fox News Channel.

So, let me personally thank Gentlemen's Club 10 for taking a bad situation and making it even worse. Not only do they advertise pornographic websites, encourage women to engage in sexual exploitation for money, and further damage the reputation of our community.... they now hire prostitutes to dance at the club.

Way to make our community an even better place to live.

Update 6/21/06: If you are concerned with the message Gentlemen's Club 10 is sending to our community by promoting the appearance of a prostitute at their club, please take a moment to send a letter to the editor of either the Citizen's Voice or the Times Leader.

Uh oh

Guess what.

We are going to need some new picture takers. Click here.

For those who are new to this, let me remind you of our philosophy.

1. No new sexually oriented businesses in our area.
2. Discourage men from visiting those that already exist.
3. Educate our community about the negative effects of these clubs.

I'm in the mood to ramp up this effort. If you agree with this philosophy, grab a camera and take a few pictures outside any of the sexually oriented businesses in NEPA. I will be happy to post any legally obtained pictures.

I'm not certain why our area is becoming such an obvious target for the sex trade, but it's time to put a stop to it.

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. We cannot remain neutral in a time of moral crisis.

John Adams

America is a wonderful place. In America, we enjoy something called "liberty" in a unique fashion when viewed through the lens of human history. What is liberty? Liberty is a combination of two ingredients: 1. Freedom and 2. Responsibility. That means that for liberty to continue abounding in the United States, we must value freedom so much that we become responsible stewards of it.

Responsible stewards of freedom do not use their freedom as a license to do evil. There are many things that we are technically free to do. But not everything that we are free to do is beneficial or responsible.

Our founding fathers (the men who thought up and fashioned this government....the men who drafted our esteemed Constitution) recognized this as a fact. Here is an interesting quote delivered by John Adams, our second president, and one of the founding fathers of the United States.

We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any other.

John Adams (1735 - 1826)

In a nutshell, what he was saying is this: Our country was designed to be operated by men and women with a moral backbone. Without a strong moral and ethical foundation (the Judeo/Christian ethic), our country can and will be ruined.... one issue at a time.

Strip Clubs such as: The Carousel, Cabaret, Planet Pocono, The Pleasure Dome and Gentlemen's Club 10 chip away at the moral fabric of our great country. As this fabric is torn to pieces by people who fail to understand true liberty, the rest of us are left to put things back together again.

I am not going to sit back and let you destroy our corner of America. You can call us names. You can bash our religious and moral convictions. You can question our motives. Do what you like.....but this issue will remain on the forefront from this point on. If you think we are going to stop posting pictures.... you're wrong. If you think we're going to stop watching what you're doing AND reporting your activities to the authorities.... you're wrong. If you expect us to just sit back and do nothing while you show little regard for our families and communities.... you're kidding yourself. If you are hoping that the pressure you're experiencing from the public is going to subside, you will be waiting for a long time.

In the meantime, we pray daily that you experience a true change of heart.

Failure

This is what it looks like to fail miserably. Click here.

Give it up already. You are outnumbered by those who still seek the best for Luzerne County.

In the meantime, enjoy running your day-care center.

For sale

This is what it looks like to sell your soul. Click here.

Very sad.

Landscaping

The grass is growing tall around Gentlemen's Club 10.

Word on the street says that the club has chosen not to bother landscaping around their building as was part of their original plan. Business has been down and cash flow is too limited to justify the added expense.

I have also heard it was determined that their new teenage clientele hasn't yet developed an appreciation for proper landscaping. With this in mind, the club is now planning on investing in a shiny red gumball machine.

Advertising

In response to this effort to expose the problems of having a strip club located directly across from our mall, I have noticed some subtle (but not so significant) changes.

1. I was contacted by several readers of this blog to let me know that Gentlemen's Club 10 has removed the pornographic content from their website. They advertise their website on Interstate 81 and on large signs outside of their building. Any child can go home and type their web-address into the browser bar and gain a virtual view of club activity.

This appeared to be a good thing....a step in the right direction. But alas, such is not the case. Gentlemen's Club 10 uses their website to link to other porn sites and it also maintains a mirror-site that still hosts it's pornographic content. Again, this site is linked to the address advertised on the outside of their building......in full view of minors.

2. Several people, myself included, have contacted Besko Media, the current company that is renting billboard space to Gentlemen's Club 10 on Interstate 81. Here is a copy of my correspondence with them.

Dear Mr. Besko,

You may be aware of this already, but I believe your company is advertising a pornographic website on one of its billboards. Gentlemen's Club 10's website contains pornographic material. Their site is included on their billboard on Interstate 81. What is Besko Media's policy on advertising pornographic content?

Mr. Family

Here is Mr. Besko's response to my question.

Absolutely nothing illegal or pornographic. Thank you.

Jerry Besko

3. So as it stands now, Gentlemen's Club 10 still promotes pornographic material and Besko Media is violating their own policy to allow the club to do so. Mr. Besko states on his website that his hope is to see his business expand and grow. I personally wish him the best, but I cannot understand why he states a policy of no pornography, yet he advertises a business that promotes it. This is done in full view of every child who travels on Interstate 81. It isn't right.

Gentlemen's Club 10 and Besko Media are both violating community decency standards by refusing to remove references to this content from their advertising.

You can contact Besko Media by clicking here. (I would give you Club 10's contact info. as well, but they could care less about decency standards, so why bother).

Equal opportunity photography

Gentlemen's Club 10 recently announced plans to potentially allow 18 and 19-year-olds to begin entering their club...........

For this reason, we will also be posting pictures of bicycles and skateboards parked outside of the new, revamped "Gentlemen & Adolescent's Club 10."

Many of us have also decided to give our kids a smaller allowance so they can't waste it all in the club.

BIG PROBLEM

This evening, shortly before Gentlemen's Club 10 was scheduled to open, I witnessed with my own eyes a woman carrying a young child (possibly three-years-old or so) into Gentlemen's Club 10. The child appeared to be sleeping on her shoulder as she unlocked the front door and walked into the club.

I didn't have a camera accessible to me at the time, but I pledge before God Himself that I'm telling you the truth.

This is exactly the kind of problem I have been warning you about. A child should NEVER be brought into a club like that, awake or asleep.

If one of the businesses that border Gentlemen's Club 10 has a security camera that may have recorded this event, please allow the Wilkes-Barre Twp. Police to view your recording. For sure this has to be against the law.

I read a lot of responses on this website that try to defend Gentlemen's Club 10, but there is absolutely no defense for something like this.

Update 6/3/06: According to people involved with the club, the woman was carrying some sort of bag on her shoulder. I'm not sure I totally believe this, but I'm posting their rebuttal just to be fair.

Update 6/14/06: Club 10 still claims it was a bag of some sort. Apparently that must mean it was a bag with no handles that had to be carried like a toddler. They claim to have a tape, but it hasn't been publically released....nor has a still shot been posted online. I stand by my original statement which I believed to be true at the time and continue to believe is true.

Local ordinances

I was heartened to hear that Wilkes-Barre Twp. is planning on enforcing their ordinances in the near future. This is very good news for all of us who value cleaner neighborhoods and business districts that don't specifically invite vice.

Many communities around the country are doing what they can to prevent a deluge of sexually oriented businesses in their areas. You can read about one such attempt here. Why are communities doing this? Here are a few reasons:

1. Sexually oriented businesses contribute to increased crime.

2. Sexually oriented businesses expose children to obscene signage and other inappropriate content. (Just as Gentlemen's Club 10 is currently doing).

3. Sexually oriented businesses decrease property values. This is one of the main reasons they are often required to operate a significant distance away from residential areas. (Ask the people who live next door to Planet Pocono what has happened to the value of their properties since Planet Pocono opened. Their property values have plummeted and most believe they will have a very difficult time selling their homes if Planet Pocono remains in operation).

4. Sexually oriented businesses set a bad tone for a business district, especially when they are located near other sexually oriented businesses.

This list could be much longer.

If your community has not yet enacted ordinances to restrict sexually oriented businesses from bringing these problems to your neighborhood, please contact your local officials and see what can be done. It's a little too late once sex businesses open shop in your town. The time to do something is now.