This blog printed on 100% recycled electrons.
Sioux Falls smut-peddler and subject of restraining orders David Eliason may be headed for court again. Eliason, whose life calling appears to be the sale of sex toys and similar offensive materials, owns the Love Shack (and thereby sullies one of the best songs of my youth) on 41st Street and runs the most atrocious ads I've heard on Sioux Falls Top 40 radio.
Deputy States Attorney Justin DeBoer says Eliason's perversion palace violates state law that prohibits "adult-oriented" businesses from setting up shop within a quarter mile of schools, parks, churches, or pools. DeBoer points to nearby Jefferson Park as cause for the complaint. Eliason insists his shop operates "100 percent in compliance with the law," but if I'm reading Google Maps right, his clinic for the sexually inadequate is just a tenth of a mile from the nearby ball diamond. (Note to Eliason: yes, 1/10 really is less than 1/4.)
The smut shop's neighbors don't seem to mind Eliason's wares. A worker at a neighboring shop calls the Love Shack a "good neighbor" and the clientele "normal, everyday people" (none of whom apparently stopped with their plain paper sacks to talk to the press).
Quote of the week goes to Curt Colter, neighboring Oreck vacumm cleaner store owner, who says he has no problem with the nearby smut shop. "Their customers might be my customers. Everybody needs a good, quality vacuum."
Now that's cross-marketing.
F’ing USD
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So a friend of mine made this rap a few years back, and I have to tell you
I have friends over the years who went there and tell the same boring
stories, LOL.
12 hours ago
Cory: There's a pretty good joke lurking in your post. Seriously though this type of business belongs in an industrial park on the outskirts of town. Some place were children seldom venture, not on the busiest street in the city.
ReplyDeleteHoly macaroni Batman! Did not see this coming from the Prince of Left... Did some errant conservative hack your blog? Keep talking like this and the ACLU will recall your membership! :-D
ReplyDeleteStace: don't be surprised. I think sex is great. I highly recommend it. I think the commoditization of sex is disgusting and unhealthy. David Eliason strikes me as a sleazy character, too. I fully support keeping stores like Eliason's away from parks, schools, and civilization in general.
ReplyDelete(And I while I dig the ACLU, I don't have a membership card. ;-) )
Everyone needs a good vacuum?
ReplyDeleteJust one of those things that makes you go hummm.
Granted it should operate within the law, but a toy is an offensive material? Banish such places to the industrial parks? Probably best to have a discreet store front, but man, I definitely woke up in South Dakota today.
ReplyDeleteJohn, this might be one area where South Dakota repression is a good idea. As I said, I think sex is wonderful. But turning into something we advertise and commiditize, into an experience that requires technological enhancements, cheapens and demeans the experience. I'm perfectly comfortable with moving peddlers of such bad thinking out to the edge of town, as far away from kids as we can get them... not to mention restricting their trashy ads from the daytime airwaves when kids are listening (but do kids listen to the radio any more? maybe I'm off-base on that one).
ReplyDeleteSex shops like Eliason's are ten times worse for the community than any junk Dick Wiedenman has lying around.
It should be about good judgment in a modern world. These places aren't meant for the strange perverts who need to slip off in the night, but people with healthy attitudes. A place for couples, not minors. It's right across from Best Buy. They have a web site and Facebook page. I'm withholding judgment, but the photos of place look reasonable: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=162571&id=217346949339
ReplyDeleteCory - there's a Vicar in the Church of England who needs your help!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.anglican-mainstream.net/2010/06/30/church-appeal-over-lap-dance-club-in-oxford-rejected/
John, I appreciate your forthrightness on this issue. however, I disagree with the idea that Eliason's "toys" promote "healthy attitudes" toward sex. The pleasure of a healthy sexual relationship arises from true love and intimacy. Good sex doesn't need to be dressed up or tricked out with gizmos. Eliason's business tries to make sex into a commodity, just another consumer/entertainment experience, and thus sends a wholly inappropraite message about what sex and relationships should revolve around.
ReplyDeleteFather Tim -- wow! I'm amazed the zoning officials allowed that variance. I agree that churches deserve some protection from such offensive businesses in their proximity.
John , It should also be about following the law, and the guy is obviously breaking it. After all he has no competition, his customers will be able to find him anywhere in town, he doesn't have to be on 41st street.Almost all communities are wise enough to zone these types of business's into areas not frequented by families, it just makes common sense.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reminder, Barry: independent of my sensitivities, Eliason is violating the law.
ReplyDelete