Choosing To Outsmart Civility

The Pack Shack in Ellicott City outsmarted the Choose Civility types who think that porno stores are part of some kind of awful problem in society. Yeah, yeah, I know we have much looser morals and behavior than we used to, but that's just because hippies from the 60s are raising kids now to be sissies with feelings, and opinions.

Anyway, the Pack Shack got around a county ordinance that labeled it a bookstore and ended a nearly 10 year effort to try to shut the place down. How'd they do it? They placed more non-porno material on their store shelves.

From Explore Howard:

Inspectors with the Department of Planning and Zoning made a recent visit to the Pack Shack, 8445 Baltimore National Pike, in Ellicott City, and decided it no longer met the county's definition of an adult business.

The rules state an adult bookstore is a business having 20 percent or more of its total inventory or floor space dedicated to adult material.

Non-pornographic books and other items were added by Pack Shack owners so it would no longer be subject to the zoning rules, which were passed in 2004 and do not allow such businesses to operate within 300 feet of homes or within 1,000 feet of other adult stores.

So, instead, Ken Ulman is going to go after the Love Craft in North Laurel. I still don't quite understand the big deal. All you have to do is type "nude girls" into Google and you'd find porno. At least if people get off of their ass and go to a porno store, they are keeping the money in the community economy.