Manchester, N.Y. —from www.mpnnow.com – The contents of a magazine rack inside a Manchester gas station have several residents vexed.
The rack, located next to the checkout counter at Mobil Expressmart on Route 21, contains adult magazines, including Playboy and Hustler.
What is disturbing to parents and residents such as Craig Record of Manchester is the gas station’s location — directly across from Manchester-Shortsville Central School.
“My main concern is we have a business that’s selling porn across from a high school,” said Record.
“It’s not like it’s a truck stop; a lot of teens go in and out of the store. It’s not appropriate.”
Store employees said they haven’t heard any previous complaints about the magazines, but declined to comment further.
Despite the fact that some area adults find the magazines to be inappropriate, there aren’t any laws or ordinances being broken by the gas station, said Lt. Brad Falkey of the Ontario County Sheriff’s Office.
Manchester, where the gas station is located, has no ordinances addressing the proximity to schools in which pornographic magazines can be sold, he said. There are laws for distance between pornographic establishments — like a strip club — and a school, but
Falkey said they don’t apply in this instance.
Falkey added that by law, magazines of a pornographic nature are required to be sealed in plastic, which, in this case, they are.
Record said the magazines were at one point right next to a window that looks out toward the school. They’ve since been moved next to the checkout counter. Only the top row of the magazine rack contains the controversial titles.
But for frustrated parents, the location of the rack inside the gas station is not the issue.
“We’re grooming our kids for the future,” said Monty Harshfield, a Manchester parent of four Red Jacket students. “I don’t think that’s appropriate literature for kids to be looking at when buying chips.”