WAUKESHA – Bob Braun walked into Family Video, purchased a pornographic video, and now plans to picket the video store for being able to do so.
Braun, director of the Christian Civil Liberties Union, said the store, which opened a year ago at 139 E. Broadway, agreed not to offer adult materials. But now, he said, they’re offering just that.
“I deliberately went in there last week and they have violated that agreement,” Braun said. The verbal agreement was made publicly last year, he said.
The district manager of the store could not be reached for comment.
The CCLU, and those associated with Braun, have been picketing other stores that sell adult materials for years, he said. They plan to picket Family Video at 6 p.m. today, and also picketed the store prior to its opening.
“I will file some legal action against them if the picket fails to do anything,” Braun said.
Steve Crandell, the city’s director of the community development, said he is unaware of any written agreement between Family Video and the city that states that the business will not offer pornography. From what he understands, the agreement was a verbal one between CCLU and the store, he said.
Assistant City Attorney Miles Eastman said last year that as long as a significant portion of Family Video’s materials are not pornographic, the store is following city zoning laws. The city attorney’s office is reviewing the verbal agreement now, and could not be reached for comment.
Alderman Emanuele Vitale said he is opposed to the sales of adult material in his district.
“The biggest complaint is that they’re called Family Video. It’s an oxymoron (for the business to sell pornography),” he said. “The very nature of the business would indicate that they shouldn’t.”
Vitale said that although the store is probably legally allowed to offer pornography, he warned the manager last month that they will be picketed, which is not good for business.
“I walked into that little room where they have the videos, and there were two or three guys in there,” Vitale said. “People are being exposed to it.”
Family Video, based in Glenview, Ill., is the largest privately owned video rental chain in the country, with more than 300 locations in nine states.