Archives for December 2010

From the AP/Times-News, Twin Falls

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (AP) — Three adult stores under investigation for selling obscene materials triggered no complaints from residents even though Twin Falls police said public outcry had sparked the probe, a newspaper found.

A review of e-mails obtained through a public records request only found protest over one store’s large “XXX” sign at the city’s entrance, The Times-News reported Thursday. The e-mails also revealed angst over the sign from city officials, who were uncertain how to proceed.

“It is my understanding that the sign complies with our sign ordinance and does not violate any state laws,” City Manager Tom Courtney wrote Nov. 16. “If that is not correct, we need to discuss. I don’t think this is the kind of thing we want at the entrance to the city. The question is what can we do about it?”

A few days later, police sent letters that threatened action “up to and including arrest” against the owners of Karnation, Enchantress and Allen Nagel’s Smokin’ Head Smoke Shop if they didn’t comply with state law regarding the sale of obscene material.

Nagel, whose store owns the “XXX” sign, has declined to remove it.

A city building inspector reported that a portion of the sign with XXX was gone by Nov. 22, though Nagel told the newspaper he didn’t see the letter until days later.

Lt. Craig Stotts said he was unsure why the other two stores received the letter from police but told the newspaper that in “years past we had sent the businesses a letter because we had heard they were selling illegal material, adult material, pornographic material.”

The letter included a copy of the Idaho code regarding “obscene materials,” which includes books, magazines, pictures and movies that would appeal to a shameful or morbid interest in sex or nudity when considered as a whole.

The ban includes materials that depict or describe ultimate sexual acts — normal or perverted — masturbation, or lewd exhibition of genitals or genital area.

From the AP/Times-News, Twin Falls

From the Idaho Statesman

WASHINGTON — Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, who sits on both the Senate Intelligence and Foreign Relations committees, called for prosecuting not only the website’s Australian founder, Julian Assange, but other news organizations involved.

“Anyone who would do this has no regard for their country, and this is a complete departure from the allegiance that people need to have for their country,” he said. “Our State Department operations and our intelligence operations depend on the integrity of the people that are involved.”

He conceded that the documents released so far have been more embarrassing than dangerous.

In the short term, they’ve done little more than make it more difficult for diplomats to have candid discussions, he said.

The news organizations given access to the documents and WikiLeaks said they took great care to ensure no one would be put in danger. In stories about the documents, several newspapers said they voluntarily withheld information.

They also cooperated with the State Department and the Obama administration to ensure the information they published wouldn’t endanger lives or national security.

Risch suggested that the nation’s laws on disclosing secret information need revamping to reflect today’s technology.

There also needs to be a careful review of how information is shared within the U.S. government’s diplomatic and espionage arms, he said.

Regardless, if information is secret, top secret or classified, Risch said he believes anyone who handles it — including the news media — should “be bound by the laws that protect that information.”

“There are limits to the First Amendment, and in my judgment, information that is secret, top secret or classified, should be held that way,” he said.

From the Idaho Statesman