University of Virginia Library

Grand Jury Nullifies Porno Ban

By ROSS HETRICK

CD/Kim Grosner

Magazine Vendor Peruses Now-Legal Material

A special Albemarle Circuit
Court grand jury yesterday
ordered that no action be
taken by any law enforcement
officers in Albemarle county
concerning the sale of any
publication.

The decision was
announced at Albemarle
County Court House yesterday
at 4:30 p.m. by Albemarle
Commonwealth's Atty. Charles
R. Haugh.

The announcement came
two weeks after Albemarle
Sheriff George W. Bailey and
Mr. Haugh advised county
merchants, including Newcomb
Hall Bookstore which is within
county jurisdiction, to remove
"questionable items" from
their magazine racks, including
publications such as
"Playboy", "Penthouse" and
"Oui".

This ban was openly
challenged by City News Inc.
at the same time that the grand
jury was meeting.

From 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., City
News sold "Playboy",
"Penthouse", "Oui" and a
variety of other magazines at
their offices behind the
"Orange Derby" restaurant.

J.R. Copeland of City News
was "very pleased" by the
grand jury decision and hopes
that no subsequent actions will
be taken to restrict the sale of
magazines.

Mr. Haugh called   the
grand jury to make sense of the
U.S. Supreme Court June 21
ruling that left up to
communities the decision of
what is to be considered
obscene.

In reading the decision, Mr.
Haugh pointed out that the
county could have taken three
courses of action under the
ruling: arrest merchants for a
test case, seek an injunction
against the sale of questionable
publications and submit
publications for the
consideration of a grand jury.

He selected the third
method since the other two
were considered somewhat
drastic and since the grand jury
has been the traditional
method of deciding legal
disputes, according to the
statement read in court
yesterday afternoon.

The grand jury had drawn
some fire due to its
predominantly white,
middle-aged,   and male
composition. Some sources
called this an unrepresentative
jury of Albemarle County.

The jury was actually the
court's regular June grand jury,
reconvened. Mr. Haugh said he
asked that grand jury to serve
in this case so that he would
not be accused of stacking the
jury.

Mr. Haugh was not available
for comment after the
decision. However, his
secretary said that he was
somewhat surprised by the
decision but believed it to be a
good grand jury.

The restocking of
"Playboy" and other such
magazines in the Newcomb
Hall Bookstore is dependent
upon the decision   of
University Legal Advisor Neill
H. Alford Jr., who is
withholding comment until he
sees the grand   jury
statement.

Albemarle County Sheriff
George W. Bailey said
yesterday that he concurred
with Mr. Haugh's statement in
court.

The sale of magazines at
City News offices yesterday
was brisk with the management
taking in around $100.

The sale of the previously
banned magazines had been
advertised in a full page
advertisement in the Sunday
edition of the Daily Progress.

J.R. Copeland of City News
expects Albemarle merchants
to be selling the questionable
magazines again soon.