Steve Diamond, owner of the local Diamond Adult World chain, must pay a fine of $10,000 for refusing to remove the bulk of adult items from his Grover Beach location. A city ordinance prohibits businesses from utilizing more than 25 percent of their floor space to display adult merchandise.
The Grover Beach store will remain open while another case goes through the appeals process. Judge Cormac Carney with the U.S. District Court in Orange County, where Diamond began his business, will issue a formal decision within 20 days.
‘We are thrilled at what’s happening,” Steve Diamond said. ‘Judge Carney found us not in contempt at this time.”
Diamond is appealing an earlier court decision that stated his constitutional rights were not violated by the city’s law barring adult businesses. His appeal will be considered early next year.
-K.V.
This article appears in Dec 8-15, 2005.
