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Castle store proves to be a quiet neighbor Mail Tribune / Drew Fleming Greg Crump, manager of the Castle Superstore sex shop in Medford, organizes lingerie on the store's clothing racks. Castle has dispelled many residents' fears by being an upstanding member of the business community. Police have no complaints with the business creating crime problems. Sex shop doesn't live up to fears that it would draw criminal activity Mining camps drew red-light businesses The Rogue Valley, like many places around America, has a storied history of red-light businesses, according to an article by Josh Gary in the most recent issue of Southern Oregon Heritage Today. Gary's article outlines the industry's roots, participants and eventual shutdown in Jackson County. Mining camps, logging and the Gold Rush in the middle of the 19th century drew many single young men to the Northwest with promises of economic opportunity. From those crowds, many single women saw economic opportunities. Several houses of ill repute sprang up in the county through the last half of the century. All were illegal and supposedly secret. Among them were Medford's Imperial Rooms, operated by Stella the Redhead at 30 N. Front St. during the years before World War I. Jacksonville passed a city ordinance banning prostitution in 1873, which did little to quell the problem. The police, all of which were men, saw prostitution as a victimless crime and often did not enforce the ordinance. As Jacksonville grew, like many communities it became more traditional. Some houses of ill repute moved outside city limits, closer to logging and mining camps. Medford residents began to demand a citywide cleanup at town meetings in the early 1900s. But as city attorney Bert R. McCabe said, "The city government and officials were absolutely helpless to suppress prostitution." Gary suggests such helplessness may have been caused by influential community members' use of the women's services. Medford finally passed a city ordinance banning prostitution in 1923. Most brothels were forced outside city limits. By that time, the area had grown enough that most communities were largely family-oriented. Against the pressures of family values and proper enforcement, the number of brothels dwindled and complaints ebbed. You can find Gary's article in the July 2001 issue of Southern Oregon Heritage Today at the Southern Oregon Historical Society in Medford. By J.T. BUSHNELL Greg Crump has had only one negative experience since becoming manager of Medford's "one-stop sex shop" about a month and a half ago. While Crump was looking for a local apartment, a potential landlord asked him about his employment. Crump explained without reservation that he had been hired to manage Castle Superstore. The landlord told him in no uncertain terms he should look for housing elsewhere. "That was the only negative I've gotten since I've been here," Crump said. "For all I know, he's the only person in town who has a problem with our business." Disapproval in Medford does exceed Crump's single encounter. However, the objection to Castle's presence - so sharp two and a half years ago when the store opened - has waned. The reduction of complaint and protest is largely due to the fact that Castle, on Progress Drive just off Biddle Road, has not attracted the crime that many feared it would. "People's worst fears have proven not to be true," said Lt. Mike Moran of the Medford Police Department. "It hasn't been a magnet that attracts collateral crime." Moran said that he believes crime and complaints from the area are lower than other comparable retail areas in the city, based on what he hears from officers and reads in reports. "It's not an area that has required much police problem-solving," he said. "The bottom line is that Castle is not causing any problems." Moran said the same is true of Scandals, a bar on Riverside Street that features nude dancing. It has been open for eight years. "The problems that occur there are similar to those that occur in any bar," he said. Moran's beliefs were confirmed by Todd Zakrajsek, a statistics and research methods professor at Southern Oregon University who researched the secondary effects that Scandals and Castle have caused in Medford. Zakrajsek said his research shows that both businesses have had no negative effects on the areas. He said crime in the area of each business is equal to or lower than that of comparable retail areas. In addition, real estate values have increased significantly in both areas. He finished the research in January. Crump said he tries to keep the atmosphere clean, bright and cheerful at Castle, which sells sex toys and pornography. Employees are required to look respectable, clean the parking lot every hour, pull weeds and keep bathrooms immaculate. "We want to make the community feel comfortable with the store legally and cosmetically," Crump said. "I think that deters the seedier crowds. They know there are no games to be played, that this is a clean business." Bill O'Connor, an attorney for Scandals, said bars with nude entertainment have a bad reputation, but that Scandals' owner Brian Edwards has overcome it. "His management policies are so extraordinarily strict that they prevent problems," O'Connor said. "We have a policy to work with police to make sure there are no problems." That policy includes a private security force and full-time video surveillance outside the building. Moran said both businesses are very cooperative with police. "People feared the beginning of a red light district," Moran said. "They thought of downtown Times Square in New York - the ultimate ruining. But there has been no extension of that type of business." Instead, Castle is surrounded by businesses like Subway, Kinko's and Sprint. Subway owner Jeff Hoxley said Castle has not been on his mind recently. "(Castle's presence) bothers me personally, but it doesn't really affect our business," he said. Bob Seus - co-owner of Hubbard's Hardware, a neighbor of Scandals - said he's against the bar's presence from a moral and business standpoint. "I'd rather not see them in my business district," he said. "I think there are people who don't come down for fear that they'll see something or that their kids will see something." Seus did admit, however, that crime was no greater a problem because of Scandals. Crump thinks Castle fits into its business community well. "I bank in town; I buy bags at Costco; I make copies at Kinko's," he said. "We're just another business." Reach reporter J.T. Bushnell at 776-4487. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.