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Sex-shop ordinance put on hold By DAVID PRESZLER An ordinance to regulate sexually oriented businesses is headed for a panel of local attorneys after a dramatic debate by the Medford City Council on Thursday afternoon. Faced with the legally tricky task of regulating such businesses without trampling constitutional rights, the council tabled the ordinance for further study. "If I'm going to err," Council President Rob Patridge said, "I'm going to err on the side of caution when it comes to possible infringement of constitutional rights." Attorneys began working on the ordinance last month, but the final draft wasn't finished until Friday and council members didn't get a copy until Monday. Several members said they wanted more time to study it. Although Councilmen Curt Bennett and Skip Knight immediately moved to approve the ordinance, a vote never came. The decision to delay came after more than an hour of debate and sparked an immediate exodus of angry ordinance supporters. Outgoing Mayor Jerry Lausmann -- who presided over his last council meetings Thursday -- broke a 4-4 tie by voting for a motion to table the ordinance. Council members Patridge, Sal Esquivel, Matt Hart and Jim Key voted to table the ordinance. Bill Moore, Knight, Linda Casey and Bennett voted no. Patridge proposed asking local lawyers to volunteer to review the ordinance, which was drafted by local attorney Frank Sybrant and the city's attorneys. The motion for a panel passed, though no date for the review was set. City Attorney Gene Hart, long doubtful that an ordinance would stand up in court, reiterated his concerns. "I'm less enthusiastic about this than Mr. Sybrant is," said Hart, whose biggest concern was how courts would rule on whether "harmful secondary effects" could be tied to specific businesses -- a key element in the ordinance. "The only time we are going to get a definitive opinion is if and when it is challenged in court," Knight said sharply. "Let's get the job done and get the ordinance passed and get on with this thing." The large crowd gathered for the noon session was a far cry from the usual attendance at daytime meetings. Ordinance supporters filled three of the chamber's four sections, while lawyers, owners and several dancers from Le Dolls sat in the fourth. Ordinance supporters returned to the night meeting to voice their displeasure at the council's delay and vowed to return each meeting until the council takes action. Dan Ferrell, a pastor and a Cascade Christian High School teacher who attended the noon meeting with several dozen students, hastily led the group out as the delay was approved, shouting, "Thanks a lot, Patridge," as he went. "I'm just fed up," Ferrell said later. "This thing has been going on for three months." Ferrell said he was particularly upset with Lausmann's vote to delay because the mayor has expressed support for an ordinance. "He said, `Give me an ordinance and I'll pass it,"' Ferrell said. "He had the chance to break the tie and he broke it the other way." Lausmann said one reason he voted to delay was a request to speak from attorney Bill O'Connor, who represents the owners of Le Dolls. Because public hearings on the issue have already been held, Lausmann denied the request. O'Connor contends there has been no public hearing on the ordinance itself. He says his clients didn't learn of the ordinance's specifics until the draft became public in November. He didn't see a final draft until Friday and objected in writing early this week. Afterward, Lausmann said he felt O'Connor's input was important. "I was prepared to break the tie in favor of the ordinance if it had come to that," he said. "But we haven't heard from the other side yet." That explanation did little to satisfy Ferrell. "They could have come out and debated this thing over the last three months," he said, "and they didn't do it." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA