Johns Creek, Georgia: Why Won't They Accept the Love Shack Adult Bookstore?

The people in Johns Creek, Georgia need to get a life. It seems that they don't want a new Love Shack, an adult bookstore in their neck of the woods. According to the good folks of this new community that is about 30 minutes north of Atlanta, the store will bring down property values. I have seen this movie before in my area down the road.

Peachtree Corners became the home to the newly crowned kings and queens of morality in early 2001. The then-new establishment was greeted with planned demonstrations that have provided the owner, John Cornetta with free advertising via coverage in local print and television outlets. Opportunists ranging from a state senator to mad mothers, to the Religious Right, to Young Republicans, crawled out of their respective holes to force their views down our throats.

It was humorous to see senator and his band of dittoheads protest a perfectly legal business. Where were their protests when thousands of acres of timber up the road were hacked down in order to put up a cookie cutter strip mall that will fail in ten years? Why can't the politician and company abandon their mini-vans and suburban assault vehicles and protest the nightmare traffic conditions on the main strip that runs through our area? The answer: It is because he and his patsies are out for themselves. Did they honestly care about our children, health and way of life? No. They wasted their time playing to the cameras while the air got dirtier and our schoolteachers walked off the job. What did this state senator accomplish from these protests? Well thanks to him, business has been good at our Love Shack.

No, our property values did not go down. Here's what happened since 2001: Cornetta has added more tacky neon signs to his building. He also added a giant advertising billboard displaying a porno actress that hovers over the structure. Cornetta also regularly uses a searchlight to attract future customers.

While the senator and his followers masqueraded as the patron saints of Peachtree Corners, owner John Cornetta got the last laugh. I haven't heard much from the senator and company on this issue. Yes, on the other side of the The Love Shack's billboard is an advertisement to join up at the local Baptist church.

My question on this issue is, "Why not let the marketplace decide Cornetta's future in that location?" According to the First Amendment, which the senator and friends will conveniently and selectively defend, it is Cornetta's right to sell these products. Do I enjoy porno products? It's not my bag, but it's also not my place to tell the public what they can and cannot buy. If my neighbor wants to buy sex toys, so be it. They are the ones who have to stock up on size D batteries.

Also, we all know what happens in those coin booths at The Love Shack. It is Cornetta who has to purchase the extra bleach-not me. I just hope that he disposes of it properly.

In hindsight, those protests were hypocritical and they backfired. Case in point, my then-3-year-old daughter used to point at the building and screamed, "It's the Love Shack, Daddy!"

Don't waste your time, Johns Creek. Move onto issues that really impact your community like jobs, the environment, healthcare and education.