According to the corporate press, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday that a Grand Rapids ordinance regulating so-called “Sexually Oriented Businesses” is legal and dismissed a lawsuit filed by the owners of two sexploitation businesses, Herb Newhouse of the Little Red Barn Adult Theatre and Sensations and Showgirl Galleria owner Mark London. United States District Court judge Robert Holmes Bell issued a 38-page ruling in which he rejected arguments that the ordinance violates the First Amendment and oversteps the City of Grand Rapids’ authority. Additionally, Bell rejected Newhouse’s allegation of conspiracy on the part of Judy Rose and the Michigan Decency Action Council for their funding of the city’s legal bills. In his opinion, Bell wrote that the prior rulings at the federal appellate level allow the city to regulate so-called sexually oriented businesses to prevent their “secondary effects” including crime, prostitution, drug use, and blight. Bell wrote that “the Ordinance imposes restrictions that are narrowly tailored to serve that interest. It necessarily follows from those determinations that the Ordinance is neither arbitrary nor capricious.”

According to the Grand Rapids Press, Newhouse has already filed paperwork for an appeal with the federal appeals court seeking an injunction to stop the resolution. Newhouse has been perhaps the most vocal of the local sexploitation club owners in fighting the ordinance and publicly claimed the he will defy the resolution because it is costing 80% of “his” profits. The Grand Rapids Press stated on Monday that there were acts taking place in Newhouse’s club in September that appeared to violate the ordinance according to police and city commissioners, although the Assistant City Attorney said that they were not infractions.