Township of Caln, PA Article II Obscene Materials and Activities

[Adopted 10-14-1999 by Ord. No. 1999-9]

§ 51-4 Purpose.

Pursuant to the authority granted in the Second Class Township Code to prohibit nuisances and to promote the health, cleanliness, comfort and safety of the citizens of Caln Township and the Authority of political subdivisions of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to enact local ordinances to regulate, inter alia, the sale, distribution, display and exhibition of and activities concerning obscene and other sexual material as provided for in 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 5903(k) and as upheld by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, in Brown v. Pornography Commission of Lower Southampton Township, 620 F.Supp 1199 (E.D. Pa. 1985), the Township of Caln enacts the following article.

§ 51-5 Definitions.

Terms used within this article shall have the meanings as defined in 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 5903(b) and (e) entitled "Obscene and other sexual materials and performances." The text of 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 5903 is appended hereto as Appendix A and is incorporated herein by reference thereto.[1]

[1] Editor's Note: Appendix A is located at the end of this chapter.

§ 51-6 Offenses defined; prohibited activities.

A. No person, knowing the obscene character of the materials or performances involved, shall, within the Township of Caln:

(1) Display or cause or permit the display of any explicit sexual materials as defined in Subsection B of this § 51-6 in or on any window, showcase, newsstand, display rack, billboard, display board, monitor, viewing screen, motion-picture screen, marquee or similar place in such manner that the display is visible from any public street, highway, sidewalk, transportation facility or other public thoroughfare or in any business or commercial establishment where minors, as a part of the general public or otherwise, are or will probably be exposed to view all or any part of such materials;

(2) Sell, lend, distribute, exhibit, give away or show any obscene materials or offer to sell, lend, distribute, exhibit or give away or show, or have in his possession with intent to sell, lend, distribute, exhibit or give away or show any obscene materials to any person, or knowingly advertise any obscene materials in any manner;

(3) Design, copy, draw, photograph, print, utter, publish or in any manner manufacture or prepare any obscene materials; the terms "publish" and "publication" in the context of this article shall include but shall not be limited to the various methods by which graphic, textual, audio and/or video information is made the subject of information communication and/or retrieval over a network of computers, including the international network of interconnected computers, known as the "Internet." Such methods include but are not limited to electronic mail, automatic mailing list services, newsgroups, chat rooms and the creation of or the posting of information to sites on the World Wide Web; so long as the act of publication, communication or information retrieval takes place by means of a computer physically located in Caln Township;

(4) Write, print, publish, utter or cause to be written, printed, published or uttered any advertisement or notice of any kind giving information, directly or indirectly, stating or purporting to state where, how, from whom or by what means any obscene materials can be purchased, obtained or had;

(5) Produce, present or direct any obscene performance or participate in a portion thereof that is obscene or that contributes to its obscenity; or

(6) Hire, employ, use or permit any minor child to do or assist in doing any act or thing mentioned in this subsection.

B. Dissemination to minors. No person shall knowingly disseminate by sale, loan or otherwise explicit sexual materials to a minor. "Explicit sexual materials," as used in this subsection, means materials which are obscene or:

(1) Any picture, photograph, drawing, sculpture, motion-picture file, video tape or similar visual representation or image of a person or portion of the human body which depicts nudity, sexual conduct or sadomasochistic abuse and which is harmful to minors: or

(2) Any book, pamphlet, magazine, printed matter however reproduced or sound recording which contains any matter enumerated in Subsection B(1) or explicit and detailed verbal descriptions or narrative accounts of sexual excitement, sexual conduct or sadomasochistic abuse and which, taken as a whole, is harmful to minors.

C. Admitting minor to show. It shall be unlawful for any person knowingly to exhibit for monetary consideration to a minor or knowingly to sell to a minor an admission ticket or pass or knowingly to admit a minor to premises whereon there is exhibited a motion-picture show or other presentation or performance which, in whole or in part, depicts nudity, sexual conduct or sadomasochistic abuse and which is harmful to minors.

D. Definitions. As used in Subsections B and C of this section, the following words shall have the following meanings:

HARMFUL TO MINORS

That quality of any description or representation in whatever form of nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement or sadomasochistic abuse when it:

(1) Predominantly appeals to the prurient, shameful or morbid interest of minors;

(2) Is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community as a whole with respect to what is suitable materials for minors; and

(3) Taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, educational or scientific value for minors.

KNOWINGLY

Having general knowledge of, or reason to know, or a belief or ground for belief which warrants further inspection or inquiry of both:

(1) The character and content of any material or performance described herein which is reasonably susceptible of examination by the person charged with violation of this article; and

(2) The age of the minor or the fact that minors are among those likely to view or receive the obscene materials; provided, however, that an honest mistake shall constitute an excuse from liability hereunder if the person charged with violation of this article made a reasonable bona fide attempt to ascertain the true age of such minor or to prevent minors from inclusion among those likely to view or receive the obscene materials.

MINORS

Any person under the age of 18 years.

SEXUAL EXCITEMENT

The condition of human male or female genitals when in a state of sexual stimulation or arousal.

E. Requiring sale as a condition of business dealings. No person shall knowingly require any distributor or retail seller as a condition to sale or delivery for resale or consignment of any literature, book, magazine, pamphlet, newspaper, storypaper, paper, comic book, writing, drawing, photograph, videotape, compact disk, figure or image, or any written or printed matter, or any article or instrument to purchase or take by consignment for purposes of sale, resale or distribution any obscene literature, book, magazine, pamphlet, newspaper, storypaper, paper, comic book, writing, drawing, photograph, videotape, figure or image, or any written or printed matter of an obscene nature or any article or instrument of an obscene nature.

§ 51-7 Exemptions.

Nothing in this article shall apply to any recognized historical society or museum accorded charitable status by the federal government, any county, city, borough, township or town library, any public library, any library of any school, college or university or any archive or library under the supervision and control of the commonwealth or a political subdivision.

§ 51-8 Violations and penalties.

Any person who shall violate the provisions of this article shall, upon summary conviction before any District Justice, pay a fine not to exceed $1,000 and costs of prosecution. Upon judgment against any person by summary conviction, or by proceedings by summons on default of the payment of the fine or penalty imposed and the costs, the person who shall have violated this article may be sentenced and committed to the county jail for a period not exceeding 30 days.