LOS ALAMITOS : Blinder Rack Required for Explicit Materials

Sexually explicit publications now must be kept under wraps to comply with a ordinance passed by the City Council requiring merchants to keep such material out of sight of children.

“We passed something that probably is about as restrictive as we are permitted to have,” Councilwoman Alice Jempsa said.

The ordinance requires that merchants install “blinder racks” to cover the lower two-thirds of material deemed harmful to children, Community Development Director Elizabeth Binsack said.

According to the California Penal Code, she said, that includes “anything that to an average person looking at a book or material for sale that would be offensive in a sexual manner, and that lacks any literary, artistic or scientific value.”

Jempsa said the council passed the ordinance after parents complained about the display of such materials.

“We’ve had citizen input, and it’s been a request, especially by mothers of teen-agers and young children, because they feel that certain types of publications shouldn’t be accessible to youngsters,” she said.

City officials declined to name specific publications that could be affected, saying that the magazines subject to the blinder rack ordinance could vary over time, depending on what was displayed on the covers.

The new ordinance applies to grocery stores, convenience stores, drugstores, liquor stores, supermarkets, bookstores, video stores or other retail outlets that allow children on the premises.

Adult book or video stores are governed by a separate ordinance, Binsack said.

A business owner who violates the ordinance can be charged with a misdemeanor and punished with a fine of up to $2,000 or one year in jail.

The penalty would most likely be substantially less for a first offense, though, Binsack said.