According to city attorney Robert Sullivan, the three establishments violated regulations laid out in a city ordinance pertaining to video viewing booths.

“In general, the ordinance requires that the video booths be located in such a way that the interior of the booths is visible from the common areas of the store. Additionally, the booths have to be lighted and kept clean. There were issues with all of those,” Sullivan said.

Of the three businesses, only the Fifth Wheel temporarily shut down as a result of the inspections. But, according to Sullivan, that temporary closure was not related to viewing booths. “Toilet facilities were not functioning properly and people were asked to use a bucket,” he said.

All three stores are currently open, and future penalties will depend on ongoing communication between the store owners and the city’s Health Department.

“The health officer is engaged in discussions with the store owners on an ongoing basis now to determine the terms and conditions under which those booths would be able to operate in the future,” Sullivan said.

Fifth Wheel, located at 851 Route 1 Bypass, was open for business last Thursday, but an employee at the front desk declined to discuss the city’s allegations. Reached by phone last Friday, an employee of Spaulding Book & Video at 80 Spaulding Turnpike said the owner would not speak to the press. According to Portsmouth health officer Kim McNamara, both stores plan to remove their viewing booths.

The Moonlite Reader was also open last week, although the store’s video viewing booths were shut down. Reached by phone on Friday, owner Del Paone said he voluntarily closed the booths to avoid any potential conflicts with the city. Paone denies that his business has ever been cited for a health code violation and said the only issues that sprang from the recent inspections involved some leaky ceiling tiles and a faulty faucet in the restroom.

“I don’t have any health violations here. All I have is a few ceiling tiles that I’m replacing because I had a water leak before I put the new roof on the building,” Paone said.

When Paone installed the viewing booths about three years ago, he went through a lengthy process of detailing his plans to the Zoning Board and received the city’s approval, he said. In order to comply with the ordinance pertaining to viewing booths, he also installed a monitor and intercom by the front counter. Only one person is allowed in each booth at a time, he said. 
Most of Paone’s business comes from retail sales, not viewing booths, he said. The store is filled with pornographic DVDs and magazines, including a series of “Hand Job” videos in a rack near the front counter. He is frustrated that both the city and the media have equated his business to Fifth Wheel and Spaulding Book & Video, which, he said, rely more heavily on viewing booths to stay afloat.

“I don’t like being ganged up with the guys across the street,” he said. “I don’t run a booth store here, I depend on retail.”
In fact, Paone is considering eliminating his viewing booths altogether. He said it is virtually impossible to comply with the city’s ordinance—specifically the portion demanding that viewing booths be visible to all common areas of the store.

“That’s absolutely impossible. How can you do that?” he asked, noting that he installed the monitor and intercom at the city’s suggestion as a way to fulfill the requirement.

Health Officer Kim McNamara said the booths never should have been built in an area that was separate from the rest of the store. She contends that it is possible to comply with the ordinance, but the surveillance equipment at Paone’s store did not enable employees to adequately monitor activity in the booths. Additionally, lighting was too low and, in the case of Fifth Wheel and Spaulding Book & Video, there were significant issues with cleanliness.

However, both Fifth Wheel and Spaulding Book & Video have given McNamara notification of their intentions to remove the booths, and Paone appears poised to do the same.

“I think it was never an impossibility (to comply), but they seem to have made sound business decisions to remove the booths," said McNamara.

According to Paone, daily newspapers and radio programs in the area inaccurately reported that the Moonlite Reader was guilty of public health violations and that the city forcibly closed down the viewing booths. Sullivan confirmed that none of the three stores’ viewing booths were forcibly shut down.

This is not the first time the city has encountered problems with its adult stores, according to Sullivan. The city ordinance currently being enforced was originally enacted about 15 years ago because of public health issues.

“It’s important to distinguish that these businesses have a First Amendment right to operate, but they have to do so in compliance with health codes,” Sullivan said.

The ordinance was enacted before Paone took over ownership of the building, which was previously home to a porn store called Peter’s Palace. He owns two other adult entertainment shops in New Hampshire, as well as two more in Massachusetts. He said this is the first time that he has run into a problem with his viewing booths at any of his five stores.

“We just don’t run that kind of operation here,” he said.