8,000 Pickets Have Made Life Miserable For Porn Merchant

MESQUITE, Nev. - Sam Cianciola, as he chain-smokes cigarettes behind the counter of Pure Pleasure Adult Book Store, says he's going to fill Utah and Arizona with pornography.

But first, he's got to figure out a way to get his broken-down Cadillac out of the parking lot.

That's because the 24-hour porno shop, just across the Arizona line in Nevada, has been under round-the-clock siege, largely by Mormons, since it opened in September 1993. At last count, about 8,000 people from Nevada, Arizona and Utah have put in time monitoring business at the store.

A spokesman for the Guinness Book of World Records said that no records have been kept about the longest non-union, nonstop protest in history.

But members of the Mesquite, Nev., anti-pornography group HOME - Help Our Moral Environment - claim the record.

All of which really gets to Cianciola as he rings up a John Wayne Bobbitt rental video and frowns at a man who asks, "Do you have anything on inbreeding?" He says the anti-pornography group's protest is cutting his business in half, costing about $5,000 daily in sales.

"See those people out there?" Cianciola asked, motioning toward the street in front of the bookstore where two older women hold signs saying "Satan's Library" and "To the Victor Goes Our Children."

"They call themselves Mormons. But they're really morons. They believe in that angel Moroni."

Their faith, and the desire to keep pornography out of small

communities in traditionally Mormon areas of the West, have led to the most determined siege on U.S. soil since Vicksburg. They say it will continue as long as the store is open.

EVERY CUSTOMER RECORDED

With each vehicle entering the parking lot, the license plate, a physical description of its occupants and the time entering and leaving are entered in a log kept by the picketers. They call the police when they think something is out of line, such as the time a couple had sex in their car in the parking lot in May.

Three months ago, two Utah state employees visited the store, driving 30 miles to Mesquite in a state vehicle on state time. By the time they got out of the store, their bosses in Salt Lake City already knew. Each was suspended three weeks without pay.

Others who try to breach the protest are more savvy. They pull up in the wee hours and park at angles, trying to avoid detection. Some even remove their license plates, which is instantly reported to Mesquite police.

One truck driver became so frustrated last year that he rammed his 18-wheeler through strikers' chairs as they scattered for their lives.

"They predicted that we would be here two weeks when this began, but now it's going on two years," one protester said. "We won't be going anywhere until they quit trying to peddle their filth in our communities."

NO END ON THE HORIZON

Eldorado Drive, a Nevada corporation that is the parent company of Pure Pleasure, filed a federal lawsuit against Mesquite last year saying that its First Amendment rights were being violated. That suit was filed after Mesquite's planning and zoning department ordered the store to remove its peep-show booths because the height of the walls violated the fire code.

That suit is not expected to be settled anytime soon. And Cianciola has given up trying to do anything about the pickets.

One of Mesquite's two large casinos, the Virgin River, owns the lot adjacent to the porno shop. Casino owners allowed the protesters to set up a trailer with electricity, running water, telephone and even a misting system for hot summer days.

Meanwhile, the noose continues to tighten around the store.

Mesquite's local cab company won't bring passengers to it. Local restaurants won't deliver food.

Cianciola also said he is snubbed by many of Mesquite's merchants when he goes shopping, and that a local grocery store held up a shipment of cat food he had ordered. He said he had a heck of a time finding a place to live before finally being allowed to stay in a local pay-by-the-week hotel.

Worst of all, Cianciola said, is that he has been unable for weeks to get someone to tow his Cadillac so the engine can be repaired.

The protesters think that's a hoot.

Kim Nielson of Santa Clara, Utah, warmed his hands at a big smudge pot on the sidewalk outside the store. He quickly raised a pair of binoculars strapped around his neck to his eyes as another protester yelled "Incoming!" - indicating that another car was heading for the bookstore.

Cianciola said he plans to bring in nude dancers eventually and that he is trying to buy land along the Nevada-Utah state line to build houses of prostitution, which are legal in Nevada. After that, Cianciola said, he is planning to open a direct-mail service of sexually explicit materials for distribution to southern Utah.

"We're going to call it Long Distance Sales - LDS," said Cianciola, a mocking reference to the Mormon church's other name: Latter-Day Saints. A smile crosses his face. "I'm sure that will get their attention."