Rapid City, South Dakota Valiantly Protects Citizens From Adolescent Boners

I'd estimate that about 40 percent of my adolescent sex education was informed by the aisles of the Spencer's Gifts at Washington Square Mall in Indianapolis. So this story hit close to the . . . heart.

Spencer Gifts LLC could face criminal charges in the coming days because the city says the national retailer is operating an unlicensed adult-oriented business at Rushmore Mall.

On Monday, the Rapid City Police Department seized more than 2,000 sex-related products from Spencer's as possible evidence that the store meets the definition of an adult-oriented business.

City Attorney Jason Green said Tuesday he anticipated filing charges within a week based on the information gathered from Monday's search warrant.

"We'll get the reports from the police department and determine what charges to file," Green said.

Under city ordinance, operating an adult-oriented business without a license is punishable by a $200 fine and 30 days in jail for every day a business fails to register. Businesses can sell adult merchandise without a license as long as it does not make up a "substantial or significant portion of its stock."…

During Monday's raid, police officers entered Spencer's about 9 p.m. and did not start loading the boxed merchandise into police vehicles until after midnight.

On multiple occasions, officers brought in more cardboard boxes, and police Lt. Tom Vlieger, who oversaw the search warrant's execution, confirmed there was more merchandise affected than they had anticipated.

The search warrant, which was signed by Magistrate Judge Scott Bogue, allowed officers to seize all merchandise designed for use during sexual activity, books, films or other visual representations of sexual activity or anatomical areas, novelty items depicting genitals or exposed female breasts and packaging of items depicting sexual activity or anatomical areas, according to court documents. 

An inventory of all of the seized merchandise included in the court documents listed more than 2,000 items.

Someone at the Rapid City Police Department is going to get a hell of a retirement party.

Comments

[pussee munster]

"Everyone thinks that anyone with a brain must agree with them--liberals, conservatives, libertarian--you name it.

They are all equally convinced that anyone who disagrees with them is a worthless excuse for a human being.

Any participation on my part won't change the political system in any way or how others choose to participate.

Why should I care about politics at all?"

[MikeP]

Under city ordinance, ...[b]usinesses can sell adult merchandise without a license as long as it does not make up a "substantial or significant portion of its stock."...

The search warrant, which was signed by Magistrate Judge Scott Bogue, allowed officers to seize all merchandise designed for use during sexual activity, books, films or other visual representations of sexual activity or anatomical areas, novelty items depicting genitals or exposed female breasts and packaging of items depicting sexual activity or anatomical areas, according to court documents.

I hate to get all statisticy on the fine public servants of Rapid City, but that search warrant does not meet the prima facie requirements that the law in question is being violated.

In order to prove the law is being violated, the police would need to randomly select items without attention to their prurient nature and then show them to the prosecutor, judge and jury.

[pussee munster]

""Everyone thinks that anyone with a brain must agree with them--liberals, conservatives, libertarian--you name it.

They are all equally convinced that anyone who disagrees with them is a worthless excuse for a human being.

Any participation on my part won't change the political system in any way or how others choose to participate.

Why should I care about politics at all?""

[Cyto]

You shouldn't. Now you can quit asking...

[Cyto]

Note to self, don't joke reply to a spam-bot.

[DJ Drugs]

Not to mention this gets close to the same issues that complicate the issuance of search warrants for obscenity violations.

[John]

Spencer Gifts is still in business? Is Rapid City existing in some kind of 1980s time warp?

[Cyto]

Where else are you going to find a little plastic sculpture of a fat guy on a toilet that makes farting and flush noises?

[The Gobbler]

Tony's curio stand.

[Srsly?]

Um, the internet?

I know Rapid City is not exactly a cosmopolitan utopia, but they do have the internet.

[DJ Drugs]

Which I could use to figure out what Spencer Gifts is. But I'm not, so I'll continue in my fog of ignorance.

[Scrat]

Spencer Gifts is still in business? Is Rapid City existing in some kind of 1980s time warp?

We're a 30 min drive from Sturgis, SD, the town where the largest motorcycle rally is held on a yearly basis. So... no.

[choppy]

considering the bikes are mostly Hardley Davidsons it's not the 80's but more like the 40's we're warping to 🙂

[RobSmalls]

Rapid City is a fine town to grow up in, but I'm glad as hell I left when I graduated high school.

[Bill]

Rushmore Mall, however, is. If its rival outdoor shopping center, where two of the Mall's its anchor stores (a sports superstore and Target) have moved, gets anymore traction, the only thing it will have going for it is central heating.

[Sandi]

I took a shit in Rapid City once.

[Pope Jimbo]

Well thanks. That turd became sentient and is now known as Magistrate Judge Scott Bogue.

Do us a favor and hold it until you get to Wyoming next time.

[BakedPenguin]

John, we have a Spencer's in Orlando. Or we did, the last time I went to the mall. Which was probably about three years ago.

[sounds from the Super Collider]

1987 PA System: Clean up on aisle 6. That damned Balko kid sprayed his junk on the titty pictures again.

[Brandon]

Isn't this law, specifically the "substantial or significant portion of its stock" part, pretty clearly unconstitutionally vague?

[Rapid City Police Officer]

Ha! The Constitution... that pesky thing. I'm pretty sure the Supreme Court outlawed it already. And even if they didn't, it's not like anything'd ever happen to me for blatantly violating it!

[bubba]

They couldn't just send a letter to the store asking them to either apply for a license or document their inventory?

[generic Brand]

I'm not gonna lie; I am pretty surprised this hasn't happened sooner. Spencer's always had a knack for pretty kooky items that would eventually get someone worked up in a moralistic way.

[OO=======D]

"Rapid City, South Dakota Valiantly Protects Citizens From Adolescent Boners.

They are the worst kind you know.

[Tulpa]

Adolescents get boners watching fiberglass insulation commercials (at least I did back then), so I don't think this law stands much of a chance of achieving its purpose.

[Home depot]

That explains the goo on the pink insulation.

[rac]

Will they outlaw Hickory Farms next? I always get a boner in that place.

[Anita Boner]

And the size of those sausages!

[rac]

Oh, is that considered big?

[perhaps]

If you are circumcised!

[Peter North]

Not particularly, no...

[Brandybuck]

Hey baby, how about you and me and a summer sausage...

[BakedPenguin]

You joke, but those sausages contain a lot of nitrates, which are vasodilators.

[Mary Larssen]

I am glad to see this gone. Good riddance. This junk is poison to the soul. God does not want us to have this stuff. That is why it should be illegal.

[rac]

Jack Chick enthusiast?

[Almighty God]

If I wanted it to be gone, don't you think I could have smote it? Do you doubt My power?

[Pip]

There are some who say that you herd sheep.

[choppy]

And help push them over the fence too

[Pray Day Loaner]

Dear God. Now I lay me down to sleep. Pray that you might allow Spencers to keep selling Truck Nuts. How else will I recognize evil delinquents on the road?

Thanks God!

[doug carson]

Spencer's was my only source for "truck nuts", which I hang under my bass fiddle. They are always good for a riotous time.

[Aresen]

Someone at the Rapid City Police Department is going to get a hell of a retirement party.

That was my first thought.

[Susan]

They should at least not let anyone under 21 in the store.

[Aresen]

Got news for you Susie. Nobody but a horse is over 21.

Inches, that is.

[Long Dong Silver]

Who you callin' a horse?

[dairydog91]

Can Dumbo go into the store? He is young, but then again, he is an elephant...

[P Brooks]

I've never been to Spencer Gifts, in Rapid City, but I stopped at Walmart to grab a couple quarts of oil as I was driving cross country.

Holy shit, there are some ugly people in rapid City. Either that, or George Romero was filming another zombie movie.

[Tulpa]

I heard he filmed NOTLD in western PA to save on makeup costs.

[Scrat]

Judgmental, elitist fucking asshole? I thought that was the left's domain?

[Rrabbit]

The holiday season is getting closer, and the police need some gifts for their loved ones.

[Lurker Kurt]

I'd estimate that about 40 percent of my adolescent sex education was informed by the aisles of the Spencer's Gifts

Mine too from the Spencer's in St. Clair Square near St. Loius.

[BakedPenguin]

Wow. You didn't have any friends who'd swipe a copy of their dad's Playboy / Penthouse / Oui / Hustlers?

[Dave]

it really sucks growing up in a community of missionaries.

[P Brooks]

Judgmental, elitist fucking asshole?

Why, yes.

Yes, I am.

ps- I was driving across South Dakota in my Porsche; nyah, nyah, nyah.

[Rather]

You should be fined by Reason every time you mention your Porsche. Hell, the fundraising would be over already. P, haven't noticed your name on the banner. Gas too expensive? 😉

[Tom]

Spencer's Gifts at Washington Square Mall in Indianapolis

Dude, that was my old stomping ground. I looked up Radley's bio and found out that I am not the only libertarian who was raised in Hancock County. I seriously thought everyone from Greenfield was a klan member and a republican. I'm glad to see a local boy accomplish something.

[wylie]

I'd estimate that about 40 percent of my adolescent sex education was informed by the aisles of the Spencer's Gifts at Washington Square Mall in Indianapolis.

Any connection to the nutpunching Radley dishes out on a daily basis? Meh, I'm not gonna judge.

[wylie]

Oh, and how much of their merchandise gets returned when the charges don't stick?

[BakedPenguin]

Whatever the percentage is of stuff that gets broken when the cops fuck around with it.

[Rocco]

Bunch of homos at rapid city police.

[Rocco]

Bunch of homos at rapid city police.

[Alan Kellogg]

When correctly viewed
Every thing is lewd
I can tell you things about Peter Pan
Or the Wizard of Oz, There's a dirty old man

[David Noles]

Damn I didn't get by there before they cleaned it out:-) But SD is low tax and pro gun.

[bob]

Sears catalog, manikins and breast-feeding pamphlets at the doctors office for me. I'm surprised I'm not a serial killer -- although I am a undercover pervert. Thanks moral society.

[[e-mail]]

You buy oil for your Porsche at Wal-Mart? Doesn't merely entering a Wal-mart void your warranty?

[Wesley]

Did anyone else see the title and immediately want to listen to some Kinky Friedman?

[Bill]

Re the Spencers @ the Mall. There is also signs that a "place of worship" will be "opening" at the mall. Likely we have a community standards issue being forced.

http://www.rushmoremall.com/directory.asp?new

As I said earlier, a rival area elsewhere in town, no new major retail to replace their lost anchors (save for the Jewelry store next door moving in), and the next big thing is a church -- the red flag that said mall is about to die.

The cops may have done the joint a public service by putting them out of their misery.

[????? ??????]

Thanks

[????? ??????]

Thanks