The battle lines are starting to be drawn over adult entertainment in Coweta County.

For nearly two years, the Coweta County Board of Commissioners has imposed a moratorium on any adult entertainment coming into the county by researching an ordinance to regulate the industry.

But an item on Tuesday morning's commission meeting agenda to reset the public hearing date on the ordinance drew members from the county's religious community to the commission chambers.

Local minister the Rev. Douglas Pitts said adult entertainment would bring all sorts of sins and problems to the county.

“Crime will be increasing, along with more liquor. Then we'll also have more gays and lesbians coming into the county,” said Pitts.

County Commissioner Robert Wood thanked the minister for his comments, but said there was a separation of church and state in the country and adult entertainment meant different things to different people.

“Sitting around drinking coffee is adult entertainment to me,” Wood said.

The minister confronted Wood and asked him to show one document that shows a separation of church and state and Wood said he would be glad to comply.

County attorney Mitch Powell weighed in by saying that there may be some confusion about the issue.

“We are trying to limit adult entertainment to the extent allowed by the law. That's why it's taken us so long with research,” Powell said.

The attorney said he had just received a study on the industry, along with numerous ordinances from other government agencies that have dealt with the issue.

Since the county just received all the information, Powell recommended the county set the public hearing on the ordinance for Jan. 13, 2000.

Commission Chairman Lawrence Nelms explained the county's current ordinances would have allowed adult entertainment into the county.

“That's why we established this moratorium. We needed more time to study it,” he said.

When the county does draft an ordinance, Powell said the definition of adult entertainment will be closely spelled out and defined.

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