PORNOGRAPHY IS ILLEGAL

Donna Miller is president of the local chapter of the American

Not all elected officials act like public servants to the people who voted them in. One would think that they would be appreciative or in some way communicate with the same citizens in their jurisdiction. It takes a mighty low politician to shuffle their duties to subordinates or, worse, refuse to speak at all. It has recently been discovered that some elected officials have no other superiors to answer to except those people they are supposed to serve.

Step by step, I would like to show you how one citizen has been treated.

1. I voted for a prosecuting attorney in 1990 who, I felt, could best serve Cape Co.l

2. I became educated on the harms of pornography and found that Missouri has definite laws against this (selling, renting, receiving or distributing).

3. The prosecutor of a county is supposed to uphold the laws of the state.

4. A x-x-x-rated video was rented with a planted witness so it could be turned over to the police immediately as illegal.

5. The prosecutor publicly states that "what consenting adults do behind closed is their business." Even if it is illegal??

6. The prosecutor stalls for many weeks speaking through his office help blaming first the slowness of the police and then his busy schedule.

7. I was informed by the prosecutor, (the only live contact we've had) 3 mos. after the police received the tape, that a survey was being conducted.

8. Being kind, but knowing community standards cannot be set by people unless they have viewed the pornography in question, I waited for the results.

9. After 3 more weeks of stalling, my husband was told on a Thurs. (by the prosecutor himself that he would send us a copy of the survey (What the prosecutor failed to mention was that he had already decided not to act on the video.

10. On Friday afternoon, after the prosecutor went home for the weekend, I received via the ma????? a letter by the elected official with his decision. The survey results were included. I guess he felt that Cap Co. community standards are so low that illegal pornography is acceptable.

11. Friday night I began to review the survey. AFter 2 hours of reading questions like: "Do you feel that adults should be prosecuted for watching, in their homes, a sexually explicit movie of an adult man and woman having sexual intercourse?" and comments like: That woman who is addicted to pornography needs psychological help, not help from the police (paraphrased). I became somewhat disturbed.

12. All I've ever asked was to ride Cape Co. of all pornography, not prosecute anyone or harm any business.

13. Friday night 10:45 p.m.: My husband called the prosecutor (who stated it was not too late) to ask what was on the cover letter of the survey and why we did not receive it. (total phone call, 20 minutes)

14. I am not now nor have I ever been addicted to pornography.

15. On Sat. I typed a letter asking people to contact the prosecutor and ask him to uphold Missouri's pornography laws.

16. I received the cover letter and the police reported on Monday. The police report had exaggerated statements which led to the cover letter stating "I am in the process of trying to come up with a formal policy about how to handle pornography complaints. This was triggered by a woman who claims she and her husband were `addicted' to pornography.

17. I then realized that I was on trial, not pornography which is illegal in Missouri should we make a formal policy about how to handle murder complaints?

18. I have never met the prosecutor and the prosecutor has never met me.

19. My husband called to make an informal meeting a???? with the prosecutor so he could see, as parents why we did what we did.

20. The prosecutor refuses to speak to us under any circumstances.

Back to Step 1.

Here I am. I've laid everything out for everyone to read. No more speculation or questions need to be rumored. My personal motives as a mother, a wife and a woman will be reserved for the time I will meet our elected prosecuting attorney face to face. Someday, somewhere I will have the opportunity to shake his hand and introduce myself.

Next time, don't be hasty in passing judgment on those who really care for you and your family. You may be the next victim. Pornography is illegal. Let's uphold Missouri law and clean up Cape Co.