Needed: Pro Bono Representation for the ‘Hardwood Cabin’
Where is the Institute for Justice when you need it? Or maybe the Pacific Legal Foundation?
A libertarian public interest organization needs to defend two victims of intrusive government regulation. From the Seattle Times:
Regan “Draco” Lane-Smith and “Naughty” Nonah Elliston outfitted their six-bedroom rental house with 15 mattresses, bondage crosses and sex swings. They built elaborate sets in their backyard for taking erotic photos. And they promoted the Hardwood Cabin online.Up to 60 guests at a time came to mingle, sunbathe nude by the pool and have sex with fellow swingers and fetishists, Elliston said. Parties were frequent enough that the couple’s laundry service was cycling through 50 bedsheets a week.
But the couple shut down the sex club last month when they were cited for running a business without a license and threatened with fines of up to $513 a day.
So it was the commercial component that got them in trouble. A post-bar-exam orgy, or some German prison role playing, would have been just fine.
There are legal connections to this story in addition to the licensing and zoning issues. Read more, after the jump.
Was there a business being operated here? The couple claims there wasn’t:
Elliston and Lane-Smith say they’re being persecuted for their lifestyle, and insist they didn’t charge admission. They’re looking for somewhere new to host parties. They say they should have the right to live their lives and use their property the way they see fit.“We’re happy hedonists,” Elliston said. “As far as I know you’re still allowed to throw a party in your house.”
Elliston, 40, and Lane-Smith, 39, met at a swingers party in Puyallup seven years ago and married three years later. Lane-Smith is a self-employed computer consultant; Elliston does consulting work in the court system.
Maybe the Ninth Circuit? They’re not a prudish crew over there.
And guess who’s coming to orgy?
Elliston counted police officers, nurses and lawyers among her guests, she said. Members were as young as 22 and as old as 80.
Paralegals, associates, partners — all are welcome.
The couple hosted a naked rally for presidential candidate Barack Obama and naked karaoke nights.
Yes We Can… have lots and lots of sex. As soon as we can get the government off our backs. Can someone please pass the lube?
Swingers shut down Des Moines sex club after neighbors complain, city intervenes [Seattle Times]
(30) Comments
Comments
First!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
#1,
You are so awesome that I wish I could be you.
Oh wait. I am you.
Anyway..........I can't wait until I get home and tell the Mrs. #1 that I have succeeded in my quest to be the first post ever.
This is the most awesomest thing ever!!!!!!!
Why is that these people are most often really fat and really ugly?
#3 - Because the county or city wouldn't have shut them down if they were a gorgeous playboy/playgirl looking couple - they would have had to spend months on an undercover investigation participating in the events to ensure that it was, in fact, a business.
i just threw up in my mouth just looking at the pic.
fatuglies
#1 here again. I was too concerned with being FIRST to bother with reading the post. Oddly enough, I still have not read it. I'm proof that this first thing is crap.
Based on #s 3 and 5, I see no reason to read this crap.
Time to vote Lat off.
I have an idea: "Rotating EICs." It seems to me that the site traffic experiences huge spikes related to either layoffs, raises, GULC=TTT, or this Idol crap.
I think there should be a new EIC appointed every month or so. That way, we can constantly bash contestants.
I have not had this much fun since Hope Winters! Hope, I miss you so.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080814/ap_on_fe_st/odd_noisy_sex
LONDON - A British man has been banned from visiting his girlfriend's home after neighbors complained about noisy sex, a local official said Thursday.
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A court barred Adam Hinton, 32, from being within 110 yards of his 29-year-old girlfriend Kerry Norris' apartment, Brighton and Hove City Council spokesman Mike Taggart said.
Residents of Norris's publicly owned home had been complaining since 2006 about thumping music, banging headboards and screamed obscenities, Taggart said.
Neighbors also complained about Norris sunbathing naked in her yard, and were upset that a 6-year-old child in the building had been "subjected to the sort of obscenities you wouldn't want a 6-year-old to hear," the spokesman said.
"She is a classic nightmare neighbor," Taggart said, insisting the case was not about sex. "It's about allowing your neighbors to have a normal decent life without being disturbed."
The court granted the city council's request for an injunction banning Hinton from the apartment because Norris had ignored a previous court order demanding that she be more quiet, Taggart said.
Norris last week was forced to pay $560 in fines and court costs for breaking the "noise abatement order," Taggart said.
Neither Norris or Hinton could be immediately located for comment. Brighton and Hove is located in southern England.
#1 Here Again. Just wanted to let everyone know that I am going to be spending the weekend day dreaming about being someone else-perhaps someone with friends. A guy can dream cant he....
There is something about that picture that makes me want to throw a harpoon.
#9 It's the fact that they are both fat.
title should have been
needed: pro boner representation for the hardwood cabin
FIRST to say #1 should become a posting meme along the lines of FRAT STUD and the late, great Loyola 2L
This stinks.
I hope Halverson eats #1. Slowly.
"The couple hosted a naked rally for presidential candidate Barack Obama and naked karaoke nights."
This is one of those rare instances where I have no comment.
Fed Soc
Editor: How will a reader know if the pic next to the blog item is a picture of the pervs in the story?
9:00 - By clicking through to the Seattle Times article linked to in the post.
#1 here again.
As opposed to #8, I am the real #1. Regardless, I applaud #8 for his post. Quite funny.
As to #14, your post has caused me to never strive again to be #1. I'm not rail thin, but I would imagine I would be akin to a single french fry to Halverson.
Maybe if I were part of a soylent green shake......
Having once worked as an attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation, I must note that this kind of nudity was relatively rare at headquarters.
From the Internet Way Back Machine at www.archive.org:
The Hard Wood Cabin is a place to meet for playful adult fun. Do you need a place to hold your adult/swinger party at? We have a 7 room ranch style log cabin with a large heated outdoor pool/3- 6 person hot tubs available for use. Our facility can accommodate medium sized groups of 30-90 people for play parties. We have a large kitchen with a grill, high speed wireless internet access and a Xbox Game System, Star Trek Pin Ball Machine, TV's with DVD and VHS, large common safe area, dining room area, storage shelves for your belongings and lots of king and queen sized beds to play on. We also have a massage table available as well. We have an adult swing too. We have video recording equipment available as well if you�re interested in that option too. We would like for all our members to have photos on their profiles. and a full profile filled out, I don't think it is too much to ask for these days. Many ask for adult status, we just want to know if you are real. Some people we know and we will know if we see their pic. Please add us to your messenger buddy list if you have one. Be sure to visit our web site at www.hardwoodcabin.com
http://web.archive.org/web/20080127092256/http://www.hardwoodcabin.com/
http://web.archive.org/web/20070112233157rn_2/groups.yahoo.com/group/HardWoodCabin/
They have Xbox? I'm in.
FIRST!!!!!
21 -- are those links NFWS?
Lat, your constant Halverson references betray the fact that you either have limited humor or serious fat issues. Is it because you used to be fat? Or is it because you're not good at coming up with new funnies?
Who doesn't have fat issues?
Halverson, though, isn't just fat. She's grossly, morbidly obese. Which is sad, yet kinda funny.
Jesus, Lat, why the fat hate fixation? Some people are overweight. Some are obese. Some are obese to the point of being huge. Some are average. Some are skinny. Some are anorexic. Who gives a f***? Can't you find something more interesting to write about and more intelligent to say than all this "LOL YOUR FAT" crap? You lose more and more intelligence points every time you post another hate-on-fatties story.
After looking at that picture they should change the name to the Softwood Cabin.
Well done 28.
I think Mike Rowe and the Dirty Jobs crew needs to spend a day at this place. Let Mike help with the clean-up there like doing the laundry, bleaching down ... everything, skimming the foam off the pool and hot tubs, and picking up used latex. He might just have to retire after that one.