ORANGE BEACH, Ala.(WPMI) Orange Beach and Gulf Shores city officials are pushing for a law to restrict stores from displaying t-shirts and merchandise that are considered obscene.
Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon said the the law is needed, this after a recent trip to a souvenir shop. City council members in both cities will consider the proposed ordinance. Monday night, city councils in both cities met to discuss vulgarity ordinances. At issue are t-shirts depicting sex acts, drugs, drinking and foul language.
It's not what the mayor of Orange Beach said he wanted to see on a trip to the local souvenir shop with his wife and young son.
"I walked in and right there by the cash register, there was an obscene shirt with a saying with the " f " word and I started looking around and it was the most obscene thing I've ever seen," said Kennon. "Alvins Island and Surf Style those were the two."
"If you are going to promote a sex shop then you need to be a sex shop, and we can isolate that based on zoning," said Orange Beach City Administrator Ken Grimes.
"So we are asking that they put them in a room behind a closed door where kids and people who don't want to be offended by it wont have to look at it," said Kennon.
Grant Brown with the city of Gulf Shores said the city council is also drafting new rules similar to Orange Beach's.
"Not saying that they can't be sold, but we want to restrict them to an area in the store so that the patrons of the store know what they are getting themselves into and have it restricted to ages 18 and over," said Brown.
The owners at Alvins Island based in South Florida did not comment. Surf Style stores are owned by local businessman and Hangout owner Shaul Zislin. He said he'll comment after Monday night's council action.
