Adult store protest planned

Jennifer Basinger said she’s expecting about 50 people to show up at Manassas City Hall on Saturday to rally against an adult store set to open Oct. 20 on Battle Street in Old Town.

She said KK’s Temptations won’t fit in with the historic nature of the area.

“The shop I feel — and many do — is just not consistent with what Old Town is about,” Basinger said.

However, she doesn’t have anything against Kim and Kristina Skokan, the mother-and-daughter team who plan to open the store.

“It’s not a personal vendetta against the owner. It’s not an ugly, self-righteous march at all,” the 39-year-old Basinger said. “It’s really just wanting to keep Old Town the way it is.”
Basinger said the group will restrict itself to the area around City Hall between noon and 2 p.m. to avoid disrupting the Fall Jubilee that is also taking place Saturday.

“It’s peaceful. It’s non-confrontational. It’s not meant to take any thunder away from the fall festival,” she said. “It’s not going to be a bunch of people marching into Old Town.”

The Skokans originally planned to open their store Saturday, but postponed the date so that it wouldn’t coincide with the jubilee.

“We are saddened to hear that a protest will occur on what has generally been known to be one of the most successful community events of the year,” Kim Skokan said. “I would urge the groups who are participating in this peaceful protest to consider rescheduling to another day in order to not hurt the local merchants who count on this revenue for their business.”

Skokan said she figures the protesters could have chosen another day to protest in the same spirit that she delayed her opening.

“I have to wonder what the real intention is that they picked this date. If you ask me, it doesn’t show their support for the community or its economic growth,” she said.
Basinger said she also wants to send a message to city officials.

“They’re the ones that aren’t really taking the measures they need to take to keep the integrity of Old Town,” she said.

Supporters of the rally will show up with green balloons with dollar signs on them to represent the money they think Old Town merchants will loose because of KK’s Temptations, Basinger said.

“Having a sexually oriented business in a family friendly town is what really discourages business,” she said.

E-mails to the News & Messenger and to local blogs indicated that the group had asked Old Town  merchants to lock their doors between noon and 1 p.m. Saturday to protest KK’s Temptations, but Basinger said she wasn’t advocating for the closures.

“I’m really not a political agitator. I’m just a person,” she said. “At first we were saying that might be a good idea, but further reflection and talking with the business owners, it’s not possible and it’s not really right to ask them to shut down.”

Basinger said her sons also influenced her move to call for the rally.

“Because I have five kids, I don’t want a sexually oriented business in a town where they enjoy the freedom of being,” she said.

Basinger said she has heard talk from people who had planned to boycott Old Town once the Skokans’ store opens. But she said she’ll speak against any kind of retribution against Old Town merchants.

“A lot of people have said they want to boycott the businesses in Old Town, but I don’t think that that’s a good idea because they’re the ones that have made it so great,” she said. “We hope to show solidarity with the businesses. I love to shop in Old Town, and I don’t want to see them suffer because of what’s going on.”

Senior reporter Keith Walker can be reached at 703-369-6751.