Woman Fights Arrest For Selling Adult Products
Couple Challenge State Obscenity Law
Chris and Joanne Webb live in Burleson, a town of 25,000, south of Fort Worth.The Webbs call themselves active Christians who vote Republican."We've raised three kids who have all accepted Christ as their savior. That's a big thing that parents hope for and push for. We've tithed. We've served. We've been on committees," Chris Webb said.Joanne Webb is a former schoolteacher who is one of the Chamber of Commerce's top volunteers."Those kids and that family are first class. They volunteer. They give their heart to the community," said Greg Solomon, the chamber's president.When Joanne Webb started hosting Passion Parties for women and selling lotions, books and toys to spice up a couple's love life, she registered her business with the chamber.It was a shock when she was arrested for selling her products.Police had targeted Webb in an undercover sting, she said. Two officers posed as a couple and purchased two adult products.Joanne Webb did not know she was the focus of an undercover sting until a month later when a police officer called her and told her there was a warrant out for her arrest.An officer told her that police were going to raid her home so her husband packed up the products and hit the road."They (were) in a box in the back of the van and (I made) a dash for the county line," Chris Webb said.Joanne Webb said some prominent city leaders were behind it, but those same people at police headquarters and city hall refused to talk to News2Houston about it.A clerk explained how some think."Why does she have to show how (the product) works?" the unidentified woman said.But many diners at the Country Cafe defended Joanne Webb's business."I think the laws need to change because she didn't do anything wrong," a diner said."It's private. Why keep badgering her about it? They ought to just drop it," another diner said.Immediately after his arrest, Chris Webb, a Sunday school teacher of eight years, had a nervous breakdown, News2Houston reported.Several months later, the Webbs declared bankruptcy.Now they are trying to save their 3,400-square foot home."Is it worth it? Yes, I have been in these parties and seen the difference it can make in women's lives to be able to become more comfortable with their sexuality," Joanne Webb said.But it's come at a personal cost. Her sister in Houston has disowned her."Basically, my sister has told me I am no longer welcome in her home," Joanne Webb said.Attorney BeAnn Sisemore filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Texas obscenity law, which she said, is so broad many Texans could be arrested."The law tells us if we possess six or more items that are designed or marketed as useful primarily for stimulations of the human genital organs that we violate this law," Sisemore said.If Joanne Webb is convicted, she could face up to a year in prison.For more information on Joanne Webb's business or her legal fight, visit her Web site at www.partiesbyjoanne.biz.Copyright 2004 by Click2Houston.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.






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