Airport newsstands should not sell sexy magazines, he says.
By JANET ZINK, Times Staff Writer
Published October 5, 2005
TAMPA - Reading materials are a must on any long airplane trip with barely a pretzel to break up the monotony.
Tampa International Airport stands ready to entertain with newsstands carrying a huge variety of magazines and newspapers.
But pornography should not be part of the inventory, said David Caton, executive director of the Florida Family Association, a conservative advocacy group.
The airport is no place for magazines such as Hustler, Genesis and Club with "explicit content that goes far beyond nudity," said Caton in a letter to Hillsborough County Aviation Authority members.
"This is not the kind of product that the government should allow to be sold in an airport," Caton said.
TIA is public property overseen by the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority, an independent government agency that is supported largely by charges to airlines and parking fees.
The authority contracts with Host International Inc. for retail sales.
Airport executive director Louis Miller said the matter has been turned over to attorneys to make sure Host complies with Florida law regarding the display and sale of adult materials. Customers need to be 18 or older, and the magazines are kept behind a counter in cases that conceal their cover photographs.
At the newsstand in the airport's main terminal, some titles and headlines of racy magazines can be seen from the counter. Cheri magazine boasts in bold pink letters that it's the "biggest hottest nastiest sex mag ever," and The Best of Club promises "Gorgeous Chicks, Sexxxy Pics."
Adult customers have the right to purchase those magazines if they wish, Miller said.
But Caton worries that a customer will buy an adult magazine and open it at a gate or on an airplane, subjecting a child or other people to images they don't want to see.
Miller said it's just as easy for a traveler to buy an adult magazine at a convenience store and open it on a plane.
Other government agencies, including Florida's Turnpike, a division of the Department of Transportation, prohibit the sale of adult magazines on their property.
"We have a family environment that we're trying to foster," said Richard Nelson, concession manager for the turnpike, which also contracts with Host.
Representatives of Host did not return calls for comment.
The aviation authority's contract with the company allows the agency to order the immediate removal of any retail item it finds objectionable.
"I'm in favor of keeping a high moral standard," said authority board member Al Austin. "If it's graphic and inappropriate, we would want that removed."
But that raises the question of what's graphic and inappropriate, he said.
Board member Ken Anthony said he travels a lot and often stops at the airport newsstands, but has never noticed the adult magazines.
"If somebody sees it, they must really be looking for it," he said.
