Kern County Municipal Code Ch. 9.12 Offenses Against Public Decency

A. Finding of Fact Leading to Enactment. Residents of the county have petitioned the board of supervisors of the county to prevent persons who display, sell or offer to sell upholstered or stuffed articles depicting, simulating or caricaturing female breasts from vending such articles at sites adjacent to and near county highways. Those petitioners have represented, and this board of supervisors finds, that county highways regularly are traversed by adults and children who have no recourse except to use those highways going to and from school, to play and recreation, to stores, offices, churches, and otherwise following their daily activities, and that vending such articles adjacent to and near county highways is indecent, offensive to the senses, an unwarranted intrusion upon the right of adults and children freely to use the county highways in their legitimate comings and goings and to be free in such travels from vulgar, sexist and exploitative displays and exhibitions by the vendors thereof.

The petitioners have represented, and the board of supervisors finds, that (unlike indecent and vulgar displays in movies, newspapers, television and other places, the offensiveness of which can be prevented or controlled by turning off the set, canceling a subscription, declining to purchase, or nonattendance) the hawking of those articles named by its vendor and sold as "boobies pillows" along the public highways is a species of indecency and vulgarity which cannot be ignored or controlled by passersby, which assails the eyes and minds of all who are required to use county highways, and which should be barred and controlled for the peace, safety and welfare of the unincorporated areas of the county.

B. Display and Sale Banned Within One Thousand (1,000) Feet of Highways. No vendor shall vend stuffed articles depicting the female breasts (sold as "boobie pillows") within one thousand (1,000) feet of any county highway.

C. Regulation of Display More Than One Thousand (1,000) Feet from Highways. No vendor shall vend stuffed articles depicting the female breasts (sold as "boobie pillows") anywhere in the unincorporated area of the county unless:

1. There is prominently displayed at the point of vending a written consent to vending given to the vendor by the owner of the property on which the vending occurs, identifying the vendor and the owner of such property and describing such property in detail, dated no more than five (5) days earlier than any date on which vending occurs, describing in detail the articles to be vended, and explicitly stating the permission of the owner to allow the vendor to engaged in vending such articles on the property;

2. No articles, equipment or stock in trade shall be visible to minors of normal visual acuity from any part of any sidewalk, shoulder or traveled portion of the county highway adjacent to any boundary of the property used for such vending; and

3. Each article involved in such vending is plainly and indelibly labeled as required by the provisions of Article 5 of Chapter 3 of Division 8 of the Business and Professions Code. In the absence of proof to the contrary, it shall be presumed that a vending site more than one thousand (1,000) feet from a county highway at which there are boobie pillows or other stock in trade of the type described in paragraph (2) of this subsection is not visible to minors of normal acuity viewing it from any part of any sidewalk, shoulder or traveled portion of such adjacent county highway.

D. Violation a Misdemeanor. Violation of subsections (B) or (C) of this section is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than five hundred dollar ($500.00) or imprisonment in the county jail for not more than ninety (90) days, or by both such fine and imprisonment. Each day of violation shall constitute a separate offense.

(Prior code § 5670)

Display of matter which is harmful to minors, as defined in Chapter 7.6 of Title 9 of the California Penal Code, in a public place, other than a public place from which minors are excluded, is prohibited unless a device commonly known as a blinder rack is placed in front of such matter, so that the lower two-thirds (⅔) of the matter is not exposed to view. This section shall not be construed to authorize any act otherwise prohibited by subdivision (a) or (c) of Section 313.1 of Chapter 7.6 of Title 9 of the California Penal Code.

(Ord. G-4670 § 2, 1988: prior code § 5450)

A. It is unlawful for any person, firm, corporation, partnership, association or other legal entity to place, or the owner, purchaser or lessee of any coin-operated vending machine to cause to be placed, in the unincorporated area of the county, any coin-operated vending machine containing sexually explicit material at any place accessible to the public, including but not limited to all streets, sidewalks and commercial shopping areas, except a public place from which minors are excluded, unless such coin-operated vending machine is permanently marked or labeled with a sign or sticker which reads "SEXUALLY EXPLICIT MATERIAL—MUST BE 18 YEARS OLD TO PURCHASE." Said marking or labeling will be displayed on the machine so as to be in plain public view from the side of the machine from which the material is purchased. The labeling will be in red letters with a white background or back letters with a clear background. Lettering will be not less than two (2) inches in height and one-quarter (¼) inch in thickness.

B. As used in this section, "sexually explicit material" means any of the following: depictions of sexual intercourse, oral copulation, anal intercourse, oral-anal copulation, bestiality, sadism, masochism, or excretory functions in conjunction with sexual activity, masturbation, or lewd exhibition of the genitals, whether any of the above conduct is depicted or described as being performed alone or between members of the same or opposite sex or between humans and animals, or any other act of sexual arousal involving any physical contact with female breasts or a person's genitals, pubic region, pubic hair, perineum, anus or anal region.

C. Violation of this section shall constitute an infraction punishable by a fine of one hundred dollars ($100.00) for each full day any coin-operated vending machine is not in compliance with this section. Each full day of noncompliance shall constitute a separate offense. A second conviction for violation of this section shall be punishable by a fine of two hundred fifty dollars ($250.00) for each full day any coin-operated vending machine is not in compliance with this section. Each full day of noncompliance shall constitute a separate offense.

(Ord. G-6214 § 2, 1995)