This is a little dated, but I did not have time to write a story. Update at the end of the article.

From the American Family Association of Indiana

Profiles In Courage!
Jackson County, IN Protesters Make an Unprecedented Stand

In this day of moral relativism, when making a judgment about someone’s behavior is taboo, this is a story that is hard to believe.

Perhaps the good people of Jackson County, in the small town of Uniontown, simply didn’t know any better. When a porn chain store opened along Interstate 65 in Southeast Indiana four years ago, no one must have told a group of concerned citizens that they would embark upon a journey no other group in the Midwest has traveled.

These patriots cared about preserving their Hoosier values and they were not about to allow smut peddlers to harm marriages and families with the distribution of pornography in this rural community. So they decided to have a protest.

When a strip club, porn store, abortion clinic or a casino opens, there are often protests from local residents. Those citizens may also take the step of writing letters to the editor, complain at a local government hearing or contact a legislator. The media will often cover the controversy with a story or two. Once in while, their concern will be acted upon by a state legislator, a city councilor or other elected official. But then the issue seems to fade away.

If this were the typical controversy, the story of the Uniontown Protestors verses the Lion’s Den would have already come and gone. In fact, nearly four years after it opened, the Lion’s Den is still open. But this is a story of courage and duty like no other. It’s also a story of victory.

As you may have guessed, the Uniontown protestors did protest outside the porn store. In fact, they have protested for nearly four years. That alone is notable these days. To have a group of about fifty people protesting a store every weekend for four years in sun, rain or snow is impressive. But these thirty-to-fifty residents didn’t protest every weekend. They have protested outside the Lion’s Den every hour of every day, 24-hours a day for 1,403 days in a row, as of June 15th!

The Uniontown Watchdogs, as they are known, have a method to their madness. They have been strategic with a purpose. When a truck driver exits the interstate and pulls into the Lion’s Den he sees a sign warning him that his truck’s picture will be taken and his license plate number sent to his truck company management letting them know he visited a porn store. In fact, when anyone parks at the Lion’s Den they are warned by similar signs and photographed. Their license number and car description is recorded, and if there is any illegal behavior in the parking lot, that is also photographed.

What has this “in your face” protesting accomplished? Well, on the surface, nothing. The Lion’s Den operates today, 24-hours a day with customers in the parking lot at all hours. The Uniontown Watchdogs are the scorn of many. Customers routinely shout obscenities, flip off or expose themselves to the protesters. Few of the churches in this rural area support the protesters. Recently, the County Council tried to limit the protester’s ability to demonstrate. But this dim view misses “the rest of the story.”

Looking only at the reaction of the Lion’s Den patrons, the fact that the porn store is still in business or that many of the local leaders may not stand with the Watchdogs misses all that their courage and faithfulness has accomplished.

When the Lion’s Den was built, court records show that up to 200 trucks a day were expected to fill a parking lot that is now covered in weeds. Instead of 1,400 semi-trucks a week, the Lion’s Den attracts fewer than 20. Some protesters believe that up to 90% of potential customers either drive past the Lion’s Den when they see the warning signs, or they turn around in the parking lot and leave at the sight of the protesters’ cameras.

And what of the angry customers shouting profanities or bearing it for all to see? Perhaps a better question is what about the safety of the community? A parole officer from another county ran the plate numbers recorded by the Watchdogs. He found numerous sex offenders violating their parole by visiting the porn store and took action against them.

Obviously, not all of the Lion’s Den customers are sex offenders, or even angry people misbehaving in the parking lot. But many of their customers are better people today. One of the protester’s signs offers a free Bible to any customer who wants one. To date they have given away over 1,000 Bibles. Each of the protestors seems to have a story of praying with a customer who wanted help for an addiction or a relationship problem.

Last month an out-of-state truck driver returned to the store, but not to buy porn. This time, he came to spend the weekend with the protestors who had led him to the Lord. He had crossed the line from customer to protestor wanting to tell other Lion’s Den customers of a real life-changing love. In fact, the Watchdogs estimate that over 100 customers over the last 3 years and 10 months have prayed to accept Christ. Sadly, fewer than five churches in the county support the Watchdogs. This is perhaps because they see only a group of “controversial” protestors outside a business, rather than the outreach to misguided porn users.

The Uniontown Watchdogs still hope to see the Lion’s Den close, either through legal battles wherein the store is in violation of ordinances, or through an economic drain caused by the protest. Some estimates place the loss of revenue for the Lions Den to be half-a-million dollars.

Regardless of the open wound of still having a porn store operating in their community, these faithful courageous few have already succeeded. Through their bold action, they have confronted evil and changed lives. What more could any community ever want from a handful of its citizens? The Uniontown Watchdogs are role models we can all learn from, thank, and admire for their selfless act of good citizenship

Editor’s note:

The Lion’s Den property is now up for sale, it appears the years of hard work may be paying off.

For a complete update, visit their web at http://www.war-line.org/ and make sure you visit the “Gotcha” page.

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