But an item

on Tuesday morning's commission meeting agenda to reset

the public hearing date on the ordinance drew members

from the county's religious community to the commission

chambers.

Local

minister the Rev. Douglas Pitts said adult entertainment

would bring all sorts of sins and problems to the county.

"Crime

will be increasing, along with more liquor. Then we'll

also have more gays and lesbians coming into the

county," said Pitts.

County

Commissioner Robert Wood thanked the minister for his

comments, but said there was a separation of church and

state in the country and adult entertainment meant

different things to different people.

"Sitting

around drinking coffee is adult entertainment to

me," Wood said.

The

minister confronted Wood and asked him to show one

document that shows a separation of church and state and

Wood said he would be glad to comply.

County

attorney Mitch Powell weighed in by saying that there may

be some confusion about the issue.

"We

are trying to limit adult entertainment to the extent

allowed by the law. That's why it's taken us so long with

research," Powell said.

The

attorney said he had just received a study on the

industry, along with numerous ordinances from other

government agencies that have dealt with the issue.

Since the

county just received all the information, Powell

recommended the county set the public hearing on the

ordinance for Jan. 13, 2000.

Commission

Chairman Lawrence Nelms explained the county's current

ordinances would have allowed adult entertainment into

the county.

"That's

why we established this moratorium. We needed more time

to study it," he said.

When the

county does draft an ordinance, Powell said the

definition of adult entertainment will be closely spelled

out and defined.