Michigan Daily photo by Leslie Boorstein, 1986.Danish News was an adult bookstore owned by Terry Whitman Shoultes in the former red light district on S Fourth Avenue between Liberty and Washington. It closed after lawsuits from the City of Ann Arbor, during the mayoral term of Louis Belcher, forced it out of business.
Timeline: Danish News
October 6, 1986. A2 porn store owner sues city. Michigan Daily. (with photo)
More information
- Divided empire: Family of pornography kingpin Terry M. Shoultes back in court in decade-long dispute over estate, Flint Journal, May 2009
"I don't take any shi- ... I don't back down. I don't know how to," he told The Detroit Free Press in 1985, 13 years before he died from a heart attack at age 50.
- City of Ann Arbor v. Danish News Co., 139 Mich.App. 218, 361 N.W.2d 772 (Mich.App., Nov 20, 1984) (NO. 65391, 66991)
- Terry Whitman Shoultes, (87-1499/1575) Executive Artstudios, Inc., (87-1499), Plaintiffs-appellants, v. R. Bruce Laidlaw, et al., Defendants-appellees, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit. - 886 F.2d 114
In 1978, the Ann Arbor City Council adopted a zoning ordinance restricting the location of "adult" bookstores and entertainment. About two years later, appellant opened an "adult" bookstore--the Danish News Co.--on a site at which such businesses were prohibited under the 1978 ordinance. Appellant was cited for code violations and fined. He continued to operate his business, and on June 28, 1982, the City obtained an injunction barring the use of the premises for the sale of "adult" material. Displaying a sign announcing his intention to operate "in violation of the Court order," appellant Shoultes reopened his business for 19 days. Found to be in civil and criminal contempt, he was sentenced to 19 days in jail and fined $250 for each day.
- Louis D. Belcher papers, topical files, Bentley Historical Library. See 'Danish News' and 'Pornography', boxes 13 and 15.
