It only gets sillier.
Brian Dauth Queer Buddhist Resister
Alternate lifestyle event curtailed Saturday, August 07, 2004 By Barton Deiters The Grand Rapids Press A Rockford judge has restricted the plans of an Oakfield Township couple to host "Michigan's largest alternative lifestyle picnic and educational event."
According to a Web site run by Rex Cowan, 46, and his wife, Jewell, 33, the three-day event would be held at their home on 11 Mile Road NE and would feature camping, a potluck and demonstrations of sexual dominance and submission starting Aug. 20.
They call it Whipstock.
"This is on a big scale," said Gary VanCamp, who lives next door to the Cowans. "It's not a couple of people beating each other in their basement."
The Cowans were in Rockford District Court on Friday, where Judge Steven Servaas issued an injunction that will keep the couple from collecting money or selling sexually oriented materials. It also limits the size of the annual event -- which neighbors said drew more than 100 cars and 250 people from across the country over the past three years.
The injunction is predicated on the zoning of the couple's property, which is rural-residential.
Oakfield Township Zoning Administrator Willard Konyndyk said the township has been working to keep the event from occurring after receiving complaints from neighbors last year.
The site lists presentations by nationally known "sexual radicals" and gives rules for the demonstrations, which include etiquette for using other people's "toys" and safe words participants can use to stop the activities if they get too intense.
Sexually oriented businesses are prohibited by the township, in addition to most money-making enterprises and large gatherings in residential areas.
"I believe it is a sexually oriented business," Konyndyk said. "If it'd been a fund-raiser for handicapped children or Boy Scouts, I doubt anyone would have been upset."
The Cowans did not testify, and their lawyer, Scott Sherlund, did not call any defense witnesses.
However, Sherlund raised several objections, including that the injunction would unlawfully punish the Cowans for a crime they had not yet committed. He also said the injunction violated free speech and the right to gather peacefully.
Rex Cowan said the event is part of his work on behalf of Immediate Family, his registered nonprofit group that provides crisis safehouses for people who face harassment, discrimination and other barriers due to their alternative lifestyle.
"It's a picnic for our charity," Cowan said following the trial, before his attorney told him not to speak.
Servaas said while he cannot keep the Cowans from whatever legal activity they want to engage in, he did limit any gathering to five cars and 25 people, and barred them from taking money related to the event.
The decision was good news for neighbors Gary and Phyllis VanCamp.
They say the event has been going on for three years, and they originally allowed the Cowans to use their property for extra parking because they were told it was for a wedding.
"It's no good for any neighborhood," Gary VanCamp said. "Even the city of Grand Rapids shouldn't have this stuff down there."