The petition filed in Sedgwick County has about 3,800 signatures and targets nine adult bookstores in Wichita. A separate petition filed in Shawnee County has about 3,300 signatures and targets four adult establishments in Topeka.

"This isn't just a Wichita issue. It is a state issue and a national issue," said Jan Beemer, president of the Wichita anti-pornography group Operation SouthWind.

Anti-pornography activists first successfully used the state's grand jury petition law last year to convene a grand jury to look at seven adult entertainment businesses in Wichita. That grand jury returned an indictment against just one business, Priscilla's, and its owner, Robert Floyd, for one misdemeanor count each of promoting obscenity. That case has not come before a jury.

Similar anti-pornography grand jury petitions filed in Saline and Dickinson counties seeking investigations of adult businesses there were thrown out, one on a technicality and the other because the judge felt it was unconstitutional, Beemer said.

The two latest petitions need to be certified to make sure they contain enough valid signatures. The petitions must have at least 2,600 signatures from registered voters in Wichita and 1,360 signatures from Topeka voters before they are turned over to a district judge, who then decides whether they are in proper form to convene a grand jury.

In Wichita, pornography opponents are seeking an investigation of nine businesses -- Circle Cinema, Frolix, Party Store, Priscilla's, Vegas Video, Video Adventures, Xcitment Video and two After Dark Video stores.

Kansas is one of only a few states in the country that gives citizens the right to petition for a grand jury probe. The law has been increasingly used by conservative groups in the state.

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Anti-porn group files petition for grand jury probe

AP, 7/26/05 - Pornography opponents in Wichita turned in a petition with 7,568 signatures in an effort to force a grand jury probe on whether seven adult bookstores should be charged with obscenity.

The petition - delivered in a box to the Sedgwick District Court clerk - far exceeded the 2,580 signatures needed for the request to convene a grand jury, said Pete Dominguez, vice president of Operation SouthWind, as the group here calls itself.

Wichita is one of 10 Kansas communities where similar efforts against sexually oriented businesses are under way, said Dominguez, pastor of South City Southern Baptist Church.

Similar drives have been initiated in Hutchinson, Great Bend, Hays, Concordia and Salina, as well as other cities nationwide.

"If this is a movement, we hope something positive comes of it," he said.

But others see it as a "lynch mob mentality" by people who want to enforce their own law.

"Our Constitution isn't based on determining what people read and see based on morality. If we start doing that then we are going to start affecting what books people can read and what movies people can see based on religion and morality," said Charles O'Hara, a lawyer who represents at least one of the businesses targeted in Wichita.

The Sedgwick County District Attorney's office relies on law enforcement agencies to investigate criminal activity, and as yet no case against those adult bookstores has been presented to them to prosecute, said spokeswoman Georgia Cole.

It is up to the district court to convene a grand jury under the petition, Cole said.

"We will have as good a community as we decide to make it," said Rep. Dick Kelsey, R-Wichita.

Group leaders said the next phase of their efforts will be another petition, this one targeting nine other sexually oriented outlets.

"We are going to try to do something with the legal system given to us," Dominguez said.

The petition drive involves 21 Wichita churches, including Baptist, Catholic, Lutheran and Nazarene congregations.

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