European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 17, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday Juna 17, 1936 the stars and stripes Page 7 stores remove adult magazines thousands of convenience outlets Clear shelves new York times news service More than 8,000 convenience stores around the United slates have removed adult magazines from their shelves since the beginning of this year according to distributors and the magazines sales Are suffering. Some drugstore and convenience store chains re moved the magazines after they were told in letters from a commission formed by attorney general Edwin Meese Iii that they had been identified As being involved in the Sale or distribution of pornography and would be listed in the commission s report. Other shave responded to Boycotts or. Picketing by Church groups and women s organizations. The National federation for decency a Christian group based in Tupelo miss., which organized picket ing at hundreds of convenience stores saturday said the number of outlets Selling adult magazines had fallen by 20,000 Over the last three years Bob Guccione editor and publisher of Penthouse Magazine said in a Telephone interview Friday we re out of something upward of i   the Industry with revenues of hundreds of millions of dollars a year is righting Back. One of its moves has been to sue the attorney general s commission on pornography in an attempt to bar it from discouraging he retailing of magazines whose sales Are protected by Law. But the Industry is losing ground Agai iut what some experts say is a major change in sexual attitude Sand tolerance. Legal experts say Hal most of the material involved would nut meet the definition of obscene established by the . Supreme coun and thus could nol legally be banned. By Law or company policy Many of he magazines were already sold from behind counters and Only on request like cigarettes. In those stores at which they were offered on a rack Wilh other magazines most were displayed on upper shelves wrapped in Plain covers or behind blinders or  m. Harrington executive vice president of the Council for periodical distributors associations an Industry Trade group in new York said referring to the loss of retail outlets obviously it s going to have an Al acct because the loss of retail coverage is devastating. All magazines Are basically impulse items at retail. The less Opportunity you have to make a suitable impression on a possible buyer there s fewer  to Harrington about 150,000 retail out lets in the United Stales sell magazines and of those 85,000 to 90,000 have sold what the Trade refers to As sophisticate magazines before the cancellations this year. But Harrington said total sales of those magazines settes and Cable television. The trend toward limiting outlets for adult magazines has produced protests from publishers distributors and some civil libertarians. We see it As a censorship problem said Christo Pher m. Finan director of the Media coalition which is based in new York and made up of distributors booksellers and publishers. In s nol reflective of any great groundswell of support for anti porn legislation. It s part of the ongoing agitation by Well organized groups representing a Small part of the population egged on and encouraged by a National administration that shares their perception of what is appropriate Reading  but if the movement is not one thai could be sustained in courts and Legislatures there still Are Prece dents according 10 professor Waller Dellinger of the Duke University school of Law. Consumers who pick eted and boycotted also helped Siart the civil rights movement he pointed out. The trend has accelerated this year. Playboy and Penthouse magazines were removed from about 4,5007-eleven convenience stores owned by the Southland corp. After the Parent company received a letter i february from the commission on pornography. How Ever Southland said in took the action because Testi Mony before the commission linked pornography with violence not because of the letter. Another 3,000 7 eleven stores Are franchise operations and More thana thousand have followed Southland s Lead according to the Council for periodical distributors associations. Exodus from Louisiana forces a haul to pay for retrieval convoys new Orleans