Lilith
08-03-2007, 06:32 AM
SARASOTA, Fla. -- A disgruntled business man is displaying naked mannequins in his storefront window to protest against his city. He's angry and some of his neighbors are reacting to the displays.
The owner of the now empty building, commonly referred to as the Mirrored House, put female mannequins on display in the window.
"One day, he'll put the tops on the mannequins. The next day, he'll just take them down," said neighbor Arnold Herbst.
Herbst lives in the neighborhood and said the women are often placed in different sexual positions. He said it's always a steamy scene that's getting him and other neighbors very heated.
"Pornographic, there is no need for it," he said.
Less than 200 yards from the window display, just across the street, is Bay Haven Elementary School.
"It's a terrible sight, especially when you got to walk the kids. You got to take their heads and turn them away," Herbst said.
David Douthitt, who owns the house, was trying to make the place a hair salon with a bikini-clad staff, calling it a clip joint, not a strip joint.
"I plan on having a beautiful staff of ladies in designer swimwear kind of theme with the beach town we are," he said in a 2006 interview.
But the salon never opened. Douthitt couldn't get the proper permits and neighbors complained that they didn't want that type of business in their neighborhood.
"Since it's been going through the courts, since it's been going through a bunch of stupidity, he's taking it out on the neighborhood," Herbst said.
Douthitt said he feels railroaded by both the city and his neighborhood. He said he was trying to open a legitimate business and he wasn't allowed. He said the displays are his way of protesting.
Copyright 2007 by wftv.com.
The owner of the now empty building, commonly referred to as the Mirrored House, put female mannequins on display in the window.
"One day, he'll put the tops on the mannequins. The next day, he'll just take them down," said neighbor Arnold Herbst.
Herbst lives in the neighborhood and said the women are often placed in different sexual positions. He said it's always a steamy scene that's getting him and other neighbors very heated.
"Pornographic, there is no need for it," he said.
Less than 200 yards from the window display, just across the street, is Bay Haven Elementary School.
"It's a terrible sight, especially when you got to walk the kids. You got to take their heads and turn them away," Herbst said.
David Douthitt, who owns the house, was trying to make the place a hair salon with a bikini-clad staff, calling it a clip joint, not a strip joint.
"I plan on having a beautiful staff of ladies in designer swimwear kind of theme with the beach town we are," he said in a 2006 interview.
But the salon never opened. Douthitt couldn't get the proper permits and neighbors complained that they didn't want that type of business in their neighborhood.
"Since it's been going through the courts, since it's been going through a bunch of stupidity, he's taking it out on the neighborhood," Herbst said.
Douthitt said he feels railroaded by both the city and his neighborhood. He said he was trying to open a legitimate business and he wasn't allowed. He said the displays are his way of protesting.
Copyright 2007 by wftv.com.