Pastor Elected Mayor on Anti-Porn Platform

KENNEDALE, Texas, – Patrons of the XXX Super Store and the Fantasy Foxx strip club have been getting a souvenir in the mail recently: an I-know-where-you've-been postcard emblazoned with a photo of the customer's car parked outside one of the adult businesses.

The card reads: "Observed you in the neighborhood. Didn't know if you were aware there is a church in the area."

Oakcrest Family Church pastor Jim Norwood (search) and his followers have been snapping the pictures and mailing out the cards over the past six months or so — a campaign that helped Norwood get elected mayor of this Fort Worth suburb last month with 66 percent of the vote.

"Anybody that knows me will say that my heart is to try to help these people," said Norwood, 56. "But if all of these places close up, that's not a problem with me."

Norwood said he was fed up with finding porno magazines, condoms and drug needles in the church parking lot, situated around the corner from some of Kennedale's sex clubs and stores.

Many residents say more than half a dozen adult businesses in a town of 6,100 people is too many. But some don't agree with Norwood's approach.

"That's borderline invasion of privacy," said machinist William Pratt, who did not vote for Norwood. "It's their right to go there."

One man who declined to give his name before going into Showtime Cabaret said he had never received a postcard but would angrily throw it away if one came in the mail. He said he goes to the topless bar a few times a month and has no plans to stop.

Those who own the adult businesses and their attorneys declined to comment on what effect Norwood's crusade was having on their bottom line.

Kennedale resident Billy Simpson, who sells antique cars, said he doubts porn patrons will stop going to the strip clubs and video stores or that the businesses will close.

"Nobody in town wants them there, but they're not leaving because they still have customers," Simpson said. "There's usually a fair amount of cars in the parking lot."

The picture-taking idea stemmed from Norwood's work as a chaplain in jails, where sex offenders told him their problems may not have escalated if their wives or girlfriends had found out about their addiction to porn, he said.

Norwood said porn and drugs were part of his "wild days" in the 1960s and '70s but that his lifestyle hurt his relationship with his children, so he became a Christian.

He and a few church members, digital camera in hand, take turns staking out the businesses about once a week. Then they go online to find the owner's name and address from license plate records, which are public in Texas.

They have mailed more than 300 postcards — most to Dallas and other nearby towns — that include an invitation to attend church services or counseling classes for sex, drug and alcohol addictions. About a dozen porn patrons have called the church seeking help, according to Norwood.

"They have realized the devastation that it's had on their life and their relationships, and they're looking to get counseling as a way to heal or way to get out of what they're trapped in," Norwood said.

Mark Wright, who served as mayor for six years, does not dispute he lost the election, in part, to Norwood's crusade. But he said the city was already trying to run the clubs out of town, using zoning ordinances.

"It's not a few shots of license plates that's going to shut them down," Wright said.

For years the adult businesses operated off Interstate 20 in an unincorporated part of the county. The area was annexed by Kennedale in 1999, and the shops became subject to a city ordinance that bans sexually oriented businesses within 800 feet of houses, parks, schools and churches.

One strip club and a bookstore have agreed to leave town by August, according to the town.

Theresa Petersen, who manages a mobile home park, believed so much in what Norwood was doing that she helped him campaign for mayor, knocking on doors and handing out fliers.

Peterson said she and her husband frequented the sexually oriented businesses years ago when they used drugs. But the couple have been clean for three years and now attend Norwood's church.

"The other city officials don't seem to care, and they think this side of Kennedale (search) doesn't matter," Petersen said. "I believe Jim is going to make a difference in our town."