With delicious timing, as his town brainstorms ways to stay vibrant, entrepreneur Wayne Parker Jr. unveiled his own vision this week.

He plans to convert a four-story building on the doorstep of Livermore Falls’ business district into a store that would market adult books and videos.

To paraphrase Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart’s famous comment on obscenity, some prominent residents can’t necessarily define heartburn, but they know it when they feel it.

“I believe it would lead to depression and despondency for taxpayers when they see that this is what their community is coming to,” said the Rev. Joseph Chamberland, pastor of Eaton Memorial United Methodist Church.

He isn’t a voice in the wilderness. Police Chief Ernest Steward Jr. and Livermore Falls High School Principal Rod Wright publicly panned the proposal at a Planning Board meeting Wednesday night.

Discussion was so impassioned that Town Manager Alan Gove has tentatively scheduled a follow-up hearing for Parker’s application on Aug. 2.

Timing is everything

“If I thought it was the wrong image,” Parker said after the meeting, “I wouldn’t do it.”

Adult entertainment venues are always a volatile issue, but Parker couldn’t find a more inconvenient time in Livermore Falls than now if his life depended on it.

Pierce Atwood, a law firm headquartered in Portland, just published a 21-page report detailing opportunities for growth in this town. In response, a Downtown Revitalization Committee was formed.

The consultants heavily emphasized “gateways,” a fancy term for a town’s traditional points of entry.

Parker’s proposed site at 54 Depot St. overlooks the Eastern Gateway, arguably the part of town most downtrodden and hard on the eyes.

Recently, the house Parker is interested in, an old house with a paved driveway and built-in stone wall, has been a hot tub business.

Its neighbors are a thriving car dealership, a paint dealer and a wallpaper store.

Turn the corner toward the business district, though, and a netherworld of broken dreams emerges. Depot Street is a domino chain of failed ventures. Doors that once led to a watering hole, a tire dealership and a health spa are boarded up or padlocked.

Behind the popular Chuck Wagon restaurant was a supermarket. It closed two decades ago.

In adjacent buildings, windows dotted with dust and fingerprints reveal oodles of abandoned storefront space.

Today, a hair salon, a garage, a pub and a pawnshop try to make a go of it.

Affordable housing

Livermore Falls clearly needs business. But it also needs an image that will attract tourists and families to a village of 3,500 annual residents.

“The development report talks about the importance of first impressions,” Chamberland said. “A lot of people are moving here right now because housing is affordable. Others are remodeling and improving their houses. If this business comes in, what will they see for an invitation?”

Technically, said Parker, residents would see nothing more than if they passed other video outlets or a convenience store counter that offer pornographic materials.

Curtains and blinds would block the outside world. Minors would be forbidden.

Parker also agreed to table his plan for movie “viewing booths” in the building due to public outcry.

But no level of discretion would satisfy many people who’ve perused the Pierce Atwood report. “How one perceives or experiences a downtown is influenced by its distinct qualities and characteristics,” the report says.

There is a clientele for X-rated fare. Lewiston houses multiple sites that peddle adult movies and novelties. Oxford has an adult bookstore, also.

Porn is a billion-dollar industry. It’s as close as a click of your computer mouse or remote control. So somebody’s buying it, even in Livermore Falls.

“I don’t know if anyone’s willing to stand up for it in a public forum,” said Chamberland, suppressing a laugh.

We’ll find out.

Kalle Oakes is staff columnist. He may be reached by e-mail at [email protected].