Anti-littering ordinance takes aim at Strip’s ‘porn slappers’

By Dave Toplikar

Tuesday, July 17, 2012 | 1:35 p.m.

The Clark County Commission plans to try to deal again next month with the controversial so-called "porn slappers" — those who pass out handbills for escort services to tourists walking along the Las Vegas Strip.

The commission has tried in the past to stop the practice, but failed because of the 1st Amendment free speech rights of the handbillers, who often wear brightly colored shirts that read "GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS" along with a phone number.

This time around the commission plans to go after the vendors by making them help clean up the handbills that people toss aside after they see them.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Commission Chair Susan Brager introduced the proposed ordinance that reads in part that the commission “finds that the presence of litter in public places disturbs the aesthetic quality of such public places and that discarded handbills are a significant part of such litter ...”

The ordinance says the commission finds that requiring those who distribute the handbills to pick up the ones dropped near them "does not significantly impact the distributor's ability to exercise First Amendment freedoms and provides a needed service to the community."

The ordinance would prohibit people from throwing any litter — including the handbills — in or on any sidewalk, parkway, street or other public place in the unincorporated areas of the county, which includes the Strip.

It requires the handbill distributors to collect the handbills that are immediately rejected and tossed aside on the ground within 50 feet of the distributor.

It says they have to clean up the rejected handbills every 15 minutes while they are distributing them and at the conclusion of the distribution period.

Brager set a time for discussion on the ordinance for 10 a.m. Aug 7.