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PageOneQ "There's a two-fold response," says Danny Huerta. "One is she's either going to become extremely fearful of it, where there's a stress response, a fear response or intense drawing towards that." In May of 2007, sandwich shop owner and former Big Brother 2 contestant Kent Blackwelder, according to Family News in Focus, heard a "frightened gasp" and a "desperate call for Daddy" after she opened what she thought to be a Disney mailer, but turned out to be a graphic advertisement addressed to her father, promising a free DVD, from a company called Specialty Publications. Blackwelder, in turn, sued Specialty Publications. "Think about this," Tennessee CBS affiliate WVLT opens in its January 24 report. "Your young son or daughter gets a big white envelope addressed to them. They open it, only to find homosexual porn." Or, as the Knoxville News Sentinel described in its January 24 report, "a collection of photographs of nude men in poses that would mortify Mickey Mouse," which Blackwelder insists was unsolicited; Blackwelder denies doing any previous business with Specialty Publications. The suit accuses Specialty of violating postal law by neglecting to print a warning of sexually explicit content on the outer envelope. The Blackwelder family, as a result of the accused omission, says to have suffered "great pain of body and mind," citing "shock, horror, humiliation and embarrassment, as well as anxiety." The suit, therefore, seeks $350,000 in compensatory damages, plus $3.5 million punitive, in addition to an injunction compelling Specialty Publications to comply with postal regulations. "The envelope," as the lawsuit describes, "contained on the outside the message 'New! Free DVD enclosed!' There were no warnings on the envelope that the envelope contained sexually oriented advertising." "Mary Doe," it goes on, "being a curious child and thinking the free DVD offer was for a Disney movie, opened the envelope at which time she was horribly shocked to see numerous sexually explicit photographs of completely nude males." Mary Doe then "ran to her father to show him what she had found, and he likewise was shocked, disgusted and enraged." "That may be fine for adults," says Morality in Media's Robert Peters of the current postal regulations Specialty Publications is alleged to have violated, "but what if your child happens to pick up a piece of mail with 'sexually oriented ad' on it? They might not see it as a warning but as an opportunity." "In this case," concludes Family News in Focus' Steve Jordahl, "it’s the opportunity for a 12 year-old girl to be scarred for life."
A counselor, speaking to Focus on the Family, warns that a 12-year-old girl from Powell, Tennessee may be scarred for life after mistakenly opening a gay porn mailer addressed to her father.
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Originally published on Tuesday February 26, 2008.



