Actor Stephen Baldwin

on crusade against porn

Actor Stephen Baldwin might be more at home on a movie set, but these days – and nights – the veteran of more than 60 films can be found on Route 59 in Nyack, New York, trying to shut down a business that shows movies – pornographic movies.

Baldwin, the youngest of the acting clan that includes older brothers Alec, Billy and Daniel, has planted himself on the sidewalk outside a new adult entertainment business located about one mile from his home and is photographing workers and their vehicles as they prepare the store for opening.

The actor says he plans to stand outside the store every day and photograph license plates of its patrons until the business closes. He will, he threatens, identify the store's customers and pay for a one-page newspaper ad each month to publish their names.

"I won't stop until it shuts down," Baldwin told the Westchester Journal News. "I don't want it this close to my house. I'm personally not OK with pornography. I definitely think that it adds to the moral decay or our culture."

Baldwin and several of his Nyack neighbors unsuccessfully protested the business's application to open last summer before the city planning board, but were told by officials their only legal authority was regulation, not prohibition.

The store, owned by the Queens-based company, Algama, will feature movies, books, magazines and video booths – and, says Baldwin, attract crime, lower property values and reduce the quality of life of the community where he's lived for 10 years.

Stephen Baldwin

Baldwin, who became a Christian in the wake of 9-11 and through the witness of his wife, Kennya, has become outspoken about his new faith, co-producing a Christian DVD called, "Livin' It," aimed at the extreme-sports culture of skateboarding and BMX stunt biking.

"In my position, I just don't think I'm supposed to keep my faith to myself," Baldwin told a group of Texas Southern Baptists in 2004. "I'm just doing what the Lord's telling me to do. You know, if the Lord's not telling anybody else [in Hollywood] to [talk publicly about their faith], well, then God bless 'em. But I don't think that's the case. I think there are a lot of people who don't put their faith before everything else, you know. And that's a big problem. I'm just doing what the Lord's calling me to do. Period."

For the present, it appears, the Lord is calling Baldwin to trade in his skateboard for a camera and keep vigil at the new pornography outlet in his neighborhood.

Police report Baldwin called them Friday night at 9:30 p.m., saying the shop's employees were harassing him for taking photographs. They advised everyone the actor was free to protest as long as he stayed off private property.

"He's just out there expressing his opinion," Sgt. Gerard O'Connor said. "He's more than free to do that."

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