Winchester business at center of controversy

By Warren Taylor | The Winchester Sun

On Tuesday, a Lexington Avenue busi­ness was at the cen­ter of a debate at a Winchester-Clark County Tourism Commission meeting. 

The com­mis­sion said it has received back­lash from fea­tur­ing an event host­ed by the Crystal Coven Cottage, a local meta­physics store, in their month­ly newsletter. 

“People who object to this believe that the tourism depart­ment should not be pro­mot­ing any busi­ness that sells witch­craft mate­ri­als,” said Clark County District 4 Magistrate Mark Miller.

Miller went on to allude that the com­mis­sion, which receives gov­ern­ment fund­ing, pro­mot­ing the event vio­lates the sep­a­ra­tion of church and state. 

“It is spir­i­tu­al in nature, and it is not a gov­ern­ment-fund­ed com­mis­sion, such as tourism, to pro­mote spir­i­tu­al­i­ty, such as Christianity,” he said. 

However, store own­er Shannon Tipton disagreed.

“I don’t claim a reli­gion. I’m a meta­phys­i­cal shop. I am reg­is­tered as a busi­ness. Not a church,” she said. 

Tipton said she has received threats from com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers and that many of her cus­tomers are now afraid to come into shop. A small group of pro­tes­tors and many of those in atten­dance at the meet­ing spoke out in sup­port of Tipton.

The com­mis­sion did not come to a deci­sion dur­ing Tuesday’s meeting. 

The Clark County Fiscal Court was the site of anoth­er dis­cus­sion regard­ing the mat­ter at its Thursday meet­ing. Another large crowd showed up to sup­port Tipton and her store, includ­ing dur­ing pub­lic com­ment time. Winchester res­i­dent Jamal Morton said that the store does noth­ing to harm the com­mu­ni­ty. Lauren Woodring called on Miller to resign from his posi­tion. Tipton appealed for Miller to apol­o­gize for his role in the controversy.

This sto­ry orig­i­nal­ly appeared in The Winchester Sun.