The Garden of Eden Adult Book Store by Michael Martin, ECPD retired

About the author...Michael Martin (pictured front row, far right in the 1981 photo) is a retired veteran of 25 years on the Eden City Police Department, and has penned a number of anecdotal writings recalling his experiences.

I will admit to this now, since no one is alive to prosecute me....I was involved in the fight against the "Garden of Eden Adult book store......It was supposed to be a massage parlor and a front for prostitution.....

Eden City PD fought it and defeated it...it was my project and I enjoined all the churches in Eden into the battle....and we won. there is no adult bookstore, there is no adult massage parlor and there is no open prostitution in Eden because of what we did in 1980..........

But there is a funny part to it....back then, my brother, Stephen Martin and I had a mobile home on Smith Mountain Lake....I went there every weekend to fish....I was good and I caught lots and lots of fish....I brought home lots of fish and cleaned them...there was leavings...there was stuff...left over when you fillet a fish.....in the mornings at about four AM I would drive to the Garden of Eden adult Book store and throw the rest onto the roof../..did it every week...I would drive by and see the pervs....standing outside the store...trying to get a breath of fresh air..dead fish stink!!!!....after a couple of days...they stink real bad.....I done it every week!

Michael D. Martin