Jim Maynard didn’t set out to challenge an obscure city ordinance, but his calendars were the focus of a controversy that dragged on over five years.

There were no pictures of naked women on Jim Maynard’s calendars. And no obscene language. His calendars and "celestial guides" were loaded with information about the positions of the stars and planets and the ways they might affect everyday life.

In Ashland, in 1981, it was illegal to practice "occult arts" such as palm reading, fortune telling, clairvoyance — and astrology — for profit.

"It was the hottest issue to hit town in some time," said Maynard, who moved his business from Sacramento to Ashland in 1976.

Few people knew about the city’s 1968 occult arts ordinance until someone complained that Maynard was operating a home business without a license. He bought a business license and then asked the city council to repeal the occult arts ordinance, arguing that it violated his freedom of speech.

"I thought this was so cut and dried that no one would want it on the books," he said.

A majority of the city council agreed, and took preliminary steps to repeal the ordinance in January 1981.

The council’s decision aggravated many members of Ashland’s large religious community, said Don Laws, who was a city councilman when the arguments began to fly.

"Many Christians believe that there is a devil," said Laws. "And that there is a thing called magic and it’s the work of the devil. And when it’s practiced it enables the devil to work in our society on earth.

"That’s the thinking many people had in relation to that ordinance," said Laws, who continues to serve on the council today.

The council discussed the issue all through the winter of 1981 and into the spring. When the crowd of interested people overflowed the council chambers, Mayor Gordon Medaris moved the deliberations to the nearby Hillah Temple.

Maynard and others recalled the irony of the council’s deliberating matters of the occult in a Mason’s hall.

"The mayor was saying, ‘ "We can’t be having any of this occult stuff," ’ he said. "And we’re all looking at these Masonic symbols on the ceiling."

Councilwoman Pat Acklin recalled glancing up at the ceiling during the meeting and seeing a pyramid with an eye at the apex — the mysterious symbol that’s printed on every American dollar bill.

At one meeting, opponents of repealing the ordinance brought signatures from 500 people asking the council to keep it on the books.

"The church people were upset," said Medaris, who still lives in Ashland. "They let their voice be heard."

In April the council agreed to strike the occult arts ordinance. Within days Medaris vetoed their action.

"I am convinced that the majority of the citizens of Ashland want the city to enact legislation that would exercise some control over the practice of occult arts ... in our city," Medaris wrote in a letter explaining his veto.

Undeterred, the council unanimously overrode the mayor’s veto at its next meeting, repealing the ordinance. Soon the religious community formed a group called Citizens Opposing Occult Profiteering to bring the issue to a popular vote.

"People didn’t want that type of influence in the city," said Ronald Stevens, who helped organize the group.

Stevens said some people opposed the council’s action on religious beliefs. Others rejected the occult arts because they perceived them as "just plain highway robbery. People don’t get anything for their money but a bunch of lies," Stevens said.

COOP collected enough signatures to allow voters to decide whether to reinstate the ban on occult arts. The voters overruled the council on Sept. 15. In a sparse turnout, the initiative passed, 1,667 to 981.

"It was a relatively straightforward clash of value frameworks and belief systems," said Laws, who teaches political science at Southern Oregon University.

"You had a group of truly concerned people who were able to turn out the people who agreed with them," said Laws.

"Other people thought it was a bunch of hooey and didn’t vote."

The council reinstated the ban on occult arts in October. But the story didn’t end there. Maynard continued to operate his business after city officials decided it would be difficult to prosecute him.

"We knew the ordinance we had was unconstitutional," Laws recalled.

With help from the American Civil Liberties Union, Maynard sued the city to have the law removed, and a Jackson County judge ruled the law unconstitutional on April 17, 1986. Maynard still publishes astrological calendars, under the business name of Quicksilver Productions.