Augusta’s legal battle with the adult video store it shut down could cost taxpayers thousands of dollars if the county loses a lawsuit filed against it.

This week, Federal Judge Dudley Bowen denied Augusta Video X-Mart’s request to remain open during the trial.

In a 28-page document, Bowen wrote the store hadn’t given a decent argument as to why it should open.

Commissioners denied X-Mart’s business license in June of 2002, citing overwhelming opposition to the store, and a county ordinance prohibiting adult entertainment establishments along corridors to Augusta.

“The citizens of Augusta-Richmond County have a First Amendment right to view and own these kinds of materials,” said X-Mart attorney Tom Maddox. “The commission has to face up to the fact that a store of this kind has a right to exist somewhere in Richmond County.”

Maddox says the store has lost nearly $500,000 since closing its doors in December of 2003. It’s a bill taxpayers would have to foot if the county loses the lawsuit.

“In the long run, this will be a tremendous waste of the city’s time and money,” said Maddox.

It’s a bill Gary Garner would gladly pay. His conservative Christian group fought to keep X-Mart out.

“You can never invest and stand for truth and goodness and lose,” Garner said. “It’s a battle worth fighting, a battle worth investing in.”

A federal judge will have to decide whether the county’s adult entertainment ordinance is constitutional. X-Mart attorneys want a bench trial by this spring.