CLARK CO. COMMITTEE DROPS STRIP CLUB ORDINANCE
Wednesday, January 9th, 2008 -- 2:42 PM
The Clark County Law Enforcement Committee decided not to advance an ordinance that would regulate nude dancing and adult bookstores at a meeting Tuesday.The debate got to that age-old question: can government legislate morality?
After discussing the issue over the course of several meetings, the committee was presented a draft ordinance from Corporation Counsel that wouldn't ban nude dancing--which is widely viewed as protected under the 1st Amendment of the Constitution--but would put some limits and licensing restrictions on the industry.
For the first time, the committee heard from representatives of Clark County's two "strip clubs", the Outpost, located near Hatfield, and the newer Chubby's North, located near Thorp.
Jeff Olson, a civil rights lawyer from Madison, spoke on behalf of Chubby's North. While the ordinance claims to be an effort to combat "secondary affects", such as decreased property value and drug use, Olson said studies have shown they aren't a problem.
"What motivates the passage of these ordinances is morality. Morality is very important, but I've pretty much been spending my career telling people you shouldn't use the government as an instrument to force your morality on other people," Olson explained.
Taking the argument further, Olson noted government could only step in when someone could be hurt.
But Town of York area supervisor Bill Elmhorst, who spearheaded the ordinance, disagreed and noted the government has outlawed intimate contact with animals and the deceased.
"The government is the people and the people have the right to determine what is harmful to society," Elmhorst said.
Chubby's could live with most of the ordinance, but might bring an expensive lawsuit unless certain provisions were removed, Olson threatened.
First, he said dancers were "independent contractors" and therefore licensing would be difficult.
The bigger problem was a stipulation that created a 5-foot buffer zone around dancers.
"(Customers) have to be able to give the tips directly to the dancers. That's the way dancers get their tips and tips will drop by half or far more than that," Olson noted. "If (Chubby's) decides it's something they can't live with, they come to me and say, 'is there any way we can knock this ordinance out.'"
Olson ran off a list of other municipalities that have passed similar ordinances, were sued and lost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
A motion to table the ordinance failed and chair Scott Jalling said he believed that meant the committee was not going to act on the item; however, supervisor Elmhorst noted he would likely bring his own ordinance to the County Board.
Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.