GATELEY URGES COUNTYWIDE RESTRICTIONS ON STRIP BARS

Cape Girardeau City Councilman Melvin Gateley wants countywide restrictions on strip-tease bars.

Gateley's call for action comes as Regina's House of Dolls, a strip-tease bar, plans to open Feb. 3 in Cape Girardeau.

"If they are determined to be around and they can't stay in the city, they will find their way into the county," he said Thursday.

The state's adult cabaret law gives Missouri's counties and the city of St. Louis regulatory powers to deal with strip-tease bars.

City Attorney Warren Wells said the city might have such powers because it is a charter city.

The adult cabaret law, enacted in 1993, allows for background checks to be conducted on all employees of adult cabarets.

If voters approve, a sales tax can be levied upon such businesses to help pay for the background checks.

Counties and St. Louis can establish a minimum age limit for admission to adult cabarets, require security personnel to be present on the premises, require random drug testing of cabaret employees, require dancers to stay at least 10 feet from the customers and prohibit total nudity.

The law refers to completely nude dancers. Dancers clothed in G-strings and pasties aren't considered to be legally nude.

Kerry Messer, president of Missouri Family Network, a conservative, pro-family organization, said the cabaret law is an important tool for communities seeking to keep out strip-tease bars.

The measure applies to both nightclubs that serve liquor and those that don't.

Messer helped write the cabaret law.

He said strip-tease bars regularly violate the law, particularly when it comes to nudity.

"The G-strings come untied very easily," he said, and "the pasties `fall off' very easily. Performers and the people collecting the money don't mind that a bit."

"You let them violate the law, then you can legally shut them down," he said.

But David Rosener, a Cape Girardeau lawyer representing Regina's House of Dolls, said the council shouldn't rush to regulate such businesses.

"I think the enactment of any ordinance is premature because there haven't been any problems," he said.

He said the council should give Regina's a chance. "We want to cooperate with the police and liquor control all the way down the line."

Rosener said there are already liquor and anti-obscenity laws on the books. "I don't believe further regulation is necessary."

Regina's is still waiting for the state to grant it a liquor license. The city is expected to make a final inspection of the building at 805 Enterprise early next week. The city has required installation of a fire wall in the 6,400-square-foot structure.

Cape Girardeau County Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones said he isn't sure what authority the county has when it comes to adult cabarets.

If we have the power to do anything within the county, then we will consider it," he said.

But he said he views the immediate concern as the city's problem.

"We don't want to overstep our authority," Jones said of the county commission.

After giving the go-ahead to Regina's House of Dolls earlier this month, the city council plans to consider ways to strictly regulate the strip-tease bar. The issue will be discussed at the Feb. 6 council meeting.

On Jan. 17, the council approved a liquor license for Regina's House of Dolls despite the fact that more than 1,900 people signed petitions opposing it. Gateley was the only councilman to vote against granting the license.

In a recent letter to his fellow councilmen, Gateley said that both the city and the county should adopt laws regarding strip-tease bars. He said the council should work closely with the state's Division of Liquor Control to see that Regina's complies with state liquor regulations.

But Wells said the council can't outlaw strip-tease bars. Federal court cases make that clear, he said.

In a 1991 case involving Indiana, the U.S. Supreme Court said nude dancing is "expressive conduct" that comes under the First Amendment protection of freedom of speech.

But the court upheld the state's right to require dancers to wear G-strings and pasties.

"If we are talking about complete nudity, it is pretty clear to me that we can prohibit that," Wells said.