Hannibal officials say cabarets don't fit town

HANNIBAL, Mo. -- In "America's Hometown," town leaders say, semi-nude dancing has no place a few blocks from Mark Twain's boyhood home and the river where fictional Tom and Huck romped.

By a 5-0 vote Tuesday night, the Hannibal City Council advanced a proposal to restrict "adult cabarets" in the northeast Missouri town. Two council members were absent and did not vote on the measure, which could be decided during the council's next meeting in two weeks.

A brief public hearing minutes earlier by the city's Planning and Zoning Commission drew no citizen comments for or against the proposal.

If approved, the measure apparently would restrict future adult cabaret businesses but exempt such shows already taking place two or three nights a week at Ole Milt's, a 150-year-old tavern at the opposite end of the Main Street in the heart of the city's tourist district.

"It's my understanding that any current, legal and legitimate business will be allowed to continue the business that they're in in the way that they see fit," said Larry Craig, the planning and zoning panel's chairman. "However, the ordinance does prevent any future expansion of such businesses."

Not the average community

In advance of Tuesday night's meeting, City Manager Gary Shimun said "we've seen what adult districts do in other downtown communities. We're not the average community. Our downtown is a very high-volume tourist attraction based on the literature of Samuel Clemens."

Semi-nude dancing "doesn't quite fit with what we're trying to project down there," he said.

Twain was born Samuel Clemens in Florida, Mo., in 1835. His family moved to Hannibal when he was a young boy. Many of his greatest works are based on the characters of his childhood. Largely because of Twain's popularity, Hannibal draws 500,000 tourists annually.

Elizabeth Campbell, owner of Ole Milt's, said before the meeting that she decided to offer semi-nude dancing as a way to attract more business.

"I'm the only one in town doing anything like this," she said. "We just thought we'd give it a try and see how things work, and of course now they don't like it."

Campbell said no neighboring businesses have complained.