STRIP-TEASE BAR'S LIQUOR LICENSE APPROVED

The Cape Girardeau City Council Monday night granted a liquor license for a strip-tease bar despite the fact that more than 1,900 people signed a petition opposing it.

The vote was 6-1, with Councilman Melvin Gateley casting the lone dissenting vote.

The bar will open at 805 Enterprise in a commercial area.

The liquor license application, for which Regina's House of Dolls applied last month, and compliance with city building codes were all that stood in the way of the nightclub's opening.

Talk of the opening of a nude dancing club in Cape Girardeau drew instant ire from many residents, who said the club would be immoral and obscene.

A standing-room-only crowd of about 50 people attended the meeting, with most of them urging the council to reject the license request. A dozen people spoke against the request to the accompaniment of loud applause. Opponents also submitted a thick stack of petitions to the council.

Mayor Al Spradling III said the council had no choice but to grant the license to Night Clubs Inc., doing business as Regina's House of Dolls.

But he said he personally didn't want to see such a business locate in Cape Girardeau.

"The issue tonight is not whether we want this business here. It is pretty obvious that we don't," Spradling said.

But he said the council can't violate state and federal laws. Nudity, he said, is legal in the state of Missouri. "Laws allow this conduct."

But Gateley said such a business would have an "adverse effect" upon community standards that date back over 200 years.

He said such a business promotes obscenity for monetary gain.

Councilman Richard Eggimann said the issue was whether to grant a liquor license. "We are not voting on obscenity."

Eggimann said, "I think of myself as a Christian. I know that sin comes from within, not from without." He suggested those opposed to nude dancing pray for the bar owners and patrons.

David Rosener, a Cape Girardeau lawyer representing the nightclub, said opponents were a vocal minority. "I have had a lot of people ask me when is it going to open up."

Nightclub owner Regina Capps operates a bar in the Paducah, Ky., area that features nude dancing and is known as a "good, clean business," Rosener said. The audience laughed at the comment.

Rosener said Night Clubs Inc. has complied with all of Cape Girardeau's regulations.

Cape resident Donna Miller said a strip bar will only add to the city's sex and gambling problems.

The Rev. Kim Ferguson urged the council to reject it on moral grounds. "Legally, if we must defend a no decision in court, then let us proceed."

Cheryl Mothes said strip-tease dancing degrades women. "Is is a business you would want your wife and daughter to work in?" she asked council members.

Dillard Dale, owner of Auto Trim Design at 807 Enterprise, and Stephen Engles, president of KBSI-TV also on Enterprise, both said the nightclub would create parking problems.

"We don't want this. We have enough crime here as it is," Cape resident Robert Robinson said.

Bill Reynolds urged the council to keep strip-tease bars out of Cape Girardeau. "I honestly believe that the big majority of people in this area are going to judge your morals on the way you vote."

City Council

Approved by a 6-1 vote a retail liquor license for Regina's House of Dolls.

Approved by a 4-3 vote the adoption of the 1993 Building Officials and Code Administrators building codes.

Approved a lease agreement for a second fixed-base operator at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport, see related story page 6.