MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Shelby County DA General Bill Gibbons is urging the Memphis City Council to adopt a strict county ordinance regulating strip clubs in place of more permissive laws proposed by the city.
Approved by the County Commission earlier this year, the tougher ordinance bans alcohol sales and requires dancers to wear pasties. Clubs would also have to get a license from a new five-member citizen board. By contrast, the city council's proposed ordinance allows topless dancing and permits the sale of beer in strip clubs.
"I find it incredible that city officials have apparently engaged representatives of the adult entertainment industry to aid in drafting this ordinance but did not see fit to engage the District Attorney General, the state's chief law enforcement officer for this community," Gibbons wrote in a letter to council members on Tuesday.
In his letter, Gibbons asked the council to allow the new county ordinance to take effect on Jan. 1. The law was approved by the County Commission this year.
Gibbons wrote that the city’s proposed penalties — which include Class A and Class B misdemeanors, punishable by a $500 fine and jail time, for violators — “lack teeth.” Gibbons claims the fines would only amount to $50 and jail time would not an option for punishment.
The city has since revised its proposal and will present it at a public hearing on Thursday.
“The City Court cannot do anything regarding jail time, so what you're limited to is a $50 fine,” said John Campbell, an assistant district attorney.
Gibbons wants to use the state's Adult-Oriented Establishment Registration Act — which council adopted in 1998 and has withstood at least two legal challenges — to prosecute offenders.
Responding to Gibbons' outrage over the proposed city ordinance, City Council chairman Tom Marshall said, “I know of no empirical evidence that could lead one to believe that pasties reduce crime."
