A recent story reported that Knoxville has never been known for its strip clubs. In fact, the pickings are generally thought to be slim in the way of local adult entertainment. But those with a proclivity for flesh may soon find their scant options even more limited by two ordinances passed by both the county and the city.
Under their wording, the report continued, topless dancers must stay at least six feet away from all customers - no lap dances allowed. Patrons are also forbidden to consume alcohol on the premises. Most distressing to adult business owners is that their businesses must be closed by midnight, and on Sundays, and on all national holidays. A revision in the zoning ordinance also states that adult businesses be kept at least 1,000 feet from a church, daycare, school or store that sells alcohol. Further, adult businesses are now required to obtain a license, and each of their employees must go through a background check.
Ellen Mallernee’s story in the … reported that though City Council maintains that its purpose isn't to shut these places down entirely, business owners aren't so sure. And in the 90-day period before the ordinances go into effect, many of them have plans to fight it out in court. Town and Country Bookstore and Knoxville Adult Video Superstore have already filed suit against the county.
Ralph Browning, owner of the strip club The Mouse's Ear, says he expects to sue the city in the hopes that he'll never have to recognize the new guidelines. "Right now, it's just a matter of the attorneys deciding on whether to join in on the county lawsuit and make it one large lawsuit versus two identical lawsuits," he told Mallernee.
At the May 24 City Council meeting, Browning protested the ordinances and brought along a 1,000-signature petition to back him up. Because roughly a third of his business comes after midnight, Browning says, the ordinances, if enacted, would "significantly impact" his business
Caleb Cannon, manager of the adult bookstore West Knox News, says the new ordinances would cause him to lay off at least two employees and to implement a conservative employee dress code. With plans to involve the ACLU and to sue the city for violation of First Amendment rights, Cannon feels the city's claims about the harmful affects of adult businesses are unsubstantiated.
"There's no more crime at our store than any other 24-hour business," he told Mallarnee. "The property values are not being lowered. There's a brand new shopping complex going up across the street from us." Cannon says he's interviewed dozens of West Knox News' neighbors and has had only positive feedback on the impact his business has had on its surrounding businesses. Cannon says one neighbor he spoke with even said he appreciated the activity the bookstore attracted, as it provided a well-lit parking lot and a continuous stream of traffic throughout the night. The neighboring business owner "no longer fears leaving expensive equipment or lighting in his window displays," says Cannon.
City Council's "convincing documented evidence" on the harmful affects of adult businesses, the report continued, was culled from a number of national case studies. "We were provided with two enormous binders full of case law and testimonies from all across the country," says Council member Marilyn Roddy. Council also received "extensive information from the KPD concerning some issues near and around [Knoxville]," she says.
Another impetus behind the ordinances, wrote Mallernee, Roddy says, was the 2003 murder of a man who reportedly met three other men at West Knox News, resulting in his death later that night. Cannon disputes this claim. "They met at a gay bar, and they just found a receipt from our store. It has absolutely nothing to do with our store."
Mouse's Ear's Browning believes that the First Baptist Church on Lovell Road initiated the new ordinances, after an adult business "went up in such a grand way" down the street from them. Browning says the church called attorney Scott Berthgold and put him in touch with the county. The county later referred him to the city, Browning says.
City Law Director Morris Kizer says the city is paying Berthgold, the attorney who drew up the ordinances, $200 an hour.
Council member Joe Bailey admits to skepticism about the ordinances, which passed unanimously, but says "how I felt didn't matter.... I didn't believe any of what this guy [Berthgold] said. To me, it seems like he's just a franchisee and goes around from city to city and sells these lawsuits and municipalities pass them, and then we hire him to represent us."
Though some Council members recommended that the city delay passing its ordinances until the county sorts through its pending lawsuits, there was the worry that, in the meantime, county businesses would relocate into the city. Roddy says the city also passed the ordinances in the "spirit of cooperation, of leveling the playing field."
An uneasy Bailey told Mallernee, "Our attorneys have told us that this is something we need to do to conform with the state and the county... [but] my inclination was to wait and see what happened with the county lawsuits, because city taxpayers are county taxpayers."
The story concluded by saying that while Cannon feels his own livelihood is in jeopardy, he says he sympathizes most with the strip club employees. "This ordinance is incredibly restrictive," he says. "It's effectively going to shut us down. That'll put a lot of single mothers out of work and on welfare."
