The ultra-conservative Citizens for Community Values (CCV), angry that the
legislature removed time and place restrictions from House Bill 23, another
anti-adult measure, before it passed the bill last year, began a petition drive
calling for the legislature to adopt SB 16. The new bill would prohibit nude or
semi-nude performing between midnight and 6 a.m. and require that a distance of
six feet be maintained between dancers and customers at all times - even when
the dancers are fully dressed.
Jeff Hoeppner, a night manager at Dockside Dolls on Cincinnati's Northeast
Side, said the owners of his club, which draws 800 customers a week, wouldn't
be able to stay open if it had to close at midnight because business usually
picks up between then and 2:30 a.m. He also noted that the club's dancers rely
on tip money for the majority of their income, and that such tips would be more
difficult to obtain if the dancers were required to stay 6 feet away from
patrons.
At a hearing before the Ohio House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, club
owners brought along their facilities' blueprints to show that if the 6-foot
rule were to be imposed as currently written, it would be impossible for
dancers to go to the bathroom, get to the dressing room, embrace their spouses
or even walk around the club.
"It will take the fun right out of the clubs," club owner Frank Spencer told
Fox 8. "It will change the camaraderie." Spencer added that he will close his
Crazy Horse clubs if the law is changed. "I will have to put nearly 700 people
on the street without an income if this bill becomes law."
"Dancing kept me off welfare," dancer Charity Fickisen told Fox 8. "Most of the
money I make comes from private dances, and that will end if the law is
changed."
CCV is the brainchild of Phil Burress, a 64-year-old, thrice-married former
plumber and self-described "porn addict," and donations to the organization
provide his sole source of income. It was Burress who brought in Tennessee
attorney Scott Bergthold, a well-known opponent of adult entertainment who is
the primary author of the Community Defense Council's boilerplate anti-adult
ordinance, to help draft and argue in favor of SB 16.
Burress, a long-time activist and sponsor of the first nationwide anti-adult
conference in 2000, was also the primary driver behind the petition to place an
anti-gay-marriage initiative on the 2004 presidential ballot in Ohio, which
initiative is credited with drawing enough conservatives to the polls to assure
reelection for President Bush in that state.
"The CCV is supported financially and most heavily by two very powerful and
wealthy men who held fundraisers for our current president in Ohio," said
Angelina Spencer, executive director of the Association of Club Executives
(ACE), the nightclubs' trade association. "One of these men served as CEO of a
major company and that corporation just paid a $25 million dollar fine for
supporting terrorists abroad... The CCV seems immune from financial disclosure
and any investigations into the discrepancies on its returns."
The Ohio chapter of ACE is spearheading a move against the Ohio bill. A
petition can be found here (http://stopthehouse.com/contact/oh/house) which
will automatically go to all Ohio legislators, against the pending bill.
"This Ohio bill will be used by the Christian Coalition as a roadmap to open
the flood gates for the whole country and systematically pass similar laws in
other states, which will kill our industry nationwide," Luke Liakos of the
Buckeye ACE Chapter said.
Opposition to the bill has also found some favor among the local press.
Senate Bill 16 passed Tuesday by a 24-8 vote in the Ohio Senate, not because
there was any political charge but rather because state senators are afraid of
the religious right," wrote the Lima News. "The [Columbus] Dispatch reported no
senator argued the bill was vital and there was no strong committee testimony
from law-enforcement or local government officials arguing a change in the law
was needed. Sen. Larry Mumper, R-Marion, whose district includes Logan County,
even noted that, had the vote been a silent one, the bill likely would have
failed."
Representatives of ACE recommended that the petitions be signed quickly, since
the Judiciary Committee will hold a second hearing on May 2, at which time it
will likely vote on the bill.
As to the necessity for quick action on the part of adult entertainment
supporters, Spencer, herself a former dancer, recounted the following
conversation:
I had dinner with an old friend here in Columbus, Ohio and was lamenting to him
over this issue.
He touched my arm and asked, "You do know that your biggest problem is NOT the
religious right, don't you?"
"What do you mean?" I countered.
"Your biggest problem is not the CCV. Your biggest problem is the high rate of
ambivalence of people in your industry."
