Fulton wins ruling in effort to ban alcohol at strip clubs

By Bill Rankin

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Fulton County has presented ample evidence to justify an ordinance banning the sale, possession and consumption of alcohol at adult entertainment clubs, the federal appeals court in Atlanta ruled Tuesday.

But the ruling does not mean the taps must be turned off just yet at the three strip clubs -- Babes, Fannies and Riley's -- in unincorporated Fulton. If the decision is not appealed, the case goes back to a federal judge who must still rule on other remaining challenges to the county ordinance.

"I'm disappointed, distressed," Atlanta lawyer Cary Wiggins, who represents Babes, said of the ruling. "But it's far from over. We're going to weigh our options."

David Ware, Fulton's county attorney, said the appeals court ruled correctly and properly applied the law. "Clearly there was ample evidence of negative secondary effects associated with the nude clubs," he said.

The county passed the ordinance in 2001 after the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had already struck down a similar ordinance enacted by the county in 1997. In that decision, the 11th Circuit said the county had failed to prove that serving alcohol at nude dance clubs contributed to the "secondary effects" of decreased local property values and increased crime in the surrounding areas.

"This case is different," a unanimous three-judge 11th Circuit panel said Tuesday. "This time around, the county relied on ample statistical, surveillance and anecdotal evidence" as well as testimony and studies to support its efforts to curb the negative, secondary effects of mixing alcohol and live nude dancing.

The decision overturned a ruling by Senior U.S. District Judge Robert Vining, who had found the ordinance unconstitutional. On Tuesday, the 11th Circuit sent the case back to Vining for further review.

The county's evidence had its limitations, the appeals court decision said. One study the county relied upon had shortcomings in that the statistics it compiled were gathered without adequate controls and "its methodology begins to fray."

Even though the clubs contended the fix was in from the start, the ruling said, "we are satisfied that Fulton County's concern for the health and safety of its communities is real and that its reliance on the evidence it offers is not unreasonable."

The evidence, the ruling said, "certainly creates a vivid image of a county in which strip clubs that served alcohol played a prominent and unwelcome role. Sex and drug crimes occurred in and around the clubs and the neighborhood's cheap hotels, and required law enforcement and the judiciary [the juvenile court, at least] to invest resources in combating the secondary effects."