www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/02/02/nude.juice.bar.ap/index.html
SALEM, South Dakota (AP) -- The mix of nude dancers, orange juice and bla ck-and-white independent films wasn't in Bob Rieger's original business plan. But it has helped his Racehorses Gentlemen's Club survive amid the cornfi elds of McCook County and fend off a two-year barrage of challenges from politicians and outraged members of Citizens Against Nude Juicebars and Pornography. "I've been to court with them four times, and I beat them every time," Ri eger says. When the county denied Rieger a liquor license for a bar, he opened a str ip club with a juice bar in 2003. When it served a stop order saying a c ommercial business could not operate in area zoned for agriculture, Rieg er went to court and won. And when 74 percent of the county's voters passed an anti-nudity ordinanc e in June, Rieger found a loophole that exempted movie theaters. After a two-week hiatus, the club re-emerged as Racehorses Gentlemen's Club and Adult Movie Theatre and has been operating ever since. Now the county is drawing up a new ordinance that would require his dance rs to wear pasties and G-strings. And a state senator plans to push for a similar state law. McCook County State's Attorney Roger Gerlach says the proposed ordinance is not an attempt to put him out of business: "As long as they have some opaque clothing over the crucial parts of the human body, they can danc e all they want." In the meantime, customers continue paying $10 cover -- actually called a n all-day movie ticket -- to watch strippers dance. Patrons can sit next to the stage or get a private dance in a small room off to the side. Th ey can also grab a stool at the juice bar and order a $3 soft drink or a $4 juice or power drink. When Rieger retooled his business as a movie theater, he said he would fe ature independent, artsy R-rated films. During a recent visit, though, h ardcore fare was playing in the club's 17-seat theater. The 15-member Citizens Against Nude Juicebars and Pornography has organiz ed protests outside the club and filmed patrons in the parking lot to di scourage them from entering. Salem hair salon owner Maxine Pulse, the gr oup's co-founder, says she saw men drinking and urinating in the parking lot and dancers coming to the door nude. "And it seems like anymore nowadays that line has got all jumbled up." After Rieger seized on a loophole in the law that allows nudity in such p laces movie theaters, health clubs and college art classes, Pulse's grou p dropped its protests for fear of being hit with harassment charges. Clarence Kooistra plans to take the fight to the ne xt level and propose a state law that would Rieger's dancers to cover up . "We do not want the Salem area and McCook County to be known as Sin City, South Dakota," he says.
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