Court says Fulton County strip clubs can serve alcohol

WASHINGTON - Some Georgia nightclubs will be allowed to offer alcohol and nude dancing after the Supreme Court refused to consider overturning a court victory for the clubs.

Officials in Fulton County, Ga., wanted justices to decide if they had to prove strip clubs were hurting the community before restricting the businesses. An appeals court said they did, and the Supreme Court declined Monday to intervene.

When Fulton County prohibited strip clubs in 1997 from selling alcohol, it referred to reports showing increased crime or declining property values near adult clubs in Los Angeles, Indianapolis, Minneapolis and Austin, Texas.

But because studies in Fulton County did not find those same problems, a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in 2000 that the law was unconstitutional.

Opponents of the restrictions say they are designed simply to put strip clubs out of business.

When Fulton County was considering an ordinance, the police department studied more than two years of records and found that there were fewer reports of problems at the adult clubs than at general bars.

Appraisal reports found that property values were not declining in neighborhoods with adult bars.

Despite that, county leaders passed an ordinance that said public nudity, combined with ``the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages in adult entertainment facilities offering live entertainment, begets criminal behavior and tends to create undesirable community conditions.''

Nude dance clubs in Fulton County date back nearly 20 years. County clubs filed suit after the ordinance was passed.

County leaders told the Supreme Court their ban was based on nationally recognized negative impacts of adult clubs. They also said they had the right to preserve the area's quality of life, without waiting for problems to develop.

The leaders said in court papers that the appeals court ruling ``threatens the concept of legislative discretion for local governments in'' restricting adult entertainment.

The case is Fulton County v. Flanigan's Enterprises, 01-144.