| From The SA Express News: Oil field worker smokes outside Encinal's new (only) strip club |
From the San Antonio Express News
Much prayer, protest and angst followed the news. And when the Dimmit County commissioners met in June, almost 50 people came to voice their concerns and 400 signed a petition opposing the strip clubs.But, as they quickly learned, it wasn't just a matter of saying no thanks.
“We were shocked when we learned we couldn't stop them from coming and opening up, it being a first amendment, free speech issue, and all,” Perez said. “You never really give this situation a thought until it's in your face.”
In response, the county formed a committee, which included Perez, that quickly drafted a “sexually oriented business” ordinance that may be the strictest in the state. Approved two weeks ago, it regulates everything from the number of security guards required on the premises to the kind of drinking containers allowed.It prohibits smoking, gambling and garbage burning, and lays out in graphic detail what legally constitutes “specified sexual activities,” a section not recommended for the weak of heart or those unversed in human anatomy.
“Understanding that we could not exclude them, we tried to impose as many regulations as we could,” said Commissioner Mike Uriegas, who oversaw the committee. And so far, no further inquiries have come from strip club operators. But as the members of the ordinance committee learned along the way, other threats to the morals and family values, they said, may already be lurking in Dimmit County.
“We have experienced prostitution already in town. There are vans that come in and pick up the guys. We see out-of-town people, girls who we know are not from here, and that's what they are doing,” said Irma De Luna, a local schoolteacher. Sheriff Joel Gonzalez confirmed that complaints about prostitution have been received from managers of motels and operators of some of the many RV parks that sprang up overnight around the county.
One can hope that 20 Mami Chula's appear. Then, that Mami Chula's becomes a player on the national stage--so to speak--of businesses, selling their franchise licenses to the masses.
ReplyDeleteThen what will Salinas and Rangel say? Oh, I'll tell you: they will bend over backwards to accommodate the new Mami Chulas franchises at the expense of the religious/conservative nuts who shake their bibles at innocent Laredoans who like such establishments.
Well, one can dream can't he?
Mami Chula's would probably be one of the biggest contributors to Mayor & Rangel once they go nation-wide.
ReplyDelete