Flesh Club gets no love in courts
In our continuing coverage of all things Flesh (The notorious Hospitality Lane strip club shut down by a judge last month), we will have a Wednesday story on the State Supreme Court's rejection of Flesh Club attorneys' request to stay the judge's decision pending appeal.
Yes, Flesh stays closed, probably for the full eight months Superior Court Judge Donald Alvarez ordered on Oct. 30.
This coming weekend, look for a long story of the Flesh Club told through the eyes of perhaps its most prolific dancer, a woman who admits she earned thousands having sex in the Flesh Club's VIP Rooms. It has a happy ending too, with the woman finding God, escaping Flesh, and working to help other women scarred by pasts similar to hers.
Click below for a preview of tomorrow's story.
SAN BERNARDINO - The state Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a petition to stay a Superior Court judge’s decision closing the notorious nude cabaret for eight months and fining its owners $25,000.
The appeal of Superior Court Judge Donald Alvarez’s Oct. 30 decision, in which he said the club maintained an “ongoing, pervasive business climate” of lewd behavior, is still pending in the 4th District Court of Appeals, a state court.
The attorney representing the city said that appeal amounts to a last gasp to keep the club open.
“They will still appeal to the 4th District Court, but they’ll remain closed while they do it,” said Joseph Arias, who argued for the city during a trial in which the club was found in violation of the state’s Red Light Abatement Act, which targets brothels.
Arias added that he thinks the appeal has little chance of overturning Alvarez’s ruling.
“They’re appealing on the merits of his ruling, but they’re dead in the water on that,” he said.
Roger Jon Diamond
A release from the state Supreme Court said Diamond filed his request for a stay on Nov. 20, six days after the court-ordered closure commenced. The court requested a response from City Attorney James F. Penman and received it Nov. 27.
Penman said on Tuesday that his response to the court clarified “inaccuracies” in Diamond’s petition to stay the order.
Arias said he expects Alvarez’s order to be sustained. Alvarez stipulated that the club’s owners pay a $25,000 fine, cease adult-oriented activity for eight months, and, when and if the club reopens, remove curtains that provide private “VIP rooms” and follow the city’s business ordinance forbidding contact between customers and employees.
In the meantime, if Diamond still wants a stay on Alvarez’s order, there’s only one place left to go.
“Next stop would be the U.S. Supreme Court,” Penman said.
What a waste of taxpayer money. Wouldn't it had been easier not to allow the establishment to open in the first place. The city does have the capability to deny a license. Geez, what a waste...
Thompson is right -- and he is wrong.
It IS a waste of money, but the courts wouldn't let the city deny a license. If they had, it would have been simple.
Perhaps the money spent was not a waste altogether, though. San Bernardino has the reputation for being a dump. If the city's leaders had meekly yielded to having a den of debauchery in the midst of the community's premier motel-restaurant row, what kind of status would San Bernardino have enjoyed then?