THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 12, 1995 TAG: 9508120045
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ANGELITA PLEMMER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 105 lines
Agents of the state liquor board have seized the license of Mr. Magic's in Virginia Beach, bringing to six the number of Hampton Roads nightclubs targeted for license revocation by the board since late July.
The Alcoholic Beverage Control board decided Thursday to take the license of the dance club after an appeals hearing in Richmond on Wednesday. It announced the action Friday.
Mr. Magic's was charged with failing to keep complete and accurate records, failing to maintain the proper ratio of food to alcoholic beverages, maintaining a noisy or disorderly establishment and failing to maintain peace and good order.
The club can fight the ABC decision in court, but while it pursues legal challenges, it cannot serve liquor.
Last month, the ABC board recommended that liquor licenses be revoked for three go-go clubs in Portsmouth - Sticky Fingers, Mad Dogs and Lickety-Splits - and two in Chesapeake, Getaway II and The Flame.
These clubs' owners can appeal the revocations to the ABC board - or challenge them in court - and the clubs can continue to serve alcoholic beverages during the appeal process.
In the cases of the five go-go clubs, the owners were accused of allowing lewd conduct by dancers during several performances last year.
William P. Robinson Jr., an attorney representing the five go-go bars and Mr. Magic's, said he plans to appeal all six revocations.
He said the actions against the go-go bars were ``selective enforcement.''
``No one makes members of the public go into these establishments, so there's a market for this kind of entertainment,'' he said. ``The young women who dance do so voluntarily, and they make a pretty good living at it.''
But the underlying issue, Robinson said, is that the dancers are independent contractors, and they get bigger tips from customers when their acts are more graphic.
``They know nothing is going to happen to them even if they get charged with lewd conduct'' because it is difficult for prosecutors to prove that their dancing violated acceptable community standards, Robinson said.
``The licensee is at the mercy of an independent contractor,'' Robinson said. ``That's not the licensee who is permitting or condoning that conduct. What is the incentive for the licensee to permit this kind of conduct?''
The Portsmouth clubs have sparked the ire of nearby residents and impeded the city's attempts to change its image and attract more tourists, city officials have said.
Although the Portsmouth City Council last year passed an ordinance to require a special use permit for businesses like strip bars and go-go clubs, the stricter regulations apply only to future businesses.
The city has no public-nudity ordinance, so prosecutors must rely on the state's obscenity code to convict dancers of lewd behavior. This can be difficult because prosecutors must prove that the dancer's conduct violated appropriate standards of community behavior.
ABC regulations, however, offer another alternative. ABC agents do not need warrants to search establishments, and the board can effectively shut down a business by revoking its liquor license.
For Mr. Magic's, the ABC action is the latest round in a long-running dispute with authorities. The club has also been cited by Commonwealth's Attorney Robert Humphreys for being a public nuisance. If convicted in the case, which has been continued, the club could be forced to close and to pay a $5,000 fine.
Last year, two patrons were killed during shootings outside Mr. Magic's. Since January, police have confiscated as many as 40 guns from patrons outside the club.
E. George Minns, the club's manager, could not be reached for comment Friday. He has accused law enforcement officials of unfairly targeting the club because it serves a largely black clientele.
In an interview Wednesday before the ABC board reached its decision, Minns indicated that the club would fight back in court.
``The final decision is not in Bob Humphreys' hands,'' Minns said. ``The final decision by law is not in the ABC board's hands. We do have a state Supreme Court and we do have federal courts.''
The ABC board's July 24 recommendation to revoke the licenses of the five go-go clubs was unusual because it was a more severe penalty than that recommended by an ABC hearings officer. In most cases, when the board modifies a decision by a hearings officer, it opts for a less stringent penalty, said ABC spokesman Robert Chapman.
After hearing testimony about activities at the clubs, the officer recommended that each club be fined $1,000 and lose its liquor license for 15 days.
The board opted for license revocation, it wrote, ``because of the nature of the conduct that occurred on the licensed premises.'' ILLUSTRATION: OTHER CLUBS TARGETED
Lickety-Splits
Portsmouth
Mad Dog's
Portsmouth
Getaway II
Chesapeake
Sticky Fingers
Portsmouth
The Flame
Chesapeake (formerly Blaster's Restaurant)
by CNB