Wednesday, March 27, 2002

 

I remember the beginning of this story very well. It started just as a big story of mine was coming to a close. My story involved the business partner of a former county commissioner proposing a nude bottle club on Main Street. (For those of you who don't know, a bottle club is byob. In Pennsylvania, there's a law that says you can't sell booze if there's nude dancing, etc. But customers can bring their own booze. Also, my hometown is very small. Main Street really is the main street in town. Main Street has only 3 traffic lights, if that tells you anything. Also, the former county commissioner, although he owned the building, said he wasn't involved in the nudie stuff. Whatever. ) The townsfolk were up in arms about this. It got really ugly. But, man, they were fun stories to write! So, as this series of events was coming to a close, down in State College, about 3 hours away, a man was in a bit of hot water for gardening nude in his own yard. You can read the story for the details. But the state Superior Court just overturned the conviction saying, pretty much, he's in his own backyard and he can do what he wants. I love it when the system works the way it's supposed to. What makes me feel even better is that one of the people I voted for, Maureen Lally-Green, is one of the judges who ruled in favor of overturning the conviction.

Oh? How did the nude bottle club on Main Street fiasco end? The city bought the building for $50,000 on the condition that the owners agree to not open any adult entertainment businesses within the city limits. There was a rumor circulating that there never was going to be a club; the owners just wanted to scare the city into buying the building.

posted by Anne 3/27/2002 10:02:00 AM