In a civil case, attorneys representing the Town of Clarksville have requested a chosen step-in and pressure person business, Theater X, to comply with new guidelines, which includes hours of operation.
A motion for preliminary injunction filed Tuesday states that the business on U.S. 31 violates provisions of a preferred ordinance adopted in June — that there isn’t a clean line of sight among the supervisor’s station and the theater and viewing cubicles, and that it remains open among nighttime to 6 a.M., prohibited hours for a sexually-orientated enterprise underneath the new code.
The provisions are part of a well-known ordinance followed June 18 with the aid of the Clarksville Town Council to strengthen guidelines on personal businesses on the town, even though the phase about requiring managers with a purpose to see all parts of the enterprise besides restrooms is also covered inside the metropolis’s zoning code.
Town representatives say the movement is supposed to preserve the enterprise responsible for any illegal activity which may additionally take location there.
“[Theatair] X’s failure to correctly configure and display its premises allows illicit sex acts — and the concomitant chance of the unfold of sexually transmitted illnesses — to continue unabated,” the motion reads in the component.
At the Clarksville Town Council meeting Tuesday night, the council voted unanimously on violations of the brand new code. The first violation will result in a $2,500 quality; the second one would be $7,500. Ongoing violations can be fined the amount in line with day and will take effect after being nicely published inside the newspaper, in keeping with the Indiana code.
“The metropolis just wishes them to conform with these public fitness and safety regulations; the rationale isn’t always to chase after civil consequences,” said Greg Fifer, local suggest representing the city in the appeals case. “It’s to have them follow the metropolis’s reasonable expectations that they operate the commercial enterprise in a safe and wholesome manner.”
This movement is simply trendy in ongoing civil litigation among the metropolis and the person business. In May, Theater X filed a court docket attraction after the metropolis council voted to revoke its enterprise license due to a couple of alleged zoning code violations, arrests for illegal sexual activity, and a preceding suspension within twelve months.
Dave Mosley, nearby counsel for Theater X, said although he hasn’t but completed a complete prison evaluation at the motion, he feels it’s miles presumptuous.
“I do not assume it is a meritorious motion,” he said. “It’s a part of their try to shut down the enterprise.
“Of direction, the city can alter things which can be a risk to fitness and safety — I assume it really is a public interest — but that is just bigotry and zealotry in movement.”
Fifer denied that the metropolis’s filings are approximately that.
“This case has honestly nothing to do with the movies that are proven or watched [in Theater X],” he stated. “I do not assume this is ethical trouble, and I don’t assume it’s a primary modification problem.
““They can easily be left by myself if they may surely follow those reasonable requirements.”
Cincinnati-based lawyer Louis Sirkin also represents the enterprise alongside Mosley; Tennessee-primarily based lawyer Scott Bergthold currently joined Fifer in representing the city in this case.
