Court Upholds Decency Ordinances Against Adult Bars in Daytona

Excerpts from “Appeals court rules in favor of Daytona nudity ordinances”
By DEREK L. KINNER, Daytona Beach News-Journal – June 29, 2007

DAYTONA BEACH — The city won a full-frontal victory from a federal appeals court in Atlanta on Thursday when the court upheld its zoning and nudity ordinances, meaning erotic dancers in adult bars in most parts of the city can’t bare it all anymore.

“The bottom line is the 11th Circuit Court (of Appeals) upheld the city’s authority to enforce its zoning regulations and public nudity ordinance with regard to the adult entertainment establishments,” a jubilant City Attorney Bob Brown said.

…

The city was on the losing end of a district court ruling in January 2006 in which a judge ruled the city’s nudity laws were unconstitutional because they violated the right to free speech. That ruling cleared the way for adult clubs to clear all clothes from their dancers, and they’ve been dancing nude since. The city wants dancers at any adult establishment that serves liquor, or is within 500 feet of a business that serves liquor, to be required to wear conservative bikinis.

…

Mayor Glenn Ritchey said he was ecstatic with the ruling not only because it upheld the city’s ordinances, but also because some people feared the city would lose a lot of money in attorneys’ fees if it lost the case.

“I think that we believe obviously it was the correct thing to do,” Ritchey said.

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