Sorry, Amethyst.
In Cole County this afternoon, Circuit Judge Jon Beetem declined to grant a temporary restraining order against a new law that seriously curtails strip clubs and other sexually oriented businesses in Missouri.
The law, passed earlier this summer, states that such businesses must close at midnight, can't serve liquor and can't have full nudity.
Bookstores can no longer have private viewing booths, and a mandatory six-foot bubble around dancers effectively kills lap dances.
A coalition of Missouri club and bookstore owners, who say the law is unconstitutional and will cost jobs and revenue, sought the temporary restraining order to be allowed to keep open after the August 28th deadline while their legal challenge wends its way through the courts.
"We're not going down without a fight," Nellie Symm-Gruender tells Daily RFT. Symm-Gruender and her husband own three adult bookstores in Columbia, Marshall Junction and Booneville. The pair were part of the coalition that sought the restraining order and is challenging the constitutionality of the law.
"We are going to aggressively fight this," she says. "We are going to file a federal appeal." In fact, she tells Daily RFT she's expecting news on that this afternoon.
We'll keep you updated.
