JUST GET ANOTHER LINE OF WORK

The City of Houston has been battling sexually oriented establishments for a decade, spending more than $1 million in legal costs so far while defending an ordinance which prohibts the location of such businesses within 1,500 feet of schools, churches, child day-care givers and parks. In effect, this ordinance would force all sexually oriented business - topless clubs, massage parlors, spas, nude "tanning" salons and some adult bookstores - out of the city.

In yesterday's edition of the Houston Chronicle, there was a featured story on the controversy between the city and this industry. The article called attention to the plight of a mother with an autisitc child. She worked as a topless dancer in an upscale club in order to pay for her daughter's therapy which has cost her some $60,000 in the past year. She did not earn enough in her previous employment to cover the child's treatment costs and her living expenses.

The mayor of Houston has been adamant in his defense ot the 1,500 foot restriction. He readily admits he would like to see all sexually oriented businesses driven out of the city. He dismissed the plight of the mother with the autistic child by suggesting she obtain another line of work. "There's bound to be a better way to address the challenges of a young mother trying to take care of a child and make ends meet than ..... have her take off all her clothes and dance in front of strangers," the mayor was quoted as saying.

The mayor's cavalier and callous dismissal of that mother's plight is very easy to make if you are a mult-millionaire, which the mayor is. He needs to get real. A young mother without professional skills will be unable to obtain the kind of employment which will earn her enough to meet costly medical expenses in addition to her living expesnses. The mayor's attitude is akin to Marie Antoinette's attitude about her hungry French subjects - "Let them eat cake."

I'm neither in favor of nor opposed to topless clubs. The only times I've been to these places was as a vice officer or by accompanying police officers when I was a criminal justice professor. The lap dancing that goes on in these extablishments is a disgusting form of prostitution. Massage parlors, spas and nude "tanning" salons are nothing more than fronts for prostitution and I wouldn't lose any sleep if they were all driven out of town.

The topless clubs would not be in business if there was not a big demand for that type of entertainment. For topless clubs, 500 feet would seem to be a more reasonable distance than the 1,500 foot restriction sought by the City of Houston. Although many topless dancers are prostitutes and drug addicts, frequent on-site police checks would help protect nearby surroundings by deterring unlawful activies within these establishments.