Dallas County frees 16th innocent man, City closes strip club loophole
Categories: Dallas, Justice/Law Enforcement, Politics and Elections
Written By: Shawn Williams
Many were troubled by the story of a 12 year old that was allowed to strip in a local night club. What was just as bad was a loophole in the Dallas city charter which allowed them to remain open after the incident. Here are changes that the city council approved on Wednesday to address the problem:
- Prohibiting a sexually oriented business from allowing a minor to enter the premises, employing a minor, or allowing a minor to perform
- Requiring sexually oriented businesses to keep files with documentation of identity, age and criminal history background check on operators and entertainers
- Requiring a sexually oriented business to name designated operators. One must always be present during operating hours
- Reducing the effective date for license suspension or revocation from 30 days to 10 days
- Prohibiting private and enclosed VIP rooms
This is good, swift work by the mayor and the council. These changes go into effect on Monday.
Source - Pegasus News
Also on Wednesday Thomas Clifford McGowan was freed after spending 23 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Dallas County has set more prisoners free (16) than any other county in the nation. Barry Scheck of the Innocence Project was one of the attorneys who worked on Mr. McGowan’s case.
Read Jennifer Emily’s Dallas Morning News story here.
April 17th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
When the new members of the council took office, I addressed them on the issue of what could be done on the issue of sexual violence in the city of Dallas. They each listened and had nothing in response to say after the address. One of the things I suggested was a year long campaign to raise awareness on the myriad of issues faced by survivors of victims of sexual violence. The date of my address can be seen by googling my marian hubbard jefferson under the city of dallas document. One year later, a 12 year old is found stripping at night club and the City’s response is swift, really? This is an utter and complete failure. How about a more seriousw examination of what our City has done and is doing to address the issue of Preventing these kinds of issues. Let’s talk about the multitudes of adult males that will be meeting up with our daughters at the senior prom this month with only a wink and a nod from every adult present. How about we discuss the Home Bound program of the DISD, has anyone asked them just how many of those girls actually go on to complete their high school education, have more children while in school despite the in-home intervention and why the school, community and CPS isn’t more actively involved with pursuit of the adult men who are fathering these children according to statistics. This is no time for Kuhm bay yah moment. Parents, the community, the church and the City all have work to do.