ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 11, 1996 TAG: 9602120045
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RADFORD
SOURCE: ELISSA MILENKY STAFF WRITER
BUMPERS CAFE opened in Radford this weekend, but it may have a very short life.
There were no slick advertisements or television spots to promote the reopening this weekend of Bumpers Cafe, converted from a downtown bar to a club featuring exotic dancing. Only a small classified advertisement seeking exotic dancers for "big money" and a "flexible schedule" heralded its reincarnation.
The club's latest entertainment offering, however, already has sparked community concern, and possibly will lead to two new city ordinances that specifically prohibit nudity and obscene exhibitions. It also comes only weeks after the opening of Juicie's, an exotic cabaret show in Plum Creek, prompted a re-examination of Montgomery County's obscenity ordinance.
Radford City Council and Montgomery County Board of Supervisors will take up obscenity issues Monday at separate meetings. The county has scheduled a public hearing on its amendment.
Radford never has had an exotic dance club, and the city's ordinances make only vague references to community standards, said Mayor Tom Starnes. Bumpers' addition of exotic dancing, combined with the ongoing controversy surrounding the Plum Creek club, prompted Radford officials to write more specific ordinances, Starnes said.
"The intent with these two ordinances is to be more specific than the current ordinance is on the books," said Starnes, who has received several complaints.
"I had given it some thought really before the Bumpers thing came up, but the Montgomery County [incident] was what precipitated a need to look at it."
Juicie's was closed in November on charges of indecent exposure and promoting an obscene performance. The club reopened after the charges were dropped by Commonwealth's Attorney Phil Keith, who said the dancers' performances were protected by the Constitution.
The incident prompted Montgomery County supervisors to consider an amendment to county obscenity laws that closely follows the language of a Virginia Beach ordinance upheld by the Virginia Supreme Court. The county's amendment, which mirrors one of the ordinances Radford City Council will consider, defines nudity as exposure of genitals, pubic areas or buttocks with less than a fully opaque covering or the "showing of the female breast with less than a fully opaque covering" of the breast below the top of the nipple.
Radford City Council also will be considering a second ordinance Monday night prohibiting obscene exhibitions, defined as an appeal to prurient interest in sex beyond customary limits with no serious literary, political or scientific value.
Bumpers' exotic dancers, who performed for the first time at the club Friday night, strip down to pasties, which cover the nipples, and G-strings, said owner Troy Lawson. Rules such as prohibiting customers from touching the women, a dress code requiring male patrons to wear collared shirts, and a 21-and-older age limit are enforced.
"It's not much more than you would see at a beach. ... The only thing you wouldn't see is pasties," Lawson said. "The thing about it is, it's a classy joint, it's not a prostitution ring.
"It's good fun. It's clean fun."
Lawson, who has owned Bumpers for two years, said he decided to convert his bar on Norwood Street - the city's downtown thoroughfare - to an exotic dance club when competition from other bars and student keg parties became too fierce and he began losing money. He had employees study exotic dance nightclubs in Richmond to determine how such a club could be run legally and approached city officials about the conversion.
Lawson said he gave city officials a written proposal, which included a provision to close the club Sundays "in respect to the religious groups."
He is waiting to see how the ordinances, if passed, will affect him. He plans to offer exotic dancing on weekends until the club can hire enough dancers to have performances six days a week.
"If it's all done legally, we're all going to prosper," Lawson said.
Radford police officers are monitoring the club. Deputy Chief Jonny Butler said police officials will meet with the commonwealth's attorney this week to report their findings from the weekend visits.
He said he is frankly a little surprised such a club would come to Radford. "Here we are in the conservative revolution, and we get a nudie bar," Butler said. "Are we on the cutting edge?"
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