THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, March 5, 1996 TAG: 9603050187
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: POINT HARBOR LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
Currituck County officials trying to close Mermaids have charged its owner with operating the topless-dancing bar without a valid permit.
Sheriff's deputies Sunday served a criminal summons on Robert Franklin London, 60, at his residence in Point Harbor, a police spokeswoman said Monday morning.
London is president of R.F. London Inc., the official owner of the nightclub.
The papers order London to appear in Currituck County District Court March 21 to answer allegations of operating the nightclub without a valid permit on three occasions last month.
``This is the first criminal summons that we have served since I've been here,'' said Jack Simoneau, the county's planning director for the past six years.
A court summons requires the named party to appear before a judge to answer claims. It is not the same as an arrest warrant, under which a person is taken to jail by police and released on bond.
London is being asked to appear before a district court judge on three counts of ``operating a business without a conditional use permit being valid.''
After losing an appeal earlier this month, London had said he planned to keep the restaurant featuring semi-nude dancers open on weekends and take his case to the State Supreme Court.
London said at that time that a Superior Court judge's stay allowed him to stay open as he continued to appeal his 1994 revocation.
Simoneau said last week that London has been told he no longer has a valid permit to operate.
``He clearly knows. There are no questions. He has known since August that he should not be opened,'' Simoneau said.
The formal complainant on the summons is Mark Cartwright, the county's code enforcement officer, said Susan Johnson, who handles public information for the county Sheriff's Department.
The controversial nightclub had legally challenged a county board's revocation of its conditional use permit in 1994 and eventually took the case to the state's Court of Appeals.
The Board of Adjustment's initial rejection had been based on what members believed was London's misrepresentation of his business intentions.
When London and a business partner applied for the permit, they specifically said they would not have topless dancers, believing such a practice was illegal in Currituck County.
The men later learned topless dancing was not illegal per se, and they began to boost business by featuring bare-breasted women.
At the 1994 public hearing on the revocation, Currituck County residents opposed to topless dancing filled the county courthouse's courtroom to support the permit's being pulled.
Currituck businesses featuring adult entertainment have since been severely restricted to a few small parcels zoned heavy manufacturing in the largely agricultural county.
One frequent Mermaids patron said last week that the nightclub is usually full on Fridays and Saturdays, drawing between 50 and 75 visitors nightly.
``In the summertime, they're busy all the time,'' he said. ``It's a business that's been successful, but the county wants it shut down.''
Simoneau said London has until Wednesday to reapply for another permit. by CNB