Editorial: Liquor and strip clubs no longer mix in Houston County

Some things just seem to go together.

Bacon and eggs.

Peanut butter and jelly.

Starsky and Hutch.

Strip clubs and alcohol.

Take away one, and the other can’t quite seem to take care of business on its own.

That’s the crafty logic behind local legislation that created a law banning strip clubs from serving alcohol in Houston County. Existing establishments are exempt unless they change ownership, then they’d lose their liquor license.

New operations are out of luck from the start.

Apparently the owner of Secrets Gentlemen’s Club wasn’t aware of the law passed this summer and how it would affect his plans to open a strip club near the Country Crossing development on U.S. 231 south of Dothan.

Even his plan to allow customers to bring their own beer was shot down; that’s illegal, too, under the law in Houston County.

As is usually the case, there are scarce exceptions to the notion that strip clubs must serve drinks to survive. Tampa’s Mons Venus all-nude strip club is among the most infamous and successful establishments of its type, despite being unable to serve alcohol.

That’s not likely to be the case in Houston County. Secrets owner Brad Nelson said he might open a juice bar in the club, though we suspect he was being sarcastic.

Nelson, who is ready to open the doors at Secrets, believes he should not have been sold a license if he could not serve alcohol or allow BYOB.

From our perspective, he has no one to blame but himself. Determining what laws apply to one’s business is the businessman’s responsibility.

The concept is so old, there’s a Latin phrase for it: Ignorantia juris non excusat — Ignorance of the law is no excuse.