Ted Radke isn’t taking any chances.

After watching Myrtle, a town of 53, deal with a strip club opening downtown, the Hollandale mayor is hoping to put up a safeguard against a club opening up in his town.

&uot;We want to prevent it before it happens,&uot; Radke said, explaining why Hollandale’s city council passed an ordinance in July to try to keep nude dancing out of town.

&uot;There are just so many problems with people coming to small towns like this and trying to start up strip clubs,&uot; he said. &uot;With five churches in this town, it just wouldn’t fly.&uot;

Throughout rural Minnesota, these same sentiments have been echoed, but many times, they aren’t aired until after a strip club has opened.

Nicollet, Coates, Cosmos, Elko and Cannon Falls are on the long list of rural cities that woke up one day with a strip club in town, and have tried, unsuccessfully, to drive the business out.

According to Randall Tigue, a lawyer who has made his career representing strip clubs as well as other people who he says face a threat to their First Amendment rights, one of the most popular ordinances used by Minnesota cites to keep strip clubs out is one he has beaten with almost constant regularity.

According to Tigue, the defense has won in all but one of the cases involving the ordinance that Myrtle adopted after their strip club opened &045; an ordinance that many cities across the state are still using.

&uot;That ordinance will not keep any strip clubs out,&uot; he said.

Hollandale adopted an ordinance that is nearly identical.

According to Tom Grundhoefer, general counsel for the League of Minnesota Cities, the issue of small town strip clubs appears to be growing.

&uot;I think it’s become a little bit more of the problem over the past couple of years,&uot; he said. &uot;It seems to be a more popular thing to do. They go to smaller communities that aren’t prepared.&uot;

Most of the small cities, he said, are closer to larger municipalities, which feed the business. He said most of the smaller towns don’t have the legal representation to fight the club owners’ lawyers.

Tigue said the fact that small towns are seeing more strip clubs doesn’t mean that they are being targeted.

&uot;They have plenty of strip clubs in Minneapolis,&uot; he said. &uot;I think it’s a matter of supply and demand. People don’t want to travel all the way to Minneapolis to see exotic dancers.&uot;

The league sends out a model ordinances to cities that includes examples from different cities. They include the ordinance that Myrtle has adopted, as well as those of other cities.

&uot;We get a fair number of inquiries for that kind of stuff,&uot; he said. &uot;I recommend to cities that they think about this issue beforehand.&uot;

In Myrtle, the council adopted the ordinance at the time the strip club came in. It hasn’t worked so far.

Tigue represented the club in the first cases of violation of the ordinance. Both were dropped after 30 days.

The attorney representing the city, Phil Kohl, refused to discuss the cases.

The strip club has divided the city, breaking up the city council and giving rise to a petition asking the mayor to resign.

Pat Lawson was a city councilor in Myrtle for four years. Early in July she resigned.

&uot;I was voted on to the council by the city,&uot; she said. &uot;The council took a vote for an ordinance saying there’d be no public nudity, but there’s still public nudity. If I can’t serve the city in the way the city wants me to serve them, I shouldn’t be on the council.&uot;

Lawson also admitted that the city council had become starkly divided over the strip club issue.

The mayor of Myrtle, Bernard Kral, when asked about the issue, said, &uot;Have you ever heard of a town with two councils?&uot; He said that after the club moved in, councilors against the club basically formed their own council.

Kral was against pursuing legal charges against the club because he thought it was a waste of money and felt that the club wouldn’t be all that bad for the area.

&uot;Since we’ve gotten the club in town, we have people in town,&uot; he said. &uot;It hasn’t caused any problems yet.&uot;

Lawson disagreed.

She said the bar brings problems like indecent exposure, public urination and a higher crime rate.

Last week, she said she had her house appraised by a Realtor, who told her the price of the house would probably be $20,000 less than what it might have been if it wasn’t located 50 feet from a strip club.

She said she doesn’t understand why the law works against her and her town.

&uot;(The club owners) say they have rights,&uot; she said. &uot;But what about the people who have lived here for years and continue to live here? Don’t they have rights, too?&uot;

She said she wishes her town had thought of putting the ordinance on the books earlier. She hopes others will do so.

&uot;I’d like to warn small towns to be one step ahead of them,&uot; Lawson said. &uot;It can happen to anyone.&uot;

&uot;I’ve lived in this town over 20 years,&uot; she added. &uot;I believed that I could have cleaned up the town and made it a nice place to live. Now I feel it’s turned against me.&uot;

(Contact Peter Cox at peter.cox@albertleatribune.com or 379-3439.)