tuscl

Follow up story

shadowcat
Atlanta suburb
Sunday, February 12, 2012 7:39 AM
Proposed strip club to nuns: Don't impose your religious beliefs on us The owner of a soon-to-be-built strip club in the western suburb of Stone Park has this to say to a group of neighboring nuns who don't like his plans: Mind your own business. “As a legal tax-paying citizen of this community, we ask only to be judged fairly by what we have done and not through the recent religious fervor,” Bob Itzkow, the club's owner, said in statement released Friday. “In reference to our non-tax-paying neighbors, we ask that you treat us as we have treated you, by not trying to unduly disturb us by imposing your religious beliefs on us or others. All throughout our plans for this project we've followed the letter and spirit of the law.” The Missionary Sisters of Saint Charles Borromeo, who occupy the property next to the club, have moral objections to the project and have raised questions about whether the rules were followed properly by Stone Park officials during the 2010 approval process. Stone Park Mayor Beniamino Mazulla has said everything was done legally, even though he's not personally a big fan of the project. On Friday, one of the nuns, Sister Marissonia Daltoe, responded to Itzkow's statement this way: “To me personally, this is not a matter of imposing religious beliefs — it's a matter of defending our moral Christian principles of the community at large.” Daltoe said the sisters are currently “in a moment of reflection” regarding any future efforts to fight the club. “We are thinking,” she said. “We are seeing what can be done.”

13 comments

  • jackslash
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    12 years ago
    I don't disagree with the right of the club owner to locate next to a convent. I disagree with the wisdom of it. By building beside a convent, the owner is asking for trouble. Public officials and politicians will spout off about the evils of strip clubs and will propose legislation to regulate the fun out of them or prohibit them completely. Many citizens who don't care about strip clubs generally will now object to them because they are offending nuns. This story has already made the national news on TV, and you can be sure that commentators are not taking the strip club's side. This one owner, by choosing a location that will offend many people, will increase the public's dislike of strip clubs and make it more likely that restrictive laws and regulations will be enacted.
  • JacksonEsskay
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    12 years ago
    Well said Jack
  • Rod8432
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    12 years ago
    So Sister Daltoe says, "...this is not a matter of imposing religious beliefs — it’s a matter of defending our moral Christian principles of the community at large." WTF? I think "religous beliefs" = "Christian principles," does it not? And whether the "community at large" holds these beliefs or not, what does that have to do with anything? Does that make their irrational doctinal theology any more or less deserving than another person's irrational doctinal theology? I shall stop now before I burst a vessel. The intrusiveness of religion on our lives seems to know no bounds. Clearly a hot button for me. I may just have to schedule an upcoming weekend to visit the Windy City and pay a visit to said club, for moral support as it were.
  • georgmicrodong
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    12 years ago
    @Che: So the strip club owner should respect the nuns' sensibilities, but the nuns don't have to respect the club owners *rights*? How the fuck does *that* work?
  • JuiceBox69
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    12 years ago
    I agree with jack !
  • Alucard
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    12 years ago
    "The intrusiveness of religion on our lives seems to know no bounds. Clearly a hot button for me" I agree. "attempts to legislate morality" Doesn't usually work. If enough people what something...it will happen. An example being Prohibition & the reaction.
  • deogol
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    12 years ago
    With all the boy fucking pedo shit going on with the Catholic Church, maybe the words should be shooting the other way.
  • mjx01
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    12 years ago
    Agree with Jack. Legal: yes. Smart: hell no!
  • ddreksler
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    12 years ago
    Stone Park is an oasis of decadence in the middle of Chicago...this club just happens to be in their back yard...that's the only reason they are complaining. If this were a real issue, they would be marching up & down Mannheim protesting all the immorality...but they are not. There are at least 5-6 other strip clubs or lingerie clubs within a mile of this location...not to mention gambling and other "organized" distractions...give me a break...lol
  • bang69
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    12 years ago
    Opening a strip joint next to a convent is stupid. There are better places to open a Strip joint
  • sharkhunter
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    12 years ago
    I agree there is no wisdom in following the letter of the law knowing that building a strip club next to a convent will antagonize people against you. I believe this is the reason so many laws were passed restricting strip club locations. The people in the local community create the local laws in the first place unless everything they do is controlled at the state level. You need to locate clubs where they don't antagonize people. I think whoever decided to locate next to a convent was asking for it.
  • sharkhunter
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    12 years ago
    I can imagine new laws stating no sexually oriented businesses located within 1000 feet of religious property or something like that. Then the club owner just wasted his money. Churches get people to vote. Strip clubs seem to have a problem with rallying local communities to vote. Until that changes, the churches will win and laws will change to appease the churches. The club owner apparently wasn't too bright or wants a fight.
  • Fenster
    •
    12 years ago
    Right on, deogol. The club owner could just point out that all the naked people in his club are of age, have consented to be naked, and get paid. Unlike the business next door, which pays its employees to molest those who areare underage, then thinks that it shouldn't be required to report the offenders to the police, and instead just shuffles them around to a new feeding ground with fresh, new victims.
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