SEAFORD, DE — According to the Delaware Department of Justice, removing vice from a city is as easy as forcing a troubled gentleman’s club to cover up its female employees and convert to an everyday restaurant or bar. After all, mainstream restaurants and bars never experience or host illegal activity. “Today marks an important milestone in our enforcement of Delaware’s Nuisance Abatement Law,” State Solicitor Lawrence Lewis assured the state’s citizens. “The Delaware Attorney General’s office is using this statute in new and innovative ways to combat social vice crime in our neighborhoods. As a result, this property will no longer be a haven for illegal activity.”
Pretty words. Pretty promises.
According to the Department of Justice, the area’s only strip club, the Canton Inn, has been a haven for prostitution and lewd sexual conduct for several years. An investigation by the Delaware State Division of Professional Regulation and the State Police concluded that the titty shaking business was an imminent threat to the public health, safety and welfare.
Instead of mounting a defense against the charges, the club’s owner, David Lui, has agreed to voluntarily exit the adult entertainment industry and renovate the Canton Inn, reopening as an everyday restaurant and bar.
After all, bars never inspire or attract criminal activity.
Representative Daniel B. Short [R-Seaford] is delighted by the news, informing citizens that “The residents of Seaford will benefit greatly from this agreement.” Short added praise for the Department of Justice, opining that “This is exactly how the Nuisance Abatement statute should work and I commend the Attorney General’s Office for their efforts.”
This is the first time that the Nuisance Abatement Law has been used to close down an adult business and is the result of efforts begun in August 2007 by Attorney General Beau Biden to combat neighborhood crime under the state’s Drug Nuisance and Social Vices Abatement Act, which allows government to explore a number of options including property closure.
Since the Act went into action, 74 nuisances have been abated either by court order or voluntary cooperation.
Lui, who had trouble in 2004 for running the Fantasia Restaurant and Lounge in Wilmington without an adult entertainment license, says that his new business will be a nightclub. “It will open again soon,” he promises,” and it will be open at the same times.”
