Sexually-oriented businesses are gone from Kenton County

Covington, KY - In the dimly lit lounge of Club Venus in Covington, the dancers are wearing a lot more than they used to.

Their pasties and thongs have been replaced with bikinis.

That's because the club and La Foxx Gentlemen's Club at 8th and Scott streets failed to get their sexually-oriented business license renewed.

As a result,  Kenton County Attorney Garry Edmondson proclaims,
"We now have eliminated sexually-oriented businesses in Kenton County completely."

How this came to be is hotly contested.

Edmondson says they gave the license up voluntarily.

Owner Ruth Everett says she was duped.

When an employee went to renew their license to operate a sexually-oriented business with the City of Covington, she was told a city license was no longer needed.

That much is true. The city no longer requires such licenses. What Everett says wasn't clear was that Kenton County now handles those licenses. By the time they reached the county, it was too late.

"They're trying to run me out of business," Everett says.

By wearing bikinis instead of something less, the bar doesn't need the additional regulation, according to Edmonson. He says the girls are dressed  no differently than at a swimming pool.

The county attorney adds that strip clubs are magnets for crime, and Club Venus was no exception. "The police did some investigations, undercover work, and discovered both prostitution going on as well as and drug abuse."

That assertion infuriates club employees.

"There's prostitution, drugs and crime everywhere," responds Gina Hiatt, a manager at Club Venus.  " How often do you really hear about it in these bars?"

Ironically, officials have told the club state law requires they install clear windows so passersby, including the police, can see through the entire bar without entering the building.