As any sailor or fresh recruit out of the MCRD can tell you, Pacers and the Cheetah Club have, ah, saved many a lonely and bored American trooper passing through San Diego’s Midway district. Now, San Diego’s strippers may have just saved San Diego from Governor Gavin Newsom.
A San Diego judge has extended an injunction issued in November that allowed strippers to climb back on the pole after Newsom ordered their clubs locked down in October.
Pacers International Showgirls came under increased scrutiny starting in October when Padres outfielder Tommy Pham was stabbed in the parking lot. The county ordered the club shut down.
San Diego County orders Pacers to stop "live entertainment" amid health orders days after Padres outfielder Tommy Pham was stabbed outside of the strip club https://t.co/KHQRSRzlDh
— 10News (@10News) October 15, 2020
At the time, San Diego County health officials told the club to cease and desist its live entertainment because … COVID. 10 News:
Under the county’s current tier for California’s pandemic guidance, San Diego County restaurants are allowed to operate outdoor in-person dining and indoor in-person dining at 25% capacity, but live entertainment is not allowed.
The county’s letter says if the strip club doesn’t suspend its entertainment, it can receive a misdemeanor citation and $1,000 fine for each violation. The facility could be ordered to close as well.
For a while, Pacers complied.
Then Pacers and Cheetah Club said, “Aw hell naw,” and took the issue to court. They won an injunction protecting them from California’s lockdown orders. At the time, Judge Joel Wohlfeil said stripping was a constitutionally protected right and orders couldn’t change that.
San Diego County, Governor Newsom, and the state health director waited for the injunction to expire on Wednesday before pouncing on the clubs. KUSI-TV reported that Attorney General Xavier Becerra sent a separate nastygram to the clubs demanding they shut down. But on Wednesday, Judge Wohlfeil extended his preliminary injunction circumventing the government pile-on.
Wohlfeil pointed out that Pacers and the Cheetah Gentlemen’s Club were going above and beyond social distancing recommendations.
The judge noted that Pacers International Showgirls and Cheetahs Gentlemen’s Club operated for five weeks during the pandemic under their own safety measures, which included keeping strippers 15 feet from tables, allowing no more than one stripper per stage and requiring them and other employees to wear masks.
That means no lap dances.
But as news of the injunction on the county’s cease-and-desist order disseminated in the political watertable on Wednesday, it became clear that, as CBS News reported, the judge meant the order to apply to all “‘San Diego County businesses with restaurant services,’ including the strip clubs, and that it exempts them from shutdowns and ‘any related orders’ that bar live adult entertainment and go beyond protocols ‘that are no greater than essential’ to controlling the spread of COVID-19.”
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San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond took the judge’s move to mean he green-lighted the safe opening of the clubs and restaurants.
BREAKING: A judge just ruled that he could not find a connection between resturant services and the spread of COVID. He has directed the county to allow businesses with resturant services to operate their business safely and responsibly.
BREAKING: A judge just ruled that he could not find a connection between resturant services and the spread of COVID. He has directed the county to allow businesses with resturant services to operate their business safely and responsibly.
— Supervisor Jim Desmond (@jim_desmond) December 17, 2020
On Tuesdays, Pacers serves an amazing strip steak, we’ve learned.
As celebrity HGTV chef Andrew Gruel says, the State of California has pinpointed where COVID-19 mostly spreads, but restaurants are way down the list.
Peak 2020 Intellect: Coronavirus spreads the most in households. Let’s lock everyone in their households then. pic.twitter.com/IJfZBlbwfE
— Chef Andrew Gruel (@ChefGruel) December 17, 2020
Wohlfeil’s ruling took effect immediately. Newsom issued his latest, more draconian stay-at-home order on Dec. 3, effectively shutting down restaurants for anything but take-out.
ABC News reports that Chad Cline, the co-owner of the Waterfront Bar & Grill in San Diego’s Little Italy, said the ruling is a little fuzzy to him.
“It kind of says that restaurants can reopen but the caveat there may be that someone has to be stripping, which seems so wild to me. If that’s what it takes for us to reopen our businesses — taking off our clothes, I’ll do it.”
Becerra and company are reviewing options on how to force the strippers off the poles.
Maybe he can head over to The French Laundry with Newsom to talk it over.
Meantime, enjoy the fact that it was strippers who appear to have just saved San Diego’s restaurants from ruin under Newsom’s lockdown. Other similar places throughout California are taking notes.
Victoria Taft is the host of “The Adult in the Room Podcast With Victoria Taft.” Where you can hear her series, “Antifa Versus Mike Strickland.” Find it at your favorite podcast outlets. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Parler @VictoriaTaft. She’s never tried Pacer’s steaks but is willing to get some dollar bills, order up a New York strip and say thanks to the girls.
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