8 December 14 - 20, 2023 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents health is on the line. She’s been in and out of the emergency room and she couldn’t wait any longer. This is why judges and politicians should not be making healthcare decisions for pregnant people — they are not doctors. This is the result of the [U.S.] Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade: women are forced to beg for urgent healthcare in court. Kate’s case has shown the world that abor- tion bans are dangerous for pregnant people, and exceptions don’t work.” A spokesperson for the Center for Repro- ductive Rights declined to say whether Cox has already had the abortion or where she is planning to have it if she has not already done so. Gilberto Hinojosa, chair of the Texas Democratic Party, said that “MAGA extrem- ist Republicans are to blame” for Cox’s deci- sion to flee Texas, while pointing the finger at one notable GOP member in particular. “We must never forget that Ken Paxton, the Texas Supreme Court and Texas Repub- licans fought to force her to carry a nonvia- ble fetus to full term at the risk of her own life,” Hinojosa said. “Medical decisions should be between patients and doctors, but here in Texas, Ken Paxton can make your medical decisions for you — even if that means your life is on the line.” ▼ CITY HALL HOURS STRIPPED DALLAS SHUTS DOWN SEXUALLY ORIENTED BUSINESSES IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT. BY JACOB VAUGHN Y our late nights at the local strip clubs are likely soon coming to an end. In an email obtained by The Dallas Morning News, the Dallas Police Department said it will begin enforcing an ordinance to shut down sexually oriented businesses be- tween 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. The email came from Dallas police Chief Eddie Garcia, who wrote that violators could lose their licenses and face criminal charges. The penalty would be up to a year in prison or a fine of up to $4,000. Kristin Lowman, a spokesperson for the department, told the Observer by email that DPD was notifying the businesses about en- forcement of the ordinance. “The Dallas Po- lice Department’s Special Investigations Division is providing education regarding enforcement of the hours of operation ordi- nance for sexually oriented businesses,” Lowman said. “The Dallas Police Depart- ment sent a letter to each licensed sexually oriented business and visited each licensed business with a copy of the letter, outlining the revised ordinance.” One local strip club called Bucks Wild is directing its social media followers to email their City Council members about their op- position to the ordinance. The city and a group of local sexually ori- ented businesses have been arguing over the ordinance in court since it was passed last January. The ordinance applies to strip clubs, escort services, adult book and video stores. Roger Albright, an attorney repre- senting the businesses in court, didn’t re- spond to requests for comment. Gary, a spokesperson for Paris Adult Book Store and another sexually oriented business called New Fine Arts, who preferred not to give his last name, said he was upset over the en- forcement of the ordinance. New Fine Arts is one of the businesses involved in the law- suit over the new hours. He said New Fine Arts has operated 24/7 for the last 40 years with no issues with the police. “I’m not a problem,” Gary said. “But the city seems to think that I’m part of the problem because of the crime. … They lump me in with the strip clubs or whatever’s causing problems. It’s just aggravating.” Since the ordinance has taken effect, he said he’s had to hire extra security to watch the store while it’s closed. “I’ve got to have someone there after hours, 2 a.m. – 6 a.m., because I don’t want to be tagged. I don’t want people breaking into my store,” he said. “I’ve got no income coming in for four hours every night, but I’ve got to keep peo- ple on the payroll.” The city argues that the late-night busi- ness operations are linked to incidences of violent crime that drain police and fire de- partment resources. A federal district court initially said Dallas didn’t have the facts to back up that argument. But in October, a higher court, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, ruled in the city’s favor. The court said the city had plenty of evidence to show a link between late-night operations of sexu- ally oriented businesses and an increase in “noxious side effects,” such as crime. The court ruling said there was a rash of shootings in or near these businesses in Dal- las from late 2020 to early 2021 that resulted in multiple fatalities. For about eight months in 2021, a Dallas police task force conducted patrols near sexually oriented businesses af- ter midnight, making 123 felony arrests, re- sponding to 134 calls for service and issuing over 1,100 citations. The court ruling said the task force made more than 350 drug and weapon seizures. The department compared crime statistics from different times around the sexually oriented businesses and found that most violent crime occurred between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. These hours accounted for the majority of aggravated assaults, rapes, robberies and murders in 2020 and 2021. A majority of the 911 calls and calls to the fire department also happened during these hours, according to the court ruling. On the flip side, the sexually oriented busi- nesses argue that this crime data is skewed, in part because it includes crime from within a 500-foot radius of the businesses. The lower court agreed with this argument, adding that the ordinance didn’t leave the businesses’ protected speech sufficiently accessible. That’s why the district court initially granted an injunction to halt enforcement of the ordi- nance. Many of the sexually oriented busi- nesses named in the lawsuit didn’t respond to requests for comment. But the appellate court rejected this, say- ing it didn’t matter that the data included crime around the businesses, that it was enough to justify the ordinance and that the city could enforce it. Gary Krupkin, a local First Amendment attorney, told the Observer, “I don’t think anyone in our business particularly likes this ordinance.” However, he said the ordinance regulates the time, place and manner of the sexually oriented businesses more than it does the businesses’ speech. This could hurt the chances of the sexually oriented busi- nesses winning the suit, he said. For now, the businesses in question are left to move forward with the ordinance in mind. Over the last few days, several have updated their hours of operation on Google to show that they now close at 2 a.m. ▼ POLITICS ‘GETTING PRIMARIED’ GREG ABBOTT, TED CRUZ AND KEN PAXTON CHALLENGE GOP REPS. BY KELLY DEARMORE B oth Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and At- torney General Ken Paxton made some pretty serious promises over the past few months. Some might call them threats. But either way, the two po- litical heavyweights are making good on their promises and/or threats by aligning their names with some new candidates. Both top officials want to defeat the Democrats, eventually. But first things first. They really want to get rid of some specific Republicans — the state lawmakers who have challenged the governor and AG the most this year. As 2023 draws to a close, there’s little doubt that the year in Texas politics will be remembered for its Republican in-fighting. That’s happening on a national level as well, thanks to the revolving speaker of the house door, but the Lone Star State GOP has out- done itself time and time again in ‘23 when it comes to internecine battles. In May, the House overwhelmingly voted to impeach Paxton after its investigative committee detailed a good many alleged abuses of power and accusations of bribery. Over the summer, Paxton’s camp built a nar- rative that somehow Democrats had engi- neered his suspension and Senate impeachment trial by teaming with a bunch of “RINOs” (Republicans in Name Only), a group of lawmakers who were supposedly the liberal minions of Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, a Paxton adversary. In September, Paxton’s Republican pals in the Senate cleared his name and put him back in the AG’s office. Paxton has since been brazen in his vocal opposition to Phelan and to plenty of other GOP legisla- tors, including old pal and Collin County neighbor state Rep. Jeff Leach of Plano. The Paxton plan of attack against his own party grew more intriguing recently when one of the attorneys who defended him dur- ing his impeachment trial, Mitch Little, an- nounced he would run against Republican Kronda Thimesch for her North Texas seat in the House. In the months since Paxton’s trial, Little has seemed almost gleeful in his calling out Thimesch and other House members who voted to impeach the AG. As if any extra spice were needed in this recipe, Little once worked for Thimesch’s campaign, and the two have long attended the same church in Carrollton. Sunday School politics can be brutal, we’re sure. In early October, Paxton made North Texas an active battlefield when he endorsed primary challengers in Collin County: Chuck Branch (District 61), Wayne Richard (District 66), Abraham George (District 89) and Dar- ren Meis, the man taking on Leach, a six-term representative, in District 67. According to conservative news website Texas Scorecard, Paxton attended an October event where the four Collin County challeng- ers were introduced, and the AG told the crowd, “We’re going to clean house.” A sitting governor or attorney general en- dorsing a candidate in a primary is not any- thing all that new, but to weaponize endorsements in this way is noteworthy. Ac- cording to University of North Texas politi- cal science professor Kimi King, things have been headed this way for the top brass for some time. “Since about 2010, there has been an in- crease in what we call ‘getting primaried,’” King said. “That means that you have a chal- lenger who goes after an incumbent within their own party. So, if you’re Republican, you come at the incumbent from a more conser- vative perspective, and if you are a Democrat, you come after the incumbent from a left- leaning or more liberal perspective. So the rise of ‘getting primaried’ has contributed to a culture that is supportive of top-level Mike Brooks Tiger Cabaret and other sexually oriented businesses must now close at 2 a.m. Unfair Park from p6 >> p10
