Chicago nuns take strip club to court for 'raucous music, used condoms and neon lights'

Their convent is directly next to the adult entertainment club and its location is a "violation of zoning laws," they say

Natasha Culzac
Wednesday 18 June 2014 12:51 BST
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A group of nuns are taking a strip club to court for anti-social behaviour and violation of zoning laws
A group of nuns are taking a strip club to court for anti-social behaviour and violation of zoning laws

A fed-up group of nuns is suing a strip club next door to its convent, after becoming incensed with the anti-social behaviour and noise emanating from the adult establishment.

Loud noise, drunken behaviour and used condoms are just a few of the reasons the superfluity of nuns wants to close the doors on Club Allure, in the town of Stone Park, Chicago, for good.

The Missionary Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo Scalabrinians filed a law suit against the club, which is located next to the convent’s garden, last week in the hope that its license will be revoked.

The law suit also claims that Club Allure has been in “open and defiant contravention of the Illinois state law that mandates a 1,000 foot buffer zone between such an adult entertainment facility and places of worship or schools.”

Lawyer for the sisters, Peter Breen, said in a statement that they “have every right to pray and work peacefully without disruption from a strip club in their backyard.”

The nuns’ places of worship consist of three chapels straddling the two villages of Stone Park and Melrose Park, open on an “around-the-lock basis for use by the resident sisters for prayer and contemplation, as well as for Roman Catholic religious ceremonies.”

One of the chapels, named “Fatima House,” used by retired and aged nuns, has an exit which opens out into a backyard where Club Allure is clearly seen and heard, according to the suit. The document says that the adult entertainment club is just 2.5ft from their garden fence.

The suit is also being filed on behalf of some residents who say they have experienced the adverse effects of living close to the club, with bottles of alcohol strewn on pavements and drunken people stumbling along the road “or even urinating in public” since it opened in September.

The sisters say in the suit that heavy delivery trucks “roar through the alleyway” next to their convent to bring an endless supply of alcohol, while “raucous music” and “neon lights” disrupt their prayer from early evening until 5am.

“Pulsating and rhythmic staccato-beat noise… empty whisky and beer bottles… even used condoms evidencing illicit sexual misbehaviour….used syringes….and vehicle traffic,” are defined in the suit as anathema to the general peacefulness of the town. They also say that there has been an incidence of women “patrolling the sidewalk... never witnessed to such an extent prior to the opening” of Club Allure.

According to NBC, the club said that it vehemently refutes the allegations and says that they are "not a nuisance."

"The whole thing is just a question of 'we don't like you; you don't conform to our religious beliefs'," Robert Itzkow, from Club Allure, said.

Club Allure also told the Chicago Tribune that it keeps lighting and deliveries in the front to keep disruption to a minimum, while improving the area by using up vacant warehouses and offering jobs and income to the town.

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