TOUGHER BUSINESS CONTROLS LIKELY

Panel'S Votes Target Vials, Adult Shops

Sex, drugs and death.

Charlotte can expect new rules on all of them.

The City Council's public safety committee Wednesday decided to crack
down on sexually oriented businesses, outlaw the sale of small vials
used as crack pipes and continue to provide police escorts for funeral
processions.

"We're trying to improve the quality of life for the people of
Charlotte and we're trying to do it without creating problems for the
businesses involved," said committee chair Don Reid.

Business owners have monitored the committee carefully on each
initiative.

Owners of peep shows, topless clubs and so-called lingerie modeling
stores have questioned some attempts to restrict the way they operate.
Convenience store owners and other merchants urged the committee to
narrow the list of items it wanted to ban for sale. And funeral
directors lobbied to keep the funeral escorts, which the
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police want to end.

With the committee's unanimous recommendation, the full City Council
will vote on Aug. 23 on the tougher law for sexually oriented
businesses and the prohibition on vial sales. On funeral escorts, the
committee advised city staff members to assume that they will
continue. But it plans, within the next few months, to propose rules
that would make the escorted processions safer and cheaper. The Police
Department has argued that they cause accidents and burden their budget.

The new rules for sexually oriented businesses grew out of concern
over their proliferation, and the prostitution and other crimes that
many of them foster, police and city officials said.

With the new law, "we're doing everything we can barring any
constitutional excesses," said committee member Nasif Majeed. Mindful
of free speech and expression issues, city attorneys drafted an
ordinance that:

Requires licenses for all sexually oriented businesses.

Outlaws VIP rooms at topless clubs, where sex is often sold, police
say.

Bans anyone under 18 from working in these businesses.

Forbids private rooms and booths at peep shows and lingerie modeling
businesses.

"It will make it, we hope, impossible to operate a lingerie modeling
business," said City Attorney Mac McCarley.

On the drug paraphernalia issue, the committee earlier this year had
considered banning the sale of a wider range of items often used by
people who deal and take illegal drugs. But merchants said that some
of those items -- tiny sealable plastic bags, for example -- have
legitimate uses.

"I buy my earrings at Merchandise Mart and they come in crack bags,"
said Assistant City Manager Vi Lyles. City officials agreed to focus
on the vials, which are more connected to drug activity, police said.

Police had hoped the committee would urge the council to end
police-escorted funeral processions. Each of about 2,100 escorted
processions each year risks accidents as mourners -- and some drivers
who pretend they are part of the procession -- pass through red
lights, police say.

They also say some funeral directors have failed to pay the $20 escort
fee to police, which covers about a third of the department's cost.

City attorneys said a new state law, which will take effect in
December, should ease concern because it makes it harder to win a suit
against the department over an accident during an escorted procession.

The committee will consider new rules on escorts, including a higher
price for the service and increasing the number of officers assigned
to longer processions.