Jan. 27--A strip club in west suburban Stone Park will continue to operate after a Cook County judge on Tuesday ordered a group of nuns and residents to rework their lawsuit that alleges the establishment violates prostitution regulations and is a nuisance to the community.
The judge also dismissed the Missionary Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo's claims that the club violates zoning laws. Club Allure, at 3801 W. Lake St., is adjacent to the nuns' convent.
A lawyer for the nuns accuses the club of allowing lewd behavior and "paid sexual contact for arousal purposes," in addition to excessive noise and fights that occur outside during the early morning hours.
Judge Peter Flynn, however, said the complaint was too vague "and comes close to legal hysteria, but not a lot of facts." He asked the lawyers for the nuns to provide specific, detailed examples of nuisances or lewd behavior inside or outside the club. The village of Melrose Park also is arguing the club negatively affects its municipality.
"I just don't think that it is necessarily true that anything that someone doesn't like is a nuisance," Flynn said in back-and-forth with lawyers during a hearing at the Daley Center.
Lawyers for the nuns have until April 4 to recalibrate their argument.
"We are called to protect our values, and we will not change them," Sister Noemia Silva said after the hearing. "We're here to fight for families and stand up for a safe and healthy environment in Stone Park."
Robert Itzkow, a former owner of Club Allure who is now one of the club's lawyers, said the club is a legal entertainment establishment.
"It may not be something that everybody likes," Itzkow said to reporters. "But it is something that in this country is allowed. This is America."
The nuns may not approve, Itzkow said, but if the same principles were applied to the entire entertainment industry, there would be no cable television or R-rated movies.
"The judge basically said, you got any facts? Why don't you put those down on paper?" Itzkow said.
Several residents from Stone Park, a community of about 5,000, attended the hearing and afterward held signs with messages such as "Protect my future and my safety." Silva said the club attracts violence to the area and "opens the door to human trafficking." She said a man who recently left the club stumbled drunk into a nuns' service.
The nuns filed their lawsuit in 2014, then amended their complaint last year to include allegations about prostitution and liquor law violations.
poconnell@tribpub.com
