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Datum: Samstag, den 28. Februar 2004, um 4:35 Uhr

Betrifft: Gegenwind fÃ¼r HLT-Kirche bei Ãœbernahme von Salt Lake City

In ihren neueren Bestrebungen, aus der Innenstadt von Salt Lake City eine Vatikanstadt mit Shopping Center zu machen, bekommt die HLT-Kirche nun zum ersten Mal Gegenwind zu spÃ¼ren. Da die KirchenfÃ¼hrung gegen die (einzige) GeschÃ¤ftslizenz des Strip Clubs Crazy Goat klagt, hat der GeschÃ¤ftsfÃ¼hrer nun seinerseits Klage gegen die HLT-Kirche eingereicht.

Strip club co-owner sues LDS Church for efforts to close doors

By Heather May
The Salt Lake Tribune

The co-owner of a downtown Salt Lake City strip club is taking on the LDS Church.
Daniel Darger filed a counter lawsuit Thursday against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which on Wednesday added the club to its suit against Salt Lake City for issuing a sexually oriented business (SOB) license to Darger.
Church attorneys called the club a "nuisance" that is preventing the church from enjoying its neighboring property, including ZCMI Center and Crossroads Plaza, which it plans to redevelop.
The church attorneys ask 3rd District Court Judge Denise Lindberg to award an unspecified amount of damages and for an injunction to prevent the club from operating as an SOB.
In turn, Darger is asking for damages for harm done to his business, both by the church and Salt Lake City, also named in his suit. He also wants an injunction to stop them from interfering with the operation of his business.
For instance, he says the city is wrongly stopping him from building more stripper stages. And he said the church and city prevented him from selling the building that houses the Crazy Goat to a man who owns other strip clubs.
"I didn’t take them on. They took me on," Darger said. "What am I going to do -- roll over and play dead like everybody else does?"
Church attorney Alan Sullivan declined to comment.
The church alleges that in approving the SOB license, the city violated its ordinances, including a moratorium against downtown SOBs that the City Council passed after Darger received approval for his license. The council knew at the time that the moratorium wouldn’t affect the Crazy Goat, but the church contends it should have invalidated Darger’s license.
The moratorium also plays a role in Darger’s counterclaim. He says defendants "John Does 1 through 20" -- who include council members and are "controlled" by the church -- were influenced to pass the moratorium.
He also claims the city and church have tried to ruin his dealings with his business partners and have hampered his ability to gain financial assistance to improve his buildings at Arrow Press Square.
According to documents obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune, the city offered financial assistance (a $500,000 letter of credit) and found other investors who would help Darger and his partners only if the SOB license went away. According to an e-mail, LDS Presiding Bishop H. David Burton, PacifiCorp’s Bill Landels and Salt Lake County Mayor Nancy Workman said they would find money to cover one year’s rent for the Salt Palace Convention Center to expand its offices into Arrow Press Square. The buildings are now for sale for $3.1 million, but Darger does not plan to close the Crazy Goat.
"It’s not illegal to wish I wasn’t there or encourage me to close," Darger said. "It’s illegal to . . . literally make it impossible to do business."

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