Nuns File Suit, Hold Vigil To Close Neighboring Strip Club
(CBS) -- An order of Roman Catholic nuns filed suit Friday seeking to close a strip club that is just over the nuns' back fence in west suburban Stone Park; then they took to the streets outside the club for a prayer vigil.
The nuns, several local residents and the village of Melrose Park filed suit Friday seeking to shut Club Allure, which is on the Stone Park-Melrose Park border.
The club, at 3801 W. Lake St., in Stone Park, is literally just over the fence from the Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo Scalabrinian Sisters convent and novitiate, at 1414 N. 37th Av., in Melrose Park.
The nuns prayed the rosary in English and Spanish and sang hymns in both languages on the sidewalk just outside the club's parking lot. A west side Chicago minister joined them in offering prayers.
Those who back the effort to close Club Allure said its patrons have been every bit as bad as they feared since it opened last fall -- and then some.
They said night after night they hear the screeching tires of cars entering and leaving the parking lot, loud music and arguments and have even heard women's screams.
Their suit seeks to invoke a state law that bars adult clubs within 1,000 feet of a school or house of worship. The nuns have both, and the club is just over their back fence. Stone Park village officials have said they consider the law unconstitutional and have said they are not bound by it.
The nuns said they intend to stage similar prayer vigils every Friday night until the courts shut down the club.