Temptations Cabaret stripped of operating permit amid descent into lawlessness
FORT WORTH (CBSNewsTexas.com) - A night club under scrutiny after a recent shooting and stabbing was stripped of its operating permit Wednesday in Tarrant County.
Temptations Cabaret, closed since a deadly shooting in late May, now may not be able to open again due to its location within 1,000 feet of homes, and another sexually oriented business.
The county had renewed permits for the club for years on the property along I-30 on the far western edge of the county. County administrator G.K. Maenius acknowledged in a rare meeting by the Sexually Oriented Business Permit and Review Board however, that staff only looked closer at the regulations after the recent complaints.
County Commissioner Manny Ramirez started pushing for a review in May, first after two people were stabbed at the club, and then after four people were involved in a shooting and one man was killed.
"I have no crusade against these types of businesses," Ramirez said Wednesday. "This strictly was because of the public safety hazard that it created."
Ramirez said he remembered being sent to investigate crimes at the property when he was a Fort Worth police officer and couldn't believe the business was still open.
Attorney Latrice Andrews representing the club, argued the business was operating under a permit originally granted in the 1970's, and was grandfathered in under rules at the time, not subject to new regulations passed by county officials.
Temptations still faces a nuisance lawsuit being pursued by the District Attorney's office. The suit says law enforcement has been to the property more in 2022, than all the other bars and nightclubs in unincorporated Tarrant County combined.
