POUND, Va. (May 31, 1999) - Terry Boggs knows of no finer way to end the work week than to put on cowboy boots and dance to his favorite country tunes.
Thanks to a court ruling that struck down this town's ban on dancing, Boggs and other
boot-scooters can now boogie the night away!
"I'm not the greatest dancer in the world, but I like to unwind," Boggs, a 49-year-old trucker, said after dancing one warm July night at the Golden Pine Restaurant.
Not everyone in this town of about 1,000 in the southwestern Virginia mountains shares Boggs' sentiment. Church and town leaders see public dancing as something to be tightly restricted, lest it lead to cheatin' hearts and ruined marriages. Dancing was effectively banned in Pound for 18 years - until June 29, when a federal judge struck down the dance ordinance as
unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge Glen Williams ruled that the case amounted to an unconstitutional restriction of free expression reminiscent of "Footloose," the 1984 movie about teens rebelling against a small town's ban on dancing. Since the ruling, couples in cowboy hats and boots have turned out in droves to kick up their heels at the Golden Pine. It was William Elam, owner of the Golden Pine, who took the Town Council to court over it's dancing strictures. He grew weary of explaining to out-of-town patrons why they couldn't get down at his night spot. "They would get mad and a lot of them would flat out refuse to sit down," Elam said.
Pound's ordinance banned dancing in any place open to the public that did not first obtain a dance hall permit from the Council. Supporters of the ordinance said it was a way of cracking down on the bad behavior associated with dancing. "There's bound to be trouble when you mix drinking, country music and dancing," said Danny Stanley, the only member of the five-person Council who would consent to an interview.
Permit seekers has to apply in writing. The law forbade the Council from issuing a permit "to anyone who is not a proper person, nor to a person who is not a person of good moral character." No one was ticketed for dancing - and no one ever received a permit. Until Elam and the Golden Pine came along, nobody had sought one, said town attorney Gary Gilliam. Elam applied about a year ago, but withdrew the application out of fear that it would be rejected. More than 200 people showed up at a Council meeting to oppose Elam's application.
That's when Elam hired a lawyer. "We got the court ruling on Wednesday, and we were dancing on Friday," he said. Now the Council is rewriting it's ordinance more narrowly to pass constitutional muster. Town building inspectors also say the Golden Pine does not meet the state's fire code for dance halls, and could close him down because of it. In the meantime, the other bars in town are watching closely. Pound is near a dry Kentucky county, and the nearest dance club is 20 miles away. "We're taking a wait-and-see approach right now," said Genetta Boggs, owner of the Candlelight Restaurant, which serves alcohol. "If it turns out that dancing is legal, we'll have to do whatever it takes to compete."
Connect With Us