Carolyn Beck, spokesperson for the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, just called with an update about that Rick's Cabaret scheduled to open within days near Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Says Beck, Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief and the DFW Airport board weren't the first to protest the topless joint's liquor license after all. Matter of fact, Beck says, she discovered earlier this week that "a bunch of folks" occupying a nearby business complex filed protests over the summer. She says some of the letters of protest arrived in Austin in as early as May, though they weren't entered into the TABC database till August, when Rick's filed its liquor permit application.

Thusly, she says, "the idea we were on the verge of issuing their permit right when these recent protests were filed is not accurate."

Beck says a hearing in front of the Texas State Office of Administrative Hearings is scheduled for early March. "But we will ask for a contiunance and ask for it to be pushed back till April," she says. "We are gathering more information as part of our investigation, which is what happens whenever there's a protest."

She says Rick's can open on January 20, as planned. "They just cannot sell alcohol." Which is why it'll be bring-your-own. And we all know what that means.

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