After much talk about his civil liberties and all the spiritual good his clubs were offering young adults and couples, Wyakie Glenn Hudson, who operated DarkSide and The Playground, agreed to shut down both locations. His approach was significantly softened as he addressed reporters outside this morning's hearing at the George Allen -- a hearing that never quite took place since the Hudson and the city reached an agreement behind closed doors to shutter the drugs-and-danceteria on Northwest Highway and swingers joint on Harry Hines.
"I love Dallas," Hudson said, adding that Assistant City Attorney Melissa Miles and the Dallas Police Department probably love the city even more. "[Miles] felt this was the best for the city," he said. "If [law enforcement] tells me to jump, I say, 'How high?'"
Miles said she was approached by Hudson last night to try and reach an agreement before the hearing. She implied that he may have been embarrassed by the city's evidence against him and decided that enough was enough.
"We had video that was not going to be flattering," she said, adding that her office also had evidence about the club management's connection to the drug sales witnessed by undercover officers.
"I think Mr. Hudson knew that the time was up," Miles told reporters. She said the agreement reached is "permanent" and prohibits Hudson from opening similar businesses. "I think we'd call it a good day," she said of her office's success in having Hudson's operations shut down.
As she spoke to reporters, supporters of Hudson danced down the hallway on their way out of the courthouse.
Less jubilant DarkSide employees who go by the names Lacey Jayne and John Wayne attended the hearing as witnesses. They never had to take the stand, but told Unfair Park that Hudson was "full of shit" in his previous assertions that the club had a religious connection.
"You can't love God and love money," they told a throng of reporters as they left the courtroom.
