Is SB 263 still alive?

Politics fills the air these days, here in the Flathead county, and across the state, and overwhelmingly… on the national scene. Few of the promises made during campaigns actually come to pass after the elections, and most of the wild ideas that come up later, blessedly fade away. Some of the guys and I were discussing this last week and wondered how difficult it is to go back in the records and find the fate of any given bill.

A lawyer in our group said it was historically difficult and time consuming because of the thousands of bills introduced; however, he suggested it might be easier now with access to computer records.

Being "computer illiterate," that task would be impossible for me. So! Perhaps one of you with greater skills could look up Senate Bill 263 from the 1989 Montana Legislature and let me know its fate. Have wondered about it for years. As a start, here is my last report on it in the Hungry Horse News of March 1989.

Sunday's papers brought tidings that Senate Bill 263 which would "ban nude dancing in bars" has passed the Senate and will be studied by the House Judiciary Committee on March 21. That group normally holds "hearings." But because they have so many photos and video exhibits, the meeting on the 21st will be called a "Seeing." One of the committee members has privately claimed many of those opposing the measure are just putting up a big front. He says they have visible support and his group will have no trouble getting to the bottom of the issue… Before sending a stripped-down version onto the floor.

This ruckus apparently started a year back when a bar in Yellowstone County was raided for encouraging its version of a back-to-nature movement. I don't know if any men were arrested… But at least three young women were put behind bras. They challenged the existing state laws and now some local politicians are calling their buff.

One Senator reports he's heard from constituents who believe, "If you don't like nude dancing in bars then you should keep your clothes on while you're in there."

I have never taken off clothes, except for a jacket and tie, to dance in a bar, lounge or nightclub, but there have to be many who enjoy shedding everything. Why else would this law be promoted so hard in the Legislature when there are more pressing matters… Like the "dry cleaner's bill."

What if SB 263 passes and those uninhibited folks are forced outdoors? Do we want people playing their ghetto blasters and cavorting in birthday suits through the campgrounds, streets and shopping centers?

It seems as long as there are a worrisome number of folks doing this nude dancing thing, there could not be a better place for it than in the bars, where they have live music and aren't so apt to catch cold. Another reason for leaving this activity in designated saloons has to do with those modest but moderate imbibers who do not even like to "watch" nude dancing in the bars. If they knew where that sort of thing was going on. Then they could do their socializing in places where everybody dances with their clothes on.

Another rumor around Helena is that if Senate Bill 263 passes in the House, it might force nude dancing "underground." Who knows? They might wind up in the Lewis and Clark Caverns.

Just remembered something — I personally saw some "nude dancing in the bars" one time. It was 1969, in a lounge half a block down from the Mark Hopkins Hotel in San Francisco. I'd been on the road two days. Driving a truck across the western deserts from Idaho Falls… Seriously dehydrated.

Have always tried to be a "live and let live" guy so the nudity didn't really make me upset until this one very shapely lady, who had tossed aside a lot of perfectly good clothes, started prancing around on the bar and knocked over my cold glass of beer.

If the Montana House doesn't pass this bill to outlaw "nude dancing in the bars," I hope they make a worthy effort toward at least coming up with a no-nonsense bill that prohibits nude dancing "on the actual bars."

Does anyone care? What happened to Senate Bill 263?

G. George Ostrom is a Kalispell resident and Hungry Horse News columnist.