The Tenn-Tucky State Line Tavern

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The appeal of Sheila Haley’s entertainment permit to pay her pole dancers at the Tenn-Tucky State Line Tavern will not be taking place this week, as originally planned.

In July, Logan Circuit Judge Tyler Gill set a date to hear oral arguments from Haley’s attorney, Alan Simpson, and Logan County Attorney Joe Ross on Monday, Oct. 1. That date was later pushed back to Oct. 8, but now that date has been converted to a status conference because Simpson has filed a new motion which challenges Judge/Executive Logan Chick’s authority to rule in matters of entertainment licenses.

Now, instead of both sides presenting their arguments, they will simply get together to discuss the specifics of Simpson’s motion. A new date for oral arguments will likely be set after next week’s status conference.

Simpson filed the initial lawsuit on May 10, and challenged Chick’s ruling on several areas - including the constitutionality of the Kentucky statute which requires businesses to apply for entertainment permits in the first place.

Chick denied Haley’s entertainment permit request in April. If he had granted it, Haley would have been able to legally pay the pole dancers at her south Logan County establishment.

In his response, Ross offered a denial to several of the allegations.

He clarified that “the denial of the application was not premised on the character of the applicant, but, rather, the county’s inability to effectively regulate the desired entertainment.”

Chick questioned whether the pole dancing would actually be occurring in Kentucky - or in neighboring Tennessee.

There is a line painted inside the bar, which represents the state line.

“I was directed to the Logan County Surveyor, Jeff Harris, for an opinion on the actual Kentucky-Tennessee state line and the validity of the marking on the floor of the Tenn-Tucky State Line,” Chick said in his ruling. “It is his opinion that the property owner set up the building on what they believed the state line to be, presumably based upon the line that would be created if State Line Road continued across 431 South.”

In his lawsuit, Simpson claims that “it is not the applicant’s burden to prove where the line separating two the of United States’ 50 states is located.”

“This is especially true in light of the acceptance of property taxes that have been paid to the County of Logan, Kentucky,” Simpson writes int he suit. “Logan County’s acceptance of taxes and provision of law enforcement support to this location should act as an estoppel for them now deny its proper location.”

In the response, Ross claims that property records do establish that Haley owns property in Logan County, but “any issue regarding the state line is important as it relates to the actual location of the state line and the entertainment to be regulated.”

Ross also states that, “The regulatory problems are further exacerbated by the presence of alcohol on the Tennessee side and the provocative adult entertainment on the Kentucky side, with no restraint or divide.”

Haley has said that while waiting on the appeal to be heard, she will continue to have pole dancing in her bar, but will not be paying her dancers.