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Dover tavern owner says her Fetish Night citation, ethanol plant opposition linked
By Brent Killackey
Journal Times
DOVER - For more than six years, Marie Frederick held a Fetish Night twice a year at her tavern in Dover, a well-advertised event that she described as a costume theme party and "an evening filled with silly, bawdy adult fun."
"They're not a secret," she said about the events at the Wildlife Refuge, 3518 S. Beaumont Ave. "I advertise in the newspaper. I put it out on the marquee sign."
Then, this past fall, Frederick helped found a local political organization opposed to an ethanol plant in Dover. The fight over the plant turned bitter, with vandalism to her signs.
She's fighting the Feb. 10 citation, which is a civil matter between the town and Frederick. She pleaded not guilty at a recent hearing. The citation, which carries a $424 fine, was issued under Frederick's maiden name of Lena, but Frederick said she didn't provide that name to authorities and she's not sure why the investigator choose to use it.
The case has been moved to Union Grove's municipal court because Dover's municipal judge has ties with Frederick to the anti-ethanol plant group, Healthy Environment and Ethics in Dover.
Frederick remains convinced the complaint that led to the citation was politically motivated by her involvement with ethanol issues.
"I feel this is completely retaliatory," Frederick said. "The good people in the Town of Dover will see through this."
Dean Larsen, president of the Racine County Tavern League and owner of the Hog's Nest in Dover, said he doesn't think ethanol politics had anything to do with the citation - it was just the timing. He said he doesn't know who tipped off authorities.
He's also not thrilled with the concept of Fetish Night.
"Isn't it a moral issue?" Larsen, a former town supervisor, said. "I guess I don't want the town to be noted for its pornography in bars. There's laws against it."
The Town of Dover's ordinances state: "There shall be no nudity in public places holding an alcohol license issued by this Town," according to a Sheriff's Department report. While the video images the investigator reported weren't hardcore pornography, they did contain nudity.
"The videos were on joke fetish topics, brought in by customers - entertainment in line with what is acceptable in contemporary society like the naked Korean guy running around every episode of 'Mad TV,' or some of the skits on 'Saturday Night Live,' " Frederick said. Someone had brought in "Caligula," and in other years they played the "Rocky Horror Picture Show" and "Benny Hill" DVDs, she said.
Elsewhere in the tavern, there was a table with various sex toys and sexual paraphernalia for sale, and a volunteer was demonstrating a handcuff contraption, according to the Sheriff's Department report.
"The table selling things was merely Passion Party, a direct-sales, home-based business like Tupperware, but offering adult-themed novelties," Frederick said.
Frederick dressed in a vintage Girl Scout uniform and black, patent leather boots with a list of naughty cookies pinned on her back, she said.
"I don't run a day care. I run a tavern," Frederick said. "Every single person in the bar during Fetish Night was a consenting adult over the age of 21 and paid a cover charge to enter."
And Fetish Night appears quite popular: "I had to park on South Beaumont Avenue due to the Wildlife Refuge having a full parking lot," the Sheriff's Department investigator stated in his report.
Frederick hosts other themed parties at the tavern: Fungus Fest, Elvis Night, Jerry Springer Night, Ugly Sweater Night, Ugly Prom Dress/Bridesmaid Dress Night - even a monthly poetry reading, she said.
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