The Discotheque Lounge and the executor of former owner "Whitey" Lester’s estate are suing the city over its ban on downtown nude dance clubs.

Related story: Strip clubs could appear outside downtown Augusta

The lawsuit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court, contends the city’s alcohol, adult licensing and adult zoning codes deprive the dance clubs of their rights to free speech and equal protection of the laws under the First and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The suit calls the city's alcohol and adult entertainment ordinances overly broad, vague, not furthering any governmental interest and developed without any data to support them.

The suit comes days after James Thelmore "Whitey" Lester's April death was made public after his will was probated. Previous Chronicle reports say Lester's will put his death on April 19 and lists him as Thelmore James Lester, while the lawsuit names Thelmore James Lester as Lester's son, the executor of the will.

Lester's will leaves both his downtown club properties to his granddaughter.

Earlier this year, when Lester was said to be in poor health, the Augusta Commission considered allowing him to transfer two adult entertainment licenses to an heir. After a public outcry, the commission opted not to allow the transfer.

In 1997 Lester's two clubs, the Discotheque Lounge and the Joker’s Lounge, also known as Vegas Showgirls, were allowed to remain open after the commission changed its alcohol ordinance to allow businesses to either serve alcohol or have nude dancing, but not both.

Since the ordinance change, four other adult clubs – the Marine Room, Baby Dolls, Fantasy’s and Dolls — have closed and not reopened.

Mayor Pro Tem Sean Frantom said during the commission’s discussions about allowing transfer of the licenses, no one warned of potential litigation. The owners have known the licenses can’t be transferred since at least 2003, he said.

Commissioner Dennis Wililams said the city’s ordinances would likely withstand the legal challenge. “When they made the ordinance, all of it went through the legal process,” he said.

Williams said he wasn’t too surprised the estate has sued the city. “Any time in business if you don’t get things the way you want, you try the legal system,” he said.

Former Commissioner Matt Aitken, a realtor who pushed for closing the downtown clubs, said the commission should stick with its plan to let the licenses expire and the clubs close.

“They just need to follow through with what the city forefathers mandated,” Aitken said.

Aitken, who has properties listed nearby, said the continued presence of adult clubs will further hamper development in the 500 block of Broad Street as the rest of downtown Augusta rebounds.

“I think you’re not going to get multifamily living down there; some of those buildings wanted to be that,” he said. “Overall, general business is not going to want to be in there.”

The Discotheque is represented by the Wiggins Law Group in Atlanta and attorney William Sussman in Augusta. Sussman represented owners of the X-Mart in the adult video and novelty store’s battle to open at the corner of Gordon Highway and Doug Bernard Parkway.

After eight years of litigation, the city in 2010 paid $550,000 to settle two lawsuits filed by the X-Mart and the store reopened.

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