Red-faced city buys, tears down strip club

Lavonia, Ga. -- It took seven years but Lavonia, Ga., officials rid themselves of the embarrassing Club Risque by buying the adult entertainment center and tearing it down.

After suffering through five lawsuits and repeated setbacks the city council jumped at the chance to buy the property off U.S. 85, exit 173, in eastern Georgia for about $997,000, the Athens (Ga.) Banner-Herald said.

The money had been set aside to retire a water treatment bond but city leaders, saying it was far more important, retired Club Risque instead.

City officials had been fighting the club since it appeared in 2001 where its owner had promised a family restaurant called "Skeeter's Big Biscuits."

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.