East St. Louis is an overwhelmingly African-American city. That you, undoubtedly, know. What you may not realize is that, despite its reputation as a party town, “East Boogie” (by law) prohibits “sexually explicit” clubs and businesses from holding liquor licenses.
How, then, does a strip club (employing white bald-headed bouncers with Nazi tattoos) have a liquor license and a “whites only” attitude in a predominantly black community?
That’s what the family and supporters of the late Anthony Rice (of Bethalto) want to know. Rice was killed, on October 3, as the result of an allegedly racially motivated attack at the City Nights nightclub in ESL.
Rice was out with brother Aubrey (and two friends), celebrating Aubrey’s birthday, when they decided to stop by City Nights. They were drawn to the club by the flashing neon sign, near the Poplar Street Bridge, which advertised “Hot Girls, Cold Beer.”
According to news accounts, Anthony and his group were turned away at the door of the nightclub amid taunts and racial comments from the City Nights manager and bouncers who, reportedly, chased and tazed them as well as hurled rocks.
The son of the owners, 27-year-old Reginald O. Allen, is reported to have gotten into his truck and actually ran over and killed Anthony Rice as Rice tried to flee on foot. Rice, later, died in the arms of brother Aubrey (who was hospitalized).
Allen, a felon whose criminal record involving drugs and violent behavior – submitted by lawyer Justin Meehan, based on St. Clair County Circuit Court public records – reads like a “who’s who among America’s thugs,” shouldn’t have even been allowed to work in such an establishment.
But that’s his parents’ problem. They (Woody and Gail Allen) also own Miss Kitty’s “showgirl” club in Washington Park and should know better, even if it is their son.
Adding insult to injury, despite the protests of Anthony Rice’s family and supporters, Mayor Alvin Parks Jr. is hiding behind the excuse that there are “no sexually explicit businesses operating in ESL,” in his continued refusal to pull the liquor licenses of businesses that have been the scene of murders and violence.
Parks even had the audacity to state to protestors that whether a business is sexually explicit “is subject to interpretation.” How can a sign advertising “Hot Girls” be anything other than sexually explicit? This legal and verbal tap dancing is inexcusable and insensitive.
If all of this isn’t horrific enough, Reginald Allen’s insurance company (Affirmative Insurance Company) had the audacity to send a letter to Anthony Rice (21 days after his death) notifying him that “Once we receive our insured’s statement and yours, we will determine liability…”
In the meantime, the Rice family has continued their informational demonstrations outside of City Nights in hopes of closing the strip club forever and bringing the alleged killer or killers of Anthony Rice to justice, no thanks to Mayor Parks.
Email: jtingram_1960@yahoo.com.