With a unanimous vote April 10, the Orange County Commission put to bed the year's most contentious issue: the ordinance that forces all dance clubs -- alcoholic or not -- to close by 2 a.m.
Though occasionally heated, the vote had little of the vitriol that distinguished the start of a 60-day moratorium on dance clubs in February. Many of the ravers who crammed the commission chambers last time simply didn't show -- perhaps because commissioners wholly disregarded their input.
This time, in fact, Chairman Rich Crotty and company appeared to give more attention to the Rev. John Butler Book -- who proposed relaxing child-abuse restrictions so parents could better "discipline" their kids -- than to David Wasserman, attorney for the embattled Cyberzone after-hours club.
"You have made this community look ridiculous in the eyes of the nation," Wasserman told commissioners. "The people the commission needs to sit down with are the patrons of these clubs."
While Cyberzone continues to battle the county, it nonetheless falls under the rave-club ordinance, making it the only club in unincorporated Orange County -- existing or proposed -- to be affected by the new rules.
Wasserman vowed to pursue the matter in court.
