Odds and Ends

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - A Show-Me State lawmaker wants a sin tax - on those who show too much.

First, Missouri banished sexy billboards and young strip dancers. Now, Republican Sen. Matt Bartle wants to force adult entertainment businesses out of the state by stripping them of their profits.

Legislation pending in the Senate would impose a 20 percent tax on revenues of all "sexually oriented businesses," charge a $5 fee for each person entering their doors and prohibit them from staying open late at night.

"The goal of the bill is to make Missouri inhospitable for these businesses," said Bartle.

Adult entertainment executives question whether the legislation violates constitutional free-speech and expression rights and warn it could hurt the state's economy.

"It's a small business killer and it's a job killer," said Dick Snow, owner of Bazooka's Showgirls in Kansas City and a board member of the Missouri Association of Club Executives, the industry's trade group.

As many as 1,000 Missouri businesses could be affected by the legislation, said Snow, who suggested the proposed taxes also could hit mainstream video and book stores that carry a few adult titles.

Two years ago, Missouri passed a law banning nude dancers younger than 19. Last year, it enacted a phased-in prohibition of most billboards for sexually oriented businesses.

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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) - When five dozen roses didn't work, an estranged husband took out a full-page newspaper ad to ask his wife for forgiveness.

"Please believe the words in my letter, they are true and from my heart," read the ad in Tuesday's edition of The Florida Times-Union. "I can only hope you will give me the chance to prove my unending love for you. Life without you is empty and meaningless."

Larry, who declined to give his last name, sent the $17,000 apology to Marianne, his wife of 17 years. She left him almost two weeks ago, he said.

"It was a culmination of things," he told the newspaper. "But I am desperately trying to save our marriage."

Larry, who lives in Orlando, said his wife is staying with her parents near Jacksonville. But they blocked him from entering their gated community and she changed her cell phone number so he can't contact her.

A relative told him that Marianne saw the advertisement.

"She said my wife read the ad and started crying. But so far I've had no response from her," Larry said.

But the ad drew the attention of many other readers, who contacted the paper.

"They want to know if she has responded and if they have worked things out," said Jay Weimar, director of display advertising. "We tell them we are pulling for him."

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DURHAM, N.C. (AP) - "Old School" partying got some Duke University students into new trouble.

In what police say was an homage to the Will Ferrell movie "Old School," students were found in a fraternity house basement with an inflatable pool, a bounty of baby oil and bikini-clad babes.

Police came upon the scene early Sunday after responding to a noise complaint.

"Inside were several of America's future, re-enacting a scene from the movie 'Old School,' where females wrestle in a pool of lubricants," police Sgt. D. Gunter said.

Officers said they cleared the house of the 200 revelers, sending some of the women home in the subfreezing temperatures in nothing more than the bikinis they wore.

Nicholas Hunter Roberts, who lives at the address, was charged with violating the city's noise ordinance, a misdemeanor that carries a $150 fine.

There has been ongoing tension between students and residents of the neighborhoods that adjoin Duke's East Campus.

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LEXINGTON, N.C. (AP) - Punxsutawney Phil could get some competition, from a real hog.

Officials in Lexington say their Lil Bit will do the forecasting on Feb. 2.

While groundhog Phil will be looking for his shadow in Pennsylvania, Lil Bit, the 65-pound potbellied pig will be doing the same in Lexington.

Lexington is famous for its pigs, but they're usually smothered in barbecue sauce.