Topless car wash promotion sparks outrage from ‘upstanding citizens’

Those choosing to be particularly generous in their assessment of what was being advertised Saturday on U.S. 64 east of Roland would conclude that signs proclaiming “topless car wash” were surely intended to attract passing convertibles in need of a bath.

But since the activity occurred in the parking lot of the Cheyenne Gentlemen’s Club with the vehicle and motorcycle cleansing provided by scantily dressed women who perform on the club’s stage, such generosity in judgment would have proven misplaced.

Ron Harrell of Roland chose to call it “filth,” “an abomination” and “a blight.” “We just don’t need that crap going on anywhere in the county, or anywhere else for that matter,” he fumed, as he took up the societal mantle to “express the outrage of upstanding citizens.” To be sure, the Cheyenne Gentlemen’s Club knows its audience. Last weekend was the annual Steel Horse Rally in downtown Fort Smith, less than three miles east of the club on a direct route for hundreds of motorcyclists as well as thousands of spectators.

But the outdoor marketing going on as motorists made their way toward Arkansas was not the kind of publicity Harrell wants for Sequoyah County.

“There were a bunch of topless women out there with placards that said ‘Topless Car Wash’ in various states of undress,” Harrell explained. “Some of the signs were directed toward motorcycle riders and some toward cars.

“People around here are pretty upset about this,” he said, “or, at least, the church-going folks are. This is just not tolerable.”

Harrell was one of many who flooded the Sequoyah County Sheriff’s Office with telephone calls to register their contempt. He said he was told by sheriff’s office personnel that they had “a number of people express outrage, and that’s certainly what I want to do in every possible legal way that I can. We don’t need this.”

Sheriff Larry Lane is well aware of what transpired — “I’ve got about 30 calls this morning on it,” he said Monday — and is determining what his legal recourse might be.

He said he doesn’t know if any laws were broken, and has reached out to the district attorney’s office for direction.

“If the girls had those pastie things covering them up, does that keep it from being indecent exposure? We don’t know, because we don’t have a first-hand witness,” Lane said. “People were driving by and were offended … we’ve got to talk to the DA about it and see what they think.”