Tourism consultant Roger Brooks did not include “strippers” on his lengthy list of ways to attract more people to downtown Oak Hqrbor.

Nevertheless, P.W. Murphy’s, one of the drinkeries located on Pioneer Way, is advertising “ultimate dream girls” and “exotic striptease” as the big entertainment attraction for Wednesday, Sept. 14. Exhibiting no sign of sexual discrimination, the establishment reportedly had a successful night of male exotic dancers earlier this year.

The situation has started the City Council tittering about revisiting regulations dealing with questionable displays of taste in entertainment. P.W. Murphy’s has apparently skirted existing regulations by not allowing the total baring of certain body parts. Meanwhile, the police chief is wondering if the use of “pasties” as described by P.W. Murphy’s management violates the provision of city code banning “substantial exposure of female breasts.”

It appears that Oak Harbor’s leaders are on the brink of again venturing down the long, expensive, and sometimes amusing road of regulating body parts and where and how much of them can be exposed. One idea is to banish such entertainment to the outskirts along Goldie Road.

The management of P.W. Murphy’s could do the citizens of Oak Harbor a favor by presenting entertainment that conforms to existing regulations, rather than testing their limits. We don’t want to have to send the police chief or his designees out on a Wednesday night to measure the circumference of a pastie and compare that to the circumference of the breast in question, to see if there is a “substantial” exposure. Our police have better things to do, if not quite so interesting.

Meanwhile, the City Council should hold off spending much time or money on the issue. There aren’t a lot of downtown business that will go risque no matter how successful the entertainment at P.W. Murphy’s. Don’t expect to see nude wild bird feeders or nude bicycle sales people.

By today’s standards, scantily clad men or women dancing on stage aren’t pornographic or even obscene, as long as their costumes and behavior conform to existing regulations. If P.W. Murphy’s complies with the law, the novelty will soon wear off and other attractions will have to be found. Perhaps next time, they can ask Roger Brooks for some ideas.