Yakima, WA Public Officials Become International Laughingstocks

Coffee shop owner faces jail over bikini-clad barista | Mail Online: "Sheer cheek of it all! Coffee shop owner faces jail because waitress was too scantily clad

Daily Mail Reporter
Feb.6, 2011


Cheryl Clark, a coffee shop owner faces up to 90 days in jail because one of her waitresses was too scantily clad. This would be a longer sentence than most drug dealers.

Ms. Clark, who runs Dreamgirls Expresso, was found guilty of violating the local indecent exposure ordinance for having one of her 'bikini baristas' wear sheer shorts while serving up coffee in Yakima, Washington state.

According to the police, not only were the shorts sheer, they didn't cover enough of her buttocks. The cops said they were forced to take hands on measurements of the "hot" barista to substantiate their evidence. The cops also are in favor of the ordinance, by a 10 to 1 margin.

The photo depicts a barista in action at the Dreamgirls Expresso coffee shop in Yakima, Washington. No one was complaining except the city officials.

Clark is due to be sentenced on February 18.

Shops with baristas in bikinis have been cropping up all over Washington state in recent years as small independent coffee shops struggle to compete with the major chains. One place was even featuring pole dancing for a short time.

'I think that it's creative marketing that really grabbed some attention,' said Kate Reardon, spokeswoman for the city of Everett, where one coffee shop was accused of exchanging sexual favours for money, a practice that is common almost anywhere.

In Yakima, about 100 miles south east of Seattle, publicly wearing G-strings and see-through clothing now is forbidden.

But efforts to control bikini barista shops through ordinances on what waitresses can wear have run into hurdles over defining what is decent or indecent attire. Local officials still haven't learned to read the U.S. Constitution and seek to impose their narrow minded standards on the rest of the world.

When asked about the ordinance a regular customer of Dreamgirls, in reference to Yakima council members, had this to say: "A pox on their homes."