Operator of Nude Spa to Sue La Mesa Again Over Business Permit

Having twice been denied a business permit for a nude spa, the operator of the spa said Wednesday that he will sue La Mesa a second time.

“The courts can make them back down,” said Thad Poppell, a self-styled pastor of the mail-order Universal Life Church who billed his Between the Two spa on La Mesa Boulevard as church-operated.

In voting against the permit Tuesday night, the City Council repeated its refusal to grant Poppell a permit in June, citing a municipal ordinance that prohibits commercial activity “contrary to the public peace or morals.”

A San Diego Superior Court judge upheld the ordinance in July but ordered the city to let Poppell appeal the permit denial in a hearing.

At an Aug. 1 hearing, the city presented 13 clergymen and two school district superintendents as expert witnesses on public morality.

Poppell’s attorney, Thomas Homann, called no witnesses but contended that it would be unconstitutional for the city to legislate morality.

“That hearing was bizarre,” Homann said. “It struck me as a strange way to decide who can do business, to poll the ministers in town.”

Poppell added, “They (the city) stuffed the ballot box. They didn’t get the common man.”

Assistant City Atty. James Shannon said at the hearing that the witnesses provided “a breadth of experience that you don’t often hear.”

City Atty. LeRoy Knudsen did not return a reporter’s telephone calls Wednesday.

Homann said he would file court papers today to reverse the city’s decision and said Poppell would sue to recover attorney fees from the first suit.

Poppell said he would keep the spa open, allowing customers to pay membership dues at his Hillcrest facility, Thad’s Gallery.

Told of Poppell’s intention to keep the spa open, Lt. John Oleksow of the La Mesa police said, “There may be a reaction on our part.” He said police are still investigating the spa.

Poppell has been forced to close two other facilities, one of which led to his conviction for running a house of prostitution.

“We weren’t doing anything immoral (at Between the Two),” Poppell said. “I believe in openness and honesty in all my human relations, including physical ones as well as mental ones.”

Mayor Fred Nagel, who earlier said businesses such as Poppell’s “ruin the moral fiber of our country,” said Wednesday that the city would not back down as long as the ordinance is upheld.

“Not being a town full of glitter and night life tells you what this (town) is,” he said. “This is Hometown, U.S.A.”

Both Nagel and Poppell said they had received phone calls of support from La Mesa residents.