Midnight At The Oasis

Background: Originally published May 31, 2006.

     Every time I drive through Cave Junction, the 1970s song Midnight At The Oasis plays in my mind. It's hard to avoid when a building called Midnight Oasis sits along Highway 199, the main drag through town. It's not exactly clear what the mysterious business sells, but a local resident confirmed for me that it was a place minors couldn't visit.
     Thus, it's no surprise the song pops back into my head. Lyrics like "send my camel to bed" and "cactus is your friend" comprise the classic hit. I don't know what all the words in the song represent, but just like its namesake in Cave Junction, perhaps it's just as well that I don't know the meaning of the song.
     New owners took over Midnight Oasis at the beginning of the year and they're gradually phasing out the adult items, in favor of more mainstream merchandise. But the big news around Cave Junction this month isn't about the adult business that's going away. It's about the adult business that's coming to town.
     Longtime resident Larry Goynes is converting a former Cave Junction movie theater into "Sugars," a topless bar. More than one hundred citizens attended a city council meeting, many of them to protest Goynes' business.
     The only related item that the council had on its agenda was a liquor license for Sugars. The Josephine County sheriff's office had already performed a background check, and gave its stamp of approval to Goynes' request. When renewing a liquor license request, the government body can not consider items such as content (i.e., nude dancers). That's because the Oregon Supreme Court has previously ruled nude dancing to be a form of protected free expression.
     Nonetheless, it was impossible for the Cave Junction city council to appease the upset crowd. Out of the four options (yes, no, no recommendation, or undecided), the council eventually cast a vote of no recommendation after an hour of public testimony.
     City Councilors said they legally couldn't cast a "no" vote without reason, or else they could be sued for their faulty decision. I'm not sure if that's true, but the debate in Cave Junction reminded me of a similar discussion before the Roseburg city council in 1992, when they were considering a liquor license for Roseburg's first topless bar, Cowgirls. I covered the that meeting for KOBI-TV back then, and I remember the Roseburg city council DID cast a "no" vote for Cowgirls' liquor license. Although at the time, the council conceded it would have no bearing on the Oregon Liquor Control Commission's eventual decision to grant a liquor license.
     But regardless of whether it's a vote of no or no recommendation, the outcome is the same: governing bodies can not prohibit nude dancing in their communities. Unless the day comes that a different Oregon Supreme Court re-interprets the state constitution in a manner that allows nude dancing.
     Oregon just had an election for state supreme court justice. Does anyone remember who was running in that election, much less where the candidates' views stood on adult dancing? With only a third of Oregon's registered voters casting their ballots in the May primary, it's safe to say that a majority of voters could care less about who is elected to serve on the state supreme court.
     Some would say we have nobody to blame but voter apathy and ourselves for the current state of affairs. But that's little consolation for Cave Junction residents who feel like they have no control over their community.
     With the departure of Midnight Oasis and the arrival of Sugars in Cave Junction, I'm not sure what song will pass through my mind in the future when I drive through that town. But if anybody out there wants to send me a CD with Midnight At The Oasis on it for my upcoming birthday, I would be grateful. I haven't heard that song in a long time.