The Christian community, led by Richard Sandberg, has objected after an strip club owner set up shop in Greensburg, Louisiana.

Sandberg heads up the Moral Alliance of St. Helena and pastors First Baptist Church in Springfield, Louisiana.

“Pastor Sandberg, whom we represented,” president of Liberty Counsel Mat Staver tells OneNewsNow, “and other pastors began to petition the local governing authorities to pass an ordinance that would regulate these sexually oriented businesses. The owner of this strip club was one of those businesses they had in mind in St. Helena, Louisiana.”

Staver says the club owner, Tyrone Butler, filed a lawsuit against Sandberg and even threatened him and his family with violence at a local gas station.

“Then on the same day that Pastor Sandberg was served with the frivolous lawsuit,” says the attorney, “his dog was poisoned and died.”

On several occasions Butler didn’t show for court dates.

Judge Doug Hughes has now dismissed the lawsuit and ordered Butler to pay over $55,000 in attorney fees and costs.

“So this really sends a message: You can’t use courts and you can’t assault people to try intimidating them into silence,” Staver says. “These pastors would not stand for it.”

s a side note, Staver says the club has had a seedy record of failed inspections and sanitary issues.