Candidate for Lieutenant Governor Cites Immigrant Roots in Speech

Hendershot, 61, suffered a stroke in 1992 and last year underwent quadruple bypass surgery.

He is expected to return to his council office next month. The full council is on recess until then.

"I'm looking forward to returning in January," Hendershot said in a statement. "I'll continue to be a vigorous advocate for a progressive Prince George's County."

Report Looks at Adult Clubs

During their December break, Council Council members will begin poring over a report about adult entertainment businesses operating in the county.

The council hired Gentile-Meinert & Associates, a Pennsylvania-based firm, for $20,000 to conduct a three-month study of adult businesses in the county and advise the council on possible legislation to crack down on them.

According to the contract, Gentile-Meinert was to have researched the ownership of adult businesses, including any civil or criminal histories and any connection to organized crime. The company also was to have examined the impact on real estate values, criminal activity in the surrounding areas and "whether or not the business in question creates an atmosphere of deviance."

Gentile-Meinart recently completed its work, according to Karen Campbell , a spokeswoman for the council. But the council has not reviewed the report yet.

Former chairman Samuel H. Dean (D-Mitchellville) said council members plan to consider legislation next year to address the licensing of adult businesses, particularly makeshift strip clubs that have cropped up in recent years in the county.

Prince George's has long been home to strip clubs such as the Stardust Inn and the Hangar Club, but increasingly it has also become home to clubs operating out of warehouses and garages that charge patrons for admission.

Last week, on the last day of the 2005 session, the council introduced legislation to make it easier for the county to shut down nightclubs considered to be a public nuisance. Dean said the bill, which allows county inspectors, police officers or firefighters to shut down certain establishments on the spot, could help in the county's effort to rein in the number of adult businesses, too.

"This legislation is paramount to public safety in Prince George's County," said Johnson, who proposed the legislation. "It will allow us to immediately close down a facility that is operating outside the range of its use and occupancy permit and one that poses an imminent danger to the safety of the citizens and residents of Prince George's County."