ABC agents observed the flashers as well as a video of cartoon sex and reported the incidents, forcing coliseum officials to travel to the state capital of Jackson last week to defend themselves before the ABC Board.

The Palace of Auburn Hills only last week ended months of hassles with a similar agency in Michigan by agreeing to pay a small fine for refusing to censor a graphic video shown as part of an Up In Smoke concert in July. The Palace could have had its license temporarily suspended, as well.

And the incident isn’t the first controversy for the Mississippi Coast Coliseum. The arena has caught community flak for refusing to bar shockmaster Marilyn Manson in 1997 and for booking Black Springbreak 2000 earlier in the year.

As a public facility, officials argued, the venue isn’t in the business of making moral judgements about the content of a particular act that wants to book the arena. Officials also point to a landmark decision against the city of Mobile, Ala., when it tried to prevent the rock musical “Hair” from being performed.

The case is being watched closely by others in the concert business, particularly in Mississippi. A decision could be rendered as early as November 8.

“This could have very wide-ranging repercussions,” said Stuart Taylor, general manager of the De Soto Civic Center in Southaven, Miss. “The concern I have is when something like the girls flashing is spontaneous, the civic center or arena group can’t stop it. They don’t know it’s going to happen.”

During the three-hour ABC hearing, Ed Buelow, chairman of the State Tax Commission and the ABC Board, reportedly asked why the venue would even book a band that would play songs with vulgar lyrics.

Coliseum executive director Bill Holmes told the ABC Board that, as a public facility, “we cannot refuse or deny acts because they say a vulgar word.” Nor can they predict or control the spontaneous behavior of apparently attention-starved teen-age girls.

Briefly bare breasts and naughty words may have Biloxi up in arms, but apparently Mississippian blue noses don’t have a problem with booze. One solution to the coliseum fracas would be to stop selling liquor at youth-oriented shows. But alcohol sales accounted for almost 10 percent of the revenue that the coliseum took in last year, according to The Sun Herald.

“Liquor is important in two ways,” Taylor told the newspaper. “One obviously is the financial side of it. Beer sales or alcohol sales are a tremendous revenue source. And two, it’s important to just have the option of allowing people to have a drink who want a drink.”

Just don’t short ‘em your tips.