JERSEY GIRLS.

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Author: Stein, Lisa

Culture

Is it last call for Ladies' Night in New Jersey? No way, say Garden State bar owners, despite a ruling last week by the state's top civil rights official banning such events after declaring them (gasp) "discriminatory." "It's totally stupid," says Caroline O'Toole, general manager of Asbury Park's Stone Pony bar, about the decision. "I haven't heard of anyone agreeing with it." O'Toole, 40, says the Stone Pony, legendary for launching Bruce Springsteen, has held Ladies' Nights as long as she can remember and will keep right on hosting them. Discriminatory? Hello? It's a business move, she says, akin to senior-citizen discounts, designed to lure (not exclude) customers. The ruling stems from a 1998 complaint filed by some dude angry about paying a $5 cover charge on Ladies' Night at a New Jersey bar. So will it stick? Don't bet on it. Even New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey dissed the decision.

• "This is bureaucratic nonsense, he snapped. "It is a complete lack of common sense and good judgment.

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By Lisa Stein