PANAMA CITY, Fla. — Bay County’s attorney alleges that a topless club’s newspaper advertisement for an appearance by adult film star Mary Carey, who ran for governor in California’s Oct. 7 recall election, violates a court settlement.

The Show N Tail’s full-page ad, featuring a large picture of Carey, appeared in last Saturday’s editions of The News Herald in this Florida Panhandle city.

County Attorney Mike Burke sent a letter Tuesday to a lawyer for the club, where Carey is scheduled to appear Nov. 13-15, alleging the ad breached its settlement with the county.

Burke wrote that next week he will ask county commissioners if they want to seek a contempt of court finding and sanctions he believes are warranted.

The 1999 federal court settlement limits the club’s newspaper ads to no larger than a quarter-page and prohibits photographs.

The agreement resolved a lawsuit by Show N Tail and three other topless clubs against the county. They had challenged new zoning regulations barring adult entertainment in “tourism corridors.”

The settlement lets the clubs stay put until Feb. 16, 2007, and then they must move to less-traveled sites or close down. The settlement also limits broadcast and billboard advertising.

Show N Tail general manager Jonathan McNeil said the club was in compliance because it ran the ad jointly with another club, the Toy Box, which is inside city limits and outside county jurisdiction.

Carey’s picture was in the Toy Box part of the ad, McNeil said. He also claimed the settlement allows occasional larger ads.

The wording, however, is that ads ordinarily must be no larger than an eighth of a page with quarter-page ads allowed up to six times for special events.