BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Topless dancers covered up in Alabama’s largest city Friday after the sheriff’s office warned that deputies would begin enforcing the state’s long-standing but mostly ignored anti-obscenity law.

Authorities said they would make periodic checks in the future to make sure Birmingham-area dancers keep on enough clothes to comply with the 1998 law, which prohibits dancers from wearing less than what amounts to a conservative bikini.

A spokesman for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department, Randy Christian, said the crackdown was in response to a lawsuit filed by Charlie’s Club Inc., a topless bar that sued to block the state liquor agency from enforcing a rule against nudity in establishments that sell alcohol.

Christian said the sheriff’s office was unaware of the 1998 law until it received a copy of the lawsuit. “That’s what brought it to our attention that there was a law on the books,” he said.

Deputies went to all eight of the topless clubs operating in Jefferson County on Thursday night to notify managers of the law, and six had their dancers comply immediately, he said. Dancers at two other clubs covered up later, he said.

An attorney for Charlie’s Club, John Robbins, said the legal challenge over the law would continue, but the dancers at Charlie’s and other establishments were covered in the meantime.

“We’re complying with the law. They’re in tops and bottoms, not G-strings,” said Robbins.

Violators could be subject to fines of up to $5,000 and prison terms of as long as 10 years.

A federal judge handling the lawsuit refused the club’s request to block enforcement of the law but scheduled a Nov. 29 hearing on the state law.

In his order, U.S. District Judge L. Scott Coogler said he had “serious questions” about restrictions under the law. But he also said he doubted the club would win its request for a court order barring the state from enforcing rules against topless dancing.

In the suit, Charlie’s Club contends the 1998 statute is so restrictive it violates First Amendment provisions guaranteeing freedom of speech.

A similar challenge was filed several years ago by Harvey Bowman, the owner of a nude bar in Anniston, and a judge upheld the state law. Bowman appealed, but he later pleaded guilty to operating a prostitution ring at the club.

Bowman died before courts could resolve his challenge of the anti-obscenity law, and Robbins said courts still haven’t given a final ruling on the act.

An Internet directory lists 15 strip clubs in Alabama, including some that advertise as being all-nude.