Bottom Of The Barrel

Live, but let's cover up

Vermont has a live-and-let-live tradition which includes allowing skinny-dipping and nude sunbathing. Brattleboro, the first permanent English settlement in the state in 1724, is home to a community of writers, artists and musicians and they have been [in the past] supporters of the state mantra. However town officials voted this week for a temporary 30-day ordinance prohibiting people from going about in the nude.

Public nudity made headlines last summer when the weather grew hot and a couple of dozen teens took to holding hula hoop contests, riding bikes and parading past stores wearing only their birthday suits. The disrobing has resumed this summer but many locals say it has gone too far citing a particular incident in which a senior citizen from Arizona strolled through the center of town wearing only a waist pack and sandals. [I guess the nickname Ol' Saddlebags just didn't work for the locals].

The ban covers nudity in the main part of town and near schools and churches and is part of a broader anti-nudity proposal that is likely to be decided next month. On a positive note, breast feeding in public will still be allowed, which I am sure is a big relief to mom's all over southern Vermont.

posted by TheWino @ 9:05 AM