After a a second reading and a public hearing, the Brattleboro Selectboard passed a comprehensive, anti-nudity ordinance by a 4 - 1 vote with Dora Bouboulis the only dissenter. The new ordinance, is not restricted to downtown, and it covers breasts and buttocks as well as genitals.
There was general agreement that it is inappropriate to walk down Main Street without clothes, but strong differences as to whether new legislation is necessary. The incident in which a man who took off his clothes recently at the Co-op and was charged with under state law for lewd and lacivious behavior was cited by ordinance supporters to show that the measure is needed, and by ordinance opponents as an argument that current laws work against truly offensive behavior. One woman talked about being confronted by a nude man at 4am in the Dunkin Donuts parking lot. "It was very strange, it was upsetting....We should not have to deal with it in our face." Ordinance supporters said that current indecency laws are not sufficient because people are coming here intentionally to expose themselves, perhaps not understanding that it is not acceptable.
A number of people expressed concern about the venerated, Vermont tradition of skinny dipping. Town attorney Bob Fisher acknowledged that in areas where the public could view it, the ordinance could make it illegal. He said that police would have discretion, "So if its a secluded place on a river where people tend to go skinny dipping, chances are you're not going to have a problem, or it may be that people are not complaining."
In final arguments, Selectman Dick DeGray said that he respects Dora Bouboulis for standing by her principles, but also said he could not understand some of what she has done. Compared with past meetings on the subject, passions seemed relatively subdued, but there was one exchange in which DeGray mentioned the man who had taken his clothes off at the Co-op, which he attributed to publicity the town had gotten attracting the wrong kind of person, to which Bouboulis replied that she is glad to see that not one reporter from the national press was here, to which she added: "There is only one board member who spoke to the national media, and that creates the type of media attention which brings the type of person you say you don't want here, Dick"
MORE TOMORROW, I HAD A FROZEN DOOR AND COULD NOT WRITE ANY MORE TONIGHT.