Getting Naked In Vermont

"Nude teens taking it off and testing limits in bohemian Vermont town"

By LISA RATHKE
The Associated Press

BRATTLEBORO, Vt. – Public nudity isn't new to this bastion of bohemia, but it usually bares itself in more subtle places than the downtown parking lot. This summer, a group of teenagers has disrobed near restaurants, bookstores and the town's many galleries, igniting a debate about whether Brattleboro should ban a practice long tolerated until now.

"Brattleboro tends to be a laid-back town and pretty accepting of the unusual, but this is really pushing limits," said Police Chief John Martin. "It's clearly to outrage people, it's clearly rebelliousness."

By most accounts, the stripping started on a whim in early summer when a young woman sat naked on a park bench, Martin said. Then another woman started taking her shirt off downtown. A music festival promoting nudity and rebelliousness set up in May in a downtown parking lot attracted nude hula hoopers. Last month, a half dozen young people bared their bodies in a parking lot, encircled by the backs of bookstores, coffee shops and restaurants.

"It's just an act of freedom," said 19-year-old Adhi Palar. "We're just doing so because we can." Palar said he and the others "do not consider nakedness to be innately sexual or rude and it shouldn't be confined to that."

...."As soon as winter comes, there won't be a story anymore," said Town Clerk Annette Cappy.

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