Naked stroller fuels anti-nudity drive

BRATTLEBORO, Vt., July 10 (UPI) -- An appearance by a naked man during the Gallery Walk in Brattleboro, Vt., has added momentum to a drive for an anti-nudity ordinance.

Clayton Crowe, an Arizona nudist, told local residents during his naked stroll last Friday he scheduled his vacation around a visit to Brattleboro, The Brattleboro Reformer Star reported. He learned about Brattleboro from the Internet.

Town Manager Barbara Sondag said she had received a number of complaints about Crowe by the time the Brattleboro Selectboard met Monday morning.

Dick DeGray, the board's vice chairman, described Crowe's behavior as "exhibitionism" because he chose the one evening in the month when Brattleboro is full of people walking from gallery to gallery.

"This person wasn't doing anything other than trying to be a spectacle," DeGray said.

Dora Bouboulis, another member of the board, argued an anti-nudity ordinance would be against "everything Brattleboro stands for." But DeGray and others say while they do not want to stop people from sunbathing nude on their own property or swimming naked in the river, Brattleboro should be able to require clothes for downtown.