UPI NewsTrack Quirks in the News

Family told to cover snow Venus de Milo

RAHWAY, N.J., March 3 (UPI) -- A New Jersey family said a police officer asked them to cover up portions of their snow sculpture -- a nude tribute to the Venus de Milo.

Rahway police Sgt. Dominick Sforza said an officer visited the home of Elisa Gonzalez, who built the snow sculpture with daughter Maria Conneran, 21, and son Jack Shearing, 12, last week on an anonymous complaint "of a naked snow woman," The (Newark) New Jersey Star-Ledger reported Wednesday.

Gonzalez said the officer told the family he appreciated the armless replica of the ancient Greek statue.

"He said, 'It's very good,'" Gonzalez said.

However, she said the officer asked the family to put clothes on the sculpture. Gonzalez said they put a green bikini top and a blue sarong on Venus.

"I thought she looked more objectified and sexualized after you put the bikini on," Gonzalez said.

"(Our snow lady) looks like marble. It looks like a statue," Conneran said. "Are you going to go to the Met (New York Metropolitan Museum of Art) and cover up all the statues?"

Gonzalez said she and her children took down the snow lady Monday because of the melting snow.

Officials: Bikini coffee banner legal

AURORA, Colo., March 3 (UPI) -- Officials in a Colorado city said a controversial coffee shop banner featuring a bikini-clad barista appears to conform to local laws.

Aurora City Councilwoman Molly Markert, whose district includes the Perky Cups coffee shop, said she found the 10-foot-by-20-foot banner distasteful, but she had the city's neighborhoods services division investigate and they found the advertisement conforms to city codes, The Aurora Sentinel reported Wednesday.

"It's degrading to women," she said of the banner. However, she said, "those things aren't things the city can legislate."

Robert Rogers, the city attorney who looked into the banner, said the content is protected by the First Amendment.

Jason Bernal, the owner of Perky Cups, said he disagrees with the assertion that the banner, which he put up outside the business Saturday, is offensive for featuring a woman in a bikini.

"If that's true they will need to shut down Utah Park because there is a pool there and there are women in bikinis there all the time," he said.

However, he said the banner will likely come down in the near future because of criticism from locals.

"I would love to leave it up forever, but I'm getting beat up," he said. "I want to be a good neighbor, so probably it won't last too long."

Flight attendants object to pinup on plane

ORLANDO, Fla., March 3 (UPI) -- Flight attendants for Florida-based AirTran Airways have objected to an image of a woman in a swimsuit displayed on the side of a Boeing 737 jet.

AirTran, based in Orlando with its largest hub in Atlanta, said the image was put on the side of one of its planes as part of a partnership with Sports Illustrated for its annual swimsuit edition and the picture will soon be removed from the jet as the promotion draws to a close, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Wednesday.

The Association of Flight Attendants at AirTran sent a message to its members objecting to the image.

"It is our feeling that this is not only contrary to the family image that this company tries to promote, but also potentially offensive to their female employees, the majority of their flight attendants who will have to work on this aircraft," the union said. It said the promotion "creates a potential for verbal abuse by male passengers."

AirTran spokesman Christopher White said the decal is "subdued and classy."

"We have the highest respect for all of our crew members, male and female," White said. "We also went to great lengths to ensure that the image that we put on the side of our planes was very tastefully done and very much a family friendly image."

Police: Croissant set off bomb scare

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., March 3 (UPI) -- Authorities in Florida said a suspicious package that sparked the evacuation of a St. Petersburg building was found by a bomb squad to contain a croissant.

Police received a report before lunchtime of a suspicious paper bag propped against a door at 501 First Ave. N in St. Petersburg. The building houses courtrooms and several other government offices, the St. Petersburg Times reported Wednesday.

Guards at the building said the bag set off their metal detector and more than 70 people were evacuated from the facility. However, the Tampa Bay Regional Bomb Squad discovered the package contained nothing more dangerous than a croissant.

Investigators said it was unclear why the package set off the metal detector and it was unknown whether the bread was wrapped in metal foil.

The building reopened Wednesday afternoon.