Somehow I got back into reading about the goings on in Ashland, OR back in 2009-2010, and found it very entertaining. In addition, I was reminded of
former Ashland mayor Catherine Shaw, and how she was filmed naked in the movie "The Same River Twice" while she was in her 20's. She is beautiful, blond, and fully nude in the movie. The movie also shows her later in life leading Ashland City Council meetings. She was not mayor anymore at the time of the nudity ban in 2009.
Politically, Ashland is a divided town (like so many western towns that have been invaded by urbanites - Telluride, Aspen, others) and this I gather is reflected in the city council. Here is a fun read:
http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs...NEWS/709270326
Among those mentioned in the article is a city councilman named Eric Navickas, who figured prominently in the Ashland nudity ban as an opponent. Eric apparently likes to get naked himself and knows a lot about nude goings on in Ashland in general. In fact, he even hosted a naked gallery show to drum up opposition to the Ashland ban:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411477/posts
also entertaining as it appeared on the free republic website. Eric has also been arrested for his political activism, and lists other naked goings on in this article where he is interviewed quite extensively about the Ashland nudity ban:
http://www.thenervousbreakdown.com/g...everyone-else/
Included in this interview is a very provocative and revealing charge: read on:
"
Anyway, several days after a majority of Council refused to support this proposal, a nudist claiming to be from Minnesota arrived and began walking around various schools. This lasted about two days and then he was gone. The action was so specific to the Council decision that it was hard not to think it was specifically contrived to provoke the city into banning nudity. There has been a lot of speculation as to whether the individual was paid, but that would be very difficult to prove; we are left discussing this in the context of having a real problem with nudists around schools. Perhaps our own miniature version of the Reichstag fire that we’ll never know the facts on."
Oh, this is fascinating
So all of this gives you a lot of insight into what went on in the town and in the political arena as a result. Earth Friend Gen is not mentioned, but that 66 yo guy from Minnesota who walked naked near a school gets lots of text. Was he indeed paid by sinister, conservative forces to do this?
Clearly, he was even more responsible than Gen for the political furor that resulted in the change in the ordinance.
incidently, Eric Navickas referred to former mayor Cathy Shaw as a "Nazi", strange given the fact she was a California transplant and comes across as a flower child in the movie "The same river twice". I have that film at home. There are a couple of great scenes of her fully naked on this rafting trip, climbing rocks, sunning next to the river etc. Beautiful.....but otherwise a somewhat annoying film to me in some respects because they spend so much time focusing on the character's later lives (which are not that exciting most of them). But the nudity is cool - and the film has a sort of "Big Chill" feel to it only naked.
Klondike