Spring brings out nudists in Vermont town

BRATTLEBORO, Vt. -- Spring has arrived in this southeastern Vermont town known for its live-and-let-live culture. The trees are less bare, and some local residents are more so.

Resident Theresa Toney said she was dining at a downtown restaurant when she spotted this spring's first naked person. She looked out the window "and saw a man in his 60s walking up and down Main Street totally nude," she told the Brattleboro Reformer newspaper. "This is indecent exposure where it doesn't belong."

Vermont has no state law, and Brattleboro no ordinance, against public nudity, although police charged a man Wednesday with lewd and lascivious conduct.

Someone videotaped Adhi Palar "performing acts of lewdness involving his genitals and some clothing" while he danced nude on a downtown street, police Capt. Gene Wrinn said, without elaborating. "He was getting some looks, and we got some complaints."

Palar, 20, of Brattleboro, could receive up to five years in jail if convicted.

There was no phone listing for Palar, and Wrinn said he did not know whether he had an attorney.

Last year, Toney became one of the town's most vocal critics of allowing people to bare it all in public after groups of young people caused a stir by stripping naked in a downtown parking lot.

This week she was back before the Select Board, demanding to know what the town was going to do "about this behavior."

Audrey Garfield, chairwoman of the board, said she had spoken with the town manager, and that a log of complaints would be compiled.

Some are worried about the town's image.

"How do you want to be viewed as Brattleboro?" asked the Rev. Kevin Horion. "We want to welcome families with small children."

Nudists could pop up anywhere, he said. "I am concerned we don't know where they are going to strike."