March
-
13 ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING, Picnic, Election of officers, Organizational board meeting
-
20 10th Annual College Greek Athletic Meet (Rain date: April 3)
-
31 EVERYONE'S MEMBERSHIP EXPIRES
April
-
10 Board meeting
-
16 Visit to Sunny Oaks Haven near Live Oak
-
22 First Full-Moon Skinny-Dip
-
24 First monthly picnic
May
-
1 Board meeting (one week early)
-
7 Beach trip
-
20 Full-Moon Skinny-Dip
-
29 Picnic & seminar
-
30 Lake open Monday
| Tallahassee Naturally is a non-profit
organization dedicated to the advancement of naturist recreation
in north Florida and nearby areas. The club is an affiliate
member of both the Naturist Society and the American
Association for Nude Recreation. Bare and Free is the official Newsletter of the Tallahassee Naturally Club. Articles appearing in Bare and Free may be reprinted by other naturist publications, provided that credit is given. Photos, however, may only be reprinted with written permission. Club members are encouraged to submit , articles news items, and photos for publication. Please address all submission to: Tallahassee Naturally, P.O. Box 6866, Tallahassee FL, 32314 or To the Editor, 502 Airport Drive, Tallahassee, FL, 32304 or smithj7@peoplepc.com. 
|
Annual Business Meeting - March 13
Our Annual Membership Meeting is March 13. Since the club is owned by all the members, you are expected to attend. The day is free for all who participate in the meeting. We have a pot-luck picnic at 1:00, and the meeting starts at 2:00. The newly-elected board of directors will hold a brief organizational meeting afterward.
If you are interested in serving on the board this year, let Grant or Paul know right away. The requirements are that you have attended a membership meeting (which could be the upcoming one) and one other board or membership meeting. At least one board member must be a woman, and at least one must be willing to go public. If we cannot find enough qualified candidates, we may introduce the following resolution--which requires a unanimous vote:
"I move to temporarily suspend that portion of Bylaw Article V, section B-1, which requires candidates for the board to have attended two membership meetings, or one board meeting and one membership meeting. Instead, to open all board positions except president to any current member as of January 1, 2005."
Besides the usual reports on what we have done during the past year, we will vote on whether to spend $1,000 to buy advertising in the Tallahassee Democrat--publicity that we used to get for free in their community calendar.
The text of two proposed Bylaw amendments can be found elsewhere in this newsletter.
As there are no plans to change fees, people are beginning to renew now. The rates are:
-
Club membership $45 (students $22)
-
Annual lake fee (optional) $135
-
AANR (choose one) $31 (couples $54.50, students $12.50)
-
Naturist Society (choose one) $50 (students & senior citizens $40)
Everyone's club membership expires April 1. Renewing members are expected to join at least one of the national organizations. The board can make some adjustments in hardship cases.
Our Web Page Is Back Up
As many of you noticed, our web page was down for a few cold-weather months. That was done at our request, while we established legal ownership of our URL. For the second year in a row, somebody tried to steal our site (to sell back at an exorbitant rate or to direct the traffic to a commercial site). This time, it was an inside job--and that person is no longer part of the club. Grant will give a full report at the Annual Meeting.
The first time, we decided to let the site go, and to put ourselves in a more defensible position by establishing a new URL identical to our legally incorporated name. The strategy worked this time around. It took a while to get certified documents from the Florida Secretary of State's office, but we were able to prove ownership of our name.
The first sign of serious trouble came when Jamie was blocked from posting our September 2004 newsletter on the web site. Because that newsletter contained much important information of enduring value, we have stripped out the obsolete parts, and just now posted the rest. Please take time to read the September newsletter.
Jamie is now handling the web site, as well as the newsletter. Her first job was to quickly get the old text back up. Over the next few months, she will work on making it pretty, and on replacing outdated information. She has plans to change features often, so that there will be reasons to return to the site.
Doug Has Retired
At our Christmas banquet, we honored Doug, who has served as our treasurer almost continuously since 1991. (He twice tried to give the job away, but it came back to him within months each time.) For such unprecedented service, he received a plaque expressing our appreciation.
Doug also retired from his real job as an accountant with the state, and now plans to spend his summers at Paradise Lakes, and his winters in the new house he is having built at another nudist resort in Brazil. (Poor guy.) He plans to visit Tallahassee frequently, so we will still see him at the lake every once in a while.
For years, his many laps the length of the lake have put our younger members to shame. And he continues to compete in footraces. He has frequently represented our club at FANR and Naturist Society meetings.
10th College Greek Athletic Meet March 20
For the tenth year, we invite college students to compete in the world's only authentically nude re-enactment of the ancient Greek Pentathlon (long jump, discus, 200-yard dash, javelin, and stand-up wrestling in case of a tie). Actually, anyone of any age may compete, but the traditional victory wreaths of leaves are reserved for the top college student in each category: male athlete, male non-athlete, female athlete, and female non-athlete. No experience is necessary. The idea is to get out there and give it the old college try.
The schedule for March 20 is:
-
10 AM Registration and practice begin.
-
11 AM Instruction and practice in ancient athletic methods.
-
1 PM Pentathlon competition begins.
The rain date is April 3.
The event never grew as big as we had hoped. But students kept returning, and after ten years, it has become the longest-running nude college program in the country. By sponsoring college-oriented events such as this and our Full-Moon Skinny-Dips, we have always maintained about a 15 percent student membership--the highest of any club in the nation.
College Scholarship Available
We have been asked to publicize a new scholarship for naturist students, sponsored by Travel Naturally magazine. It joins other awards by AANR, FANR, the American Nudist Research Library, and The Naturist Society. We hope to post the details of the others on our web site soon. Meanwhile, you can see Paul for details.
The newest is a $500 award for a publishable article of 500 words on the topic, "What young adults want in clubs and resorts, to keep them active in naturism is ___________." (You fill in the blank.) The deadline is June 1.
The Youth Camp Saga Continues
In 2003, AANR invited reporters to write stories about their youth camps in major publications such as The New York Times and Time magazine. Unfortunately, one Florida politician seized on the camps as a campaign issue. Naturists spent the rest of the summer doing public relations damage control.
Camps operated in Florida, Virginia, and Arizona. By 2004, the scene shifted to Virginia, where the legislature passed a law requiring parents to accompany their children at nudist youth camps (but at no other camps). AANR and AANR-East filed a discrimination lawsuit. When it became apparent that not enough parents could attend, AANR moved the 2004 camp to North Carolina--but scheduled the 2005 camp back in Virginia.
As the legal system slowly grinds along, two things have happened. First the state's attorneys have claimed that because the 2004 camp moved out of state, the case is now moot, and the plaintiffs must start all over. They are viewing each season as a separate camp, so that the only legitimate time to challenge the law would be between the date of scheduling and the end of camp that year. Of course, court challenges do not move that fast, so nudists would be forever starting over.
Another device that legislators use is to slightly alter the law, so that the challengers must waste time and money filing a new suit. In 2005, a bill was introduced to strike the parental accompaniment clause--effectively barring all children from nudist resorts as well as camps. This struck at the very heart of family naturism. Fortunately, legislators thought they had fixed the "problem" last year, and were in no mood to take it up again. The proposal quietly died in committee.
A few years ago, the County Prosecutor at Hippie Hollow in Texas managed to get children banned from the area--with the result that a family place deteriorated into a gay pick-up spot. The prosecutor blurted out the radical right plan:
1. Ban children from nude public beaches.
2. Close down the beaches as places of adult activity.
3. Ban children from private nudist clubs.
4. Close down the clubs as places of adult activity.
In Virginia, they got ahead of the plan, and jumped to step 3. It didn't work.
Meanwhile, a bill banning nude youth camps popped up in the Texas legislature. It is identical to one that the Naturist Action Committee swiftly killed two years ago.
Bylaw Proposals
At our annual meeting, we will be voting on two
proposed revisions to the Bylaws--both of which the membership has
already agreed to in principle. New wording is in italics;
wording to be deleted is crossed out.
Bylaw proposal 1
Keep up with telephone/camera technology by adding to Article X, section G, a new item 10, and renumber accordingly, to read:
G. Grounds for expulsion from the club shall include, but are not be limited to:
1. Theft.
2. Repeated failure to sign in or pay fees in a timely manner.
3. Diversion of club membership list, mail, money, equipment, or land arrangements for personal or commercial use.
4. Violence of threat of violence.
5. Handling or removal from a vehicle of any firearm without unanimous consent of all board members present.
6. Introduction of any substance that could warrant police attention.
7. Abusive or reckless behavior--with or without the influence of alcohol or other drugs.
8. Overt sexual activity, solicitation, or harassment.
9. Racist remarks.
10. Photographing any person without that person's permission. (To avoid confusion with cell phone cameras, all telephone conversations should be conducted away from nude people.)
11. Distribution of names to non-nudists, or photographs to anyone, without the person's permission.
12. Unauthorized misrepresentation of the club to the press or others. This includes adoption of a name (on the Internet or elsewhere) so similar to the club's name(s) as to cause potential confusion.
13. Any act which threatens the very existence of the club or its continued use of lands. This includes visiting the land on days when it is not rented for club use.
The statute of limitations on any act shall be one year from the time two board members became fully aware of it. Under no circumstances, shall polite criticism of the way any club officer is performing his or her duties be misconstrued as grounds for expulsion.
Bylaw proposal 2
Because it is no longer relevant, delete Article IX, section E-2-b, and renumber accordingly, to read:
E. Land Fund
1. One major goal of this club since 1992 has been, and continues to be, the purchase of our own land.
2. The land fund consists of:
a. Excess annual profits placed in interest-bearing accounts, plus the interest derived therefrom.
b. All increased income deriving from the fee revisions voted by the membership in March, 2001.
b. Any bequests to the club, unless the deceased clearly specified otherwise.
c. Any donations to the land fund.
3. Land funds may be deposited in the club's general account, but separate records must be maintained.
4. The land fund may be spent only on expenses related to the purchase of land, as authorized by the board. It is not available for borrowing or for improving rented land. Use of land funds for any other purpose requires two weeks' notice to current members, and unanimous consent of those present at a membership meeting.
NudieBlues and Much More at Hidden River
Mark your calendar for our club's visit to Sunny Oaks Haven near Live Oak on Saturday, April 16. It has been two years since we were there, so the new plantings and facilities should have progressed quite a bit.
If you drive farther to Macclenny (three-fourths of the way to Jacksonville), you come to Hidden River Resort. They have asked us to announce their annual NudieBlues Festival April 29 through May 1. Besides lots of live bands, there will be a 5-kilometer Trail Streak at 10 a.m. Saturday. A guided naturist nature walk is also on the schedule. For details, check out http://www.HiddenRiverResort.com
Announcements
We are getting reports of nude campus demonstrations at Bennington College in Vermont, and an editorial of encouragement from the University of Indiana. An unofficial Varsity Streaking Team at Hamilton College in New York is making the rounds of nearby colleges. And the Syracuse newspaper has reported a nudity fad in the male dormitories. Could this spring be an active streaking season? College streaking began here in Tallahassee, you know.
Who borrowed the video, Our Town, Monticello? We need it back.
Paul has published a collection of his short stories, poems, and essays written over the years. Only the last section (about a third of the book) deals with naturism. It is available for $20 from the Barnes and Noble bookstore on Apalachee Parkway, or at Amazon.com. Paul also has copies, which he will autograph.