Judge rules that cycling naked in Portland is "well-established tradition"

[blitzen]

Now these are the kind of traditional values that I can admire!


http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/11/judge_throws_out_charges_again.html

A Multnomah County judge has cleared a Northeast Portland nude bicyclist of criminal indecent exposure charges, saying cycling naked has become a "well-established tradition" in Portland and understood as a form of "symbolic protest."

Judge Jerome LaBarre said the city's annual World Naked Bike Ride -- in which as many as 1,200 people cycled through Northwest and downtown Portland on June 14 -- has helped cement riding in the buff as a form of protest against cars and possibly even the nation's dependence on fossil fuels.

LaBarre then cleared Michael "Bobby" Hammond, 21, of any wrongdoing after two days of hearings that concluded Wednesday.

Hammond's legal troubles began June 26, when he stripped off all his clothes and hopped on his vintage 1970s 10-speed -- in an effort, he says, to make clear that nothing was powering his mode of transportation but his own unadulterated body.

Portland police, however, saw Hammond's two-minute ride through the Alberta Arts District as a stunt, not free speech. They arrested Hammond, citing city code that states it's illegal to expose genitalia in a public place in view of members of the opposite sex.

[babylonsister]

1. ROFL! I love it! Bwhahaha! But dammit, the long arm of the law prevailed. nt

[jobycom]

2. I'm confused...

which is the opposite sex?

[Porschenut1066]

3. Can you re-cycle naked too?

[WheelWalker]

4. Gotta luv the NW.....It's the fungus.

[Winnipegosis]

5. I say NO to naked cycling

Between the skeeters in summer and the cold in winterpeg, I have to pass.