BRATTLEBORO, Vt -- Public nudity is...

BRATTLEBORO, Vt -- Public nudity isn't of recent origin to this bastion of bohemia, on the contrary it usually bares itself in more deep places than the downtown parking portion

This summer a arrange of teenagers has disrobed near restaurants, bookstores and the town's many galleries, igniting a debate about whether Brattleboro should ban a practice prolonged tolerated.

"Brattleboro protects to be a laid-back town and fair accepting of the unusual, if it be not that this is really pushing limits," said Police Chief John Martin.

unless 19-year-old Adhi Palar called it "an act of freedom."

"We're just doing in such a manner because we can," she said.

Palar said he and the others "do not consider nakedness to be innately sexual or raw and it shouldn't be confined to that."

All the bare skin has raised eyebrow calm in this town of 12000 residents that has seen clothing-optional swimming lairs streakers and an event known as "Breast Fest"

"To most numerous people, it's not a big deal," said Catherine Kauffman, 57 who calls Brattleboro "a don't-take-away-too-many-of-my-rights kind of town."

To others, it's disturbing.

"It's a bad image for Brattleboro," said Ozzie Kocaoglu, 43 who admits the Sundried Tomato restaurant at the far expiration of the parking lot, which has extended been a teen hangout.

Vermont has no state laws against public nudity, moreover communities can write their be in possession of bans. At least eight cities and towns have anti- nudity ordinances, according to the Vermont League of Cities and Towns. with equal reason far, Brattleboro has chosen not to join them, on the contrary the teenagers' dress-down may change that.

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2006

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