This is stupid...
The town of Boulder, Colorado has a few quirks (to say the least). One of them is that it's actually not illegal to be nude in public there. As a result, there are several clothing-optional or clothing-prohibited events there such as naked bike rides and such.
One "tradition" that's popped up (so to speak) in the last few years is the "Naked Halloween Run" - a bunch of people wear nothing but a pumpkin on their head and shoes on their feet and go for a run.
Apparently, the local police became alarmed with the number of people participating (well over 100 last year), and shut it down this year - by threatening to charge the participants with a legal statute that would require them to register as sex offenders. Yeah, because I equate running naked in public (after 10pm, no less) with being a pedophile.
The problem is that (a) sex offender registries in the US are a matter of public record (but only in Alberta in Canada), and (b) sex offender registries do not usually distinguish between types of offender. So, once you're on the list, as far as your neighbours are concerned you do horrible things to small children, even if your only crime was mistaking that cute undercover police officer for a woman of negotiable virtues. Or run around in public with your pumpkins exposed.
(Of course, the no-show of runners could have been caused by the two feet of snow on the ground, rather than the SWAT teams...)
One "tradition" that's popped up (so to speak) in the last few years is the "Naked Halloween Run" - a bunch of people wear nothing but a pumpkin on their head and shoes on their feet and go for a run.
Apparently, the local police became alarmed with the number of people participating (well over 100 last year), and shut it down this year - by threatening to charge the participants with a legal statute that would require them to register as sex offenders. Yeah, because I equate running naked in public (after 10pm, no less) with being a pedophile.
The problem is that (a) sex offender registries in the US are a matter of public record (but only in Alberta in Canada), and (b) sex offender registries do not usually distinguish between types of offender. So, once you're on the list, as far as your neighbours are concerned you do horrible things to small children, even if your only crime was mistaking that cute undercover police officer for a woman of negotiable virtues. Or run around in public with your pumpkins exposed.
(Of course, the no-show of runners could have been caused by the two feet of snow on the ground, rather than the SWAT teams...)