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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2009
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22

Boulder Cops Nix Naked Halloween Streak

Wacky local tradition draws big crowds, annoys authorities

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(Newser) – Killjoy cops in Boulder, Colo., plan to shut down the town's annual naked Halloween run tonight, dispatching 40 police officers to the four-block course, backed up, believe it or not, by SWAT teams. Tolerated for nearly a decade, the run aroused police ire last year when the ranks of streakers, who wear nothing but sneakers and pumpkins on their heads, swelled to 150. So this year the police chief plans to have runners arrested as sex offenders.

Supporters of the annual rite are outraged, and even the ACLU jumped into the fray, firing off a letter claiming citizens have the constitutional right to express, as Stephanie Simon puts it in the Wall Street Journal, "whatever it is they're expressing when they slip hollowed-out pumpkins over their heads and race buck naked down the Pearl Street pedestrian mall."

LONDON - OCTOBER 31: A child enjoys traditional candle-lit Halloween pumpkins on October 31, 2007 in London.
LONDON - OCTOBER 31: A child enjoys traditional candle-lit Halloween pumpkins on October 31, 2007 in London.   (Getty Images)
BURBANK, CA - OCTOBER 21: A Halloween Adventure store, located in a defunct Circuit City consumer electronics store building, sells costumes, props and accessories for Halloween revelers on October 21, 2009 in Burbank, California. Shoppers are predicted to spend an average of $56.31 on holiday merchandise, down from $66....
BURBANK, CA - OCTOBER 21: A Halloween Adventure store, located in a defunct Circuit City consumer electronics store building, sells costumes, props and accessories for Halloween revelers on October 21,...   (Getty Images)
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22 comments
VIEWING:
 
Thinker
Oct 31, 09 8:55 AM CDT
The sex offender label is so misused today that it has become virtually worthless, except for ruining the lives of thousands of innocent people. The war on nudity (arrests for streaking, sexting) has become the new war on drugs. Reply
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+16
IN RESPONSE:
doingtherightthing
Oct 31, 09 2:02 PM CDT
I say Boulderdash!
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+2
divetrader
Oct 31, 09 9:04 AM CDT
It's all about power. They plan to get the SWAT team to back them up??? Wow! What are they afraid of? Getting peed on? Reply
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+8
IN RESPONSE:
tomodachi
Oct 31, 09 10:00 AM CDT
HAHA... awesome perspective... thanks for sharing it :)
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0
OldFart
Oct 31, 09 9:07 AM CDT
Direct quotes from this article: 1."Tolerated for nearly a decade, the run aroused police..." 2. "So this year the police chief plans to have runners..." 3."...even the ACLU jumped into the fray, firing off..." 4. "...citizens have the constitutional right to express..." Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
+3

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