Girls Gone Mild

A Charleston, South Carolina councilman wants to freeze out female sunbathers in that fair city's popular park, Marion Square. He's also contemplating using indecency ordinances to cover up the offending flesh.

Says Wendell Gilliard, who "led the city's effort to shut down a…adult video store" according to The Post and Courier:

"I've seen them pushing the limit. They have their breasts exposed, their … rear end exposed, wearing a G-string bikini…This 'Girls Gone Wild'-type attitude has caught ahold all across the country. We don't want it to get to that point, but I'm sad to say I think it's at that point now."

A police major put the councilman's ire in perspective:

"If a person is standing out there peeing on the sidewalk, yeah, we'll lock them up," he said.

Figuring out what kind of swimsuit should be considered indecent would be difficult, he said.

"The problem is, the Supreme Court has been trying to figure out for 30 or 40 years what indecent exposure is. So how's a cop going to figure it out? he said. "It is unenforceable ordinance. That's something you just don't want touch."

Comments

[Anonymous]

Indecent exposure is anything that turns on a judge...

[Mike]

I live in Charleston. Wendell Gilliard is a flake, a loony, a gadfly (in my opinion.) Thanks to the city, Marion Square has been renovated. It's a clean, safe place for students at the College of Charleston who don't have transportation to the beach to hang out. It's a great place to take the dog and a Frisbee. It's been a springboard for the rejuvenation of the Upper King St. district. It's part of what the Holy City is all about.

Fortunately, Wendell's efforts will come to naught. Unfortunately, it makes Charleston look like it's full of rubes when, in fact, it's a cosmopolitan, sophisticated city and a great place to live. (Sadly I can't say the same about the rest of South Carolina.)

If Wendell really wanted to be useful, he'd help persuade the state legislature to get rid of mini-bottles.

[Anonymous]

the Supreme Court has been trying to figure out for 30 or 40 years what indecent exposure is.

The real indecency is when 30- or 40-year-olds expose themselves, thinking they still look 20.

[Tuning Spork]

I'm guessin' Wendell is gay.

[Mr. Stinker]

mental note...when in Charleston, South Carolina...drop by Marion Square

[dhex]

thank goodness for rubes.

[Frenk]

For the best sunbathing, come to Europe! Or, as it has astutely been termed in the Onion, "Enlightened Topless Europe."

Although the indecency pointed out by the anonymous contributor above unfortunately doesn't stop at 40 here. You been warned.

[FredH]

I'd like to add to Mike's comments above. This is not the first time that Wendell Gilliard has played the buffoon. He's been trying to shut down a porno book shop in the West Ashley area of Charleston for years. Last year, when a group of college students held a pro-pornography counter demonstration as a prank (sample sign: "Honk of you like pornography."), he went ballistic and tried to have them arrested, thus demonstrating both his lack of a sense of humor and his regard for the constitution. A couple of weeks ago, when an atheist was invited to give the invocation at a city council meeting, Wendell led a walkout, thus demonstrating his utter disrespect for anyone else's religeous views. Not exactly exemplary behavior for a city councilman in a town that prides itself on good manners. In short, Wendell Gilliard is simply an embarassment to Charleston.