AANR Weekly Report for June 5, 2009
Erich Schuttauf, Executive Director
AANR and Regions to Make Most Significant Effort in Washington to Date
Beginning tomorrow, AANR members representing all regions (with the understandable exception of Canada) will be at our nation’s capital in Washington, D.C. In all, seven Government Affairs Team members-and an extra spouse or two-will team up with others from Maryland and Virginia. Appointments have been made to meet with dozens of House and Senate offices. In addition, we will make “fly-by” visits to many, many more, stopping to answer questions and drop off literature. In all, we have come prepared with literature for at least 360 visits!
This year through the significant efforts of AANR Public Lands Liaison Steve Hubbard, several meetings have been arranged with top echelons from several agencies with the power to direct the future of nudity on public lands. What’s more, we have even scheduled informal luncheons with some members of the judiciary, so all three branches of government will be reached during the course of our visits.
Finally, we have added a new wrinkle this year by sending out press releases announcing this project to metro-D.C. media. To date, this has resulted in coverage by The Hill and The Washington Independent The Washington Independent
We have also arranged for an interview with a Georgetown-based publication when we reach Washington.
I want to publicly thank the AANR Government Affairs teams from all regions and, especially, Alonzo and Debra Sue Stevens for an incredible amount of work which has gone into priming us for success. I will provide details of the trip in a future report.
Should you need to reach me next week, please call the AANR office and ask to speak with my assistant Nanette Wickersham, who will be able to assist you.
SEARCH ENGINE TRAFFIC-MAXIMIZED
Those who have attended recent AANR Board of Trustees meetings know that a significant effort is being made on both our Public Relations and Brand Management fronts to maximize search engine traffic. Put another way, we want those who consult a search engine to find AANR as a resource quickly. We have been following some excellent advice from Bill Dennis (who started the Captain Jack company) to accomplish that. Recent efforts include an all-new blog on the aanr.com Web site called “The Alltogether.”
While we admittedly have a long, long way to go, this week we received more proof that such efforts are working. If you visit the much hailed BING search engine unveiled by Microsoft this week http://www.bing.com and enter the word “nudist,” you will see that AANR is among the top entries. Reports in the press say that Microsoft will spend between 100 and 200 million dollars advertising and driving traffic to the new search engine, so this is a significant development! More traffic to aanr.com will, in turn, drive more traffic to club Web sites.
Kudos to Living Waters Spa
Living Waters was recently invited to the California State University to present guest lectures on the concept of nude recreation. This was an incredible opportunity to influence a generation of future leaders and customers. You can find a link to a YouTube video capturing this in Carolyn’s report.
White Tail Resort Makes News
White Tail Resort of Ivor, Virginia, has a story about its open house and art show this weekend, which has been garnering publicity, see
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/05/prweb2478244.htm
Finally, be sure to carefully review the report from Carolyn Hawkins below. A floodgate of public relations opportunities opened this week following releases and pitches for the World Record Skinny-Dip.
CAROLYN HAWKINS, PUBLIC RELATIONS COORDINATOR
PR has been very busy with the AANR World Skinny-Dip day and the Capitol Hill visit.
I had an interview with Wireless Flash News. Check out the link below:
http://dancirucci.blogspot.com/2009/06/worlds-largest-skinny-dip.html
I had an interview with the Todd and Don Show.
http://www.590klbj.com/ToddAndDon/Blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10034375
Steve Vickers and I had an interview with the Austin American Statesman newspaper in Austin, TX. Check out link below for article:
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/06/05/0605kelso.html
Watch the link below for Steve Vickers video from Austin Statesman.
I had an interview with National Gold Radio, London regarding the AANR World Skinny-Dip day.
I had an interview with Ocean 98 in Ocean City, MD, regarding AANR World Skinny-Dip day and “why nude weddings.”
I had a live radio interview with Jake and the morning show on AANR World Skinny-Dip day.
Congratulations to Drakes Ridge for the article in the Chicago Sun Times.
http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/travel/northamerica/1593314,CST-FTR-small0527.article
Check out link below on the Top seven nudist clubs in Midwest:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/177187/top_7_nudist_camps_in_midwest_america.html?cat=16
Congrats to Jeff and Judy Bowman on the “Lecture on Body Acceptance/Clothing Optional Philosophy Body Acceptance/Self Acceptance” at a California State
University psychology class. Watch the video:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=76D82CE4CA11EFC7
I had an interview with The Hill regarding the visit to the Capitol
http://thehill.com/in-the-know/nudists-to-lobby-on-capitol-hill-2009-06-03.html
Erich had an interview with NBC regarding the Capitol Hill visit. We will report more on that next week
Linda Berry, Director of Publications
The Cyber-Bulletin
Laguna del Sol’s popular Master of Ceremonies at Nudestock will be featured on America’s Got Talent premiering on ABC on June 23. Read more at
http://www.aanr.com/cyber_bulletin.html.
The Bulletin
The July issue is in production.
The Alltogether
Check out AANR’s blog at http://blog.aanr.com/
AANR Shopping
The shopping cart program has been updated, which should make it easier for shoppers to make their purchases. Shop now at http://shop.aanr.com
Debra Sue Stevens, Government Affairs
REQUEST: Print the following in your Club Newsletter or send to your members in your E-News, when timely and appropriate. We want the members to know what GAT does for them!
California Budget Cuts-Closure of State Parks
AANR sent out a CapWiz alert this week to California AANR members who have subscribed through the AANR Members section of the AANR Web site. We are encouraging ONLY recreationalists in California and others who visit the California state parks to respond to this request. Please pass this
information on to those who may be interested, nudists and non-nudists!
We MUST STOP the Governor’s plan to close over 200 of our state parks. Just this week, the Governor announced a new proposal to eliminate state funding for our state park system-which will close more than 80 percent of the 279-unit state park system. His proposal to cut $143 million from our state parks is 10 times worse than last year’s proposal. California State Parks Foundation (CSPF) is kicking off the Save Our State Parks campaign again,
and we need your help to take action TODAY and tell the Governor and your state legislators that gutting funding to state parks is unacceptable.
State park visitors need to make their voices heard RIGHT NOW. Your action of contacting your legislators is critical. To send a message to your legislator and the Governor, please CLICK HERE http://ga3.org/campaign/budget_may09 ! Our friends at the California State Parks Foundation have prepared an easy way for you to voice your opinion. Please take three minutes to become an advocate for California state parks.
Subscribe to Receive Important Capwiz Alerts To sign-up for CapWiz Alerts, please click here http://capwiz.com/aanr/mlm/signup/?ignore_cookie=1 and fill out the registration form.
If you are an existing member and would like to update your profile, scroll to the bottom of the page for this option. Your participation in this program is an added benefit of your AANR membership. Please feel free to post this information in your club newsletter!
AANR Legislative Tracking
Statistics for 2009:
In Session: There are 16 states, DC and US in Regular Session. There is 1 state in Special Session.
States in Regular Session: AZ, CA, DC, DE, LA, MA, ME, MI, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OR, PA, RI, TN, US
AANR Statistics:
o 3,000 bills were reviewed personally by AANR in 2009.
o 408 bills have been reviewed in full text by AANR in 2009.
o 122 bills remain on the “2009 Legislative Tracking List”
o 133 bills have been moved to the “Archived 2009 List”
AANR encourages our membership and like-minded nudists and naturists to assist in the process of tracking bills and news impacting nude recreation. Always contact the AANR Office before taking action. This ensures that your actions are aligned with the strategy underway for any particular bill or advocacy effort. Remember, AANR GAT works for you!
Terry Justice, Club/Member Liaison
There are no address changes this week. Please contact me at clubinfo@aanr.com for certifying officer changes.
Have a great weekend everybody.
