An organizing committee that came out of the discussions from the one day Unity Summit on February 11 in Miami continues to meet via phone conference. Two ideas are being pursued. One is how the various nudist/naturist groups can collaborate to support the Celebrate Nude Art Festival that is being planned for the Miami area in the fall. The intent is that this event can be put on in other areas in future years. The organizing committee is also looking into forming an ongoing way for our various nudist/naturist groups to work together, taking form as some sort of industry council.

I sit on this committee and will let you know as more information becomes available. Please email me if you have questions, concerns or suggestions.

Karen Lahey president@aanr-nw.org

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Concerns that an anti-nudity initiative would be on the ballot this fall in the City of Spokane have been allayed. The group that gathered the necessary signatures turned in 3,320 signatures. However, 1,548 were ruled invalid for various reasons. This reduced the validated signatures to significantly fewer than the needed 2,477.

About one third of the invalid signatures came from people who live outside of the city of Spokane. Another third came from unregistered voters. The rest were invalidated because they were duplicates, couldn’t be verified or the signatures didn’t match what the county had on file.

Thanks go out to our Spokane nudists for their visibility at the city council meetings and with the city council.

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2015/mar/17/exposure-law-proposal-focused-on-spokane-baristas/

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An important function of AANR is to watch legislation that might be harmful to nudism and to block it or to change it so that it will not affect social nudism.

In order to do this, AANR needs to know what legislation is being planned.

At the state level, AANR membership dollars go to buy a subscription to CQ State Track (http://www.cqstatetrack.com/index1.html). This website tracks bills given a set of keywords. Your regional GAT chair (Mike Parker – gat@aanr-nw.org) has a login to this site. However, any of us can look at the search results to see what is going on in our region. It is important to note that many of the reported bills do not affect us at all. They just meet the search criteria.

For the Northwest, the link is
http://www.cqstatetrack.com/texis/statetrack/insession/viewrpt/main.html?event=545a5e1821c

That is just the first step. AANR-NW needs to know what is going on in each county, city, town, etc. Spokane Valley, WA, passed a law last year banning mere nudity. AANR-NW didn’t know about it in time to mount an effective fight against it.
That is where you come in. Read your newspaper and your local blogs. Watch your local TV. Listen to local radio. Go to community meetings. If you learn about anything at all that might affect us, send information about it to gat@aanr-nw.org and to president@aanr-nw.org. It is better to get multiple emails about the same issue than no emails at all.

Remember that AANR is us. And we are AANR. It is up to us to make it work.

For your information —
The links to pending legislation for all of the US AANR regions are:
AANR-East
http://www.cqstatetrack.com/texis/statetrack/insession/viewrpt/main.html?event=545a5d3821c
AANR-Florida
http://www.cqstatetrack.com/texis/statetrack/insession/viewrpt/main.html?event=545a5d76264
AANR-Midwest
http://www.cqstatetrack.com/texis/statetrack/insession/viewrpt/main.html?event=545a5dba21c
AANR-Northwest
http://www.cqstatetrack.com/texis/statetrack/insession/viewrpt/main.html?event=545a5e1821c
AANR-Southwest
http://www.cqstatetrack.com/texis/statetrack/insession/viewrpt/main.html?event=545a5e6721c
AANR-West
http://www.cqstatetrack.com/texis/statetrack/insession/viewrpt/main.html?event=545a5ead1ac4

There is no comparable pending legislation link for AANR-Western Canada.

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The Rooster Rock Public Meeting that was previously scheduled for Wednesday March 18th has been canceled. This meeting will be rescheduled at a future date.

Please visit www.gorgeparksplan.com for updates.

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Kray Van Kirk is an Alaskan singer-songwriter, delivering performances that the Borderline Folk Club in New York called “…what every singer-songwriter should aspire to.” His warm and intimate concerts on six- and twelve-string guitar have received critical praise and enthusiastic receptions from the house concert circuit to festivals and larger stages.

His songs are rich tapestries of myth (The Queen of Elfland, Three Days to England), passionate echoes of the world (A Chorus of Stones, Dust), and a pure expression of the American singer-songwriter (A Medicine for Melancholy, Walk With Me). At the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where many shows receive only a handful of audience members due to the sheer volume of available performances, his room was sold out, leaving some folks sitting on the stairs and a Fringe reviewer to write “the Alaskan singer-songwriter, in his Edinburgh debut, was not the reason I arrived early, but certainly why I stayed late”.

Living without road access in Alaska might not seem the best way to be a touring musician, but that’s where he makes his home with his daughter, one cat, and far too many books to fit into one room (along with the occasional bear sitting in the front seat of his car). He supports his touring through proceeds from live shows only, as he no longer sells CD or charges money for his songs; all of them wait patiently on his website, ready to march their way across the world like little digital penguins, leaving no footprints in the snow.Kar

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Last monday night Dave and Kathy Smith showed up at the Spokane City Council meeting. They both testified as did three other Kaniksu Ranch members. There were three others that showed up. The end result was that the signatures are going to be sent to be validated, which was our best outcome. Once that is done, it goes before the council again to decide if they pass it (not likely in our opinion) or send it to ballot in November. We will be at that meeting as well and will again put out the call to local nudists for support at the meeting.

Dave and Kathy were approached by a reporter from the Spokesman-Review. He asked for their information for a possible future article. They were also both contacted by a Chanel 2 reporter. They also talked with two of the council members on the way out which were both positive conversations. A snippet of the testimony was on the Chanel 4 news.

Margie Cantlon at Sun Meadow alerted us to an article in the online version of the Inlander paper. The printed Inlander is a regional paper located in Spokane and is published weekly, put in many places and is free. We’ll be watching to see if it shows up in the printed version next week.

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The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department is producing a site development plan for Rooster Rock State Park.

The purpose of these proposed developments will be improving the park entrance and facilities, while creating a riverfront scenic promenade. This proposed trail will provide park visitors with a dedicated walking path along the Columbia River and will be an exciting new universal access recreation option for the Gorge. Current park activities will continue to be offered at the park, while proposed improvements aim to increase opportunities for interpretation and ranger-led educational programs, highlighting the natural and cultural history of the Gorge.

These improvements were identified and prioritized in the 2015 OPRD Columbia River Gorge Management Units Plan (available at www.gorgeparksplan.com, pages 154-57) and this site planning effort reflects the need for a focused site plan as a next step in moving forward with these improvements, as well as identifying potential funding for development.

On March 18th, 2015 OPRD, will be hosting a public meeting to review design options for these developments at Rooster Rock State Park. This meeting will be held at the Corbett Fire Hall in Corbett, OR from 6:00-8:00 PM. Mike Parker, our GAT chair (gat@aanr-nw.org) will be at this meeting representing our needs.

The issues that Mike is most concerned about are from the section about Rooster Rock: Needs, Constraints and Opportunities
Extremes in park attendance: Low use in shoulder seasons and weekdays; high parking numbers on summer weekends.
Expansive paving; however, all parking spaces are eeded at peak times.
The main beach is no longer functional as a swimming area.
The boat ramp functions seasonally and is extremely expensive to constantly dredge.
The riverfront area of the park has no connected walking path or water access.
The entrance feels like you are arriving at a parking lot, not a park.
Need for additional universal access recreation options.
Limited draw for families, shoulder season hikers, school groups, or visitors from the views and falls loop on HWY 30.
Desire for children’s play areas, dog off-leash areas, more docks, and more group picnic shelter facilities.

An additional meeting will be held later this spring to review a preferred option.

Details concerning the Rooster Rock State Park Site Development Plan Public Meeting I:
Wednesday, March 18
6:00-8:00pm
Corbett Fire House
Multnomah County Rural Fire Protection District #14
36930 E. Historic Columbia River Highway
Corbett, Or 97019

Please visit www.gorgeparksplan.com and join the mailing list to stay updated on the process, or contact Ben Hedstrom at (503) 986-0745 or ben.hedstrom@orgeon.gov with any questions.

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The Spokane City Council has scheduled a hearing about the proposed Spokane Anti-Nudity Initiative at its next meeting on March 2. The legislative session is at 6pm at 808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd., Spokane WA 99201. The agenda can be downloaded at https://static.spokanecity.org/documents/city-council/current-agendas/2015/03/city-council-current-agenda-2015-03-02.pdf. At last Monday’s meeting, there were 10 nudists to support the opinion that nudity is wholesome — That it is not appropriate to to ban all nudity in order to prevent certain objectionable behavior (the bikini baristas).
While there was no opportunity to speak last Monday, supporters are needed this coming Monday. However, it is very important that we put on our most calm and reasonable faces. We need to show everyone that we are just like they are, but we like to be nude.

The petition filers want to have the city council take a vote to pass their proposed ordinance without validating the signatures and without putting it on the ballot.

The signatures are, as of yet, not validated.

It is extremely important that nudists and those who support nudism in Spokane attend the city council proceedings and speak against having the city council pass the measure without validation of the signatures or without the vote of the people.

If you want more information, please contact our GAT chair Mike Parker (gat@aanr-nw.org) or Karen Lahey (president@aanr-nw.org)

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Petitioners have submitted the Spokane Anti-Nudity Initiative to the city clerk in Spokane with 3,306 signatures on the last possible days (last Friday and this Monday). They had 365 days to gather these signatures. This initiative was reported last year in https://www.aanr-nw.org/?p=769894

The petition filers want to have the city council take a vote to pass their proposed ordinance without validating the signatures and without putting it on the ballot.

The issue is on the docket for next Monday, 2/23/2015, at 6pm (see attached).

The signatures are, as of yet, not validated.

It is extremely important that nudists and those who support nudism in Spokane attend the city council proceedings and speak against having the city council pass the measure without validation of the signatures or without the vote of the people.

If you want more information, please contact our GAT chair Mike Parker (gat@aanr-nw.org) or Karen Lahey (president@aanr-nw.org)

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