Error Puts Strippers on Public Access TV
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - Viewers expecting to see the latest local meeting on their public access channel got an eyeful recently when Cablevision played a tape of nude dancers accidentally.
The mistake affected customers in parts of Dutchess, Ulster, Putnam and Orange counties.
Hopewell Junction resident George Morton returned home from Palm Sunday Mass and turned on his television to see a striptease contest.
"I thought, this is terrible," Morton said. "I don't get HBO or anything like that."
Cablevision said Thursday it was not a public access program and that a "program switching error" occurred.
"When it was detected, the programming was removed immediately," Cablevision spokesman Bill Powers said. "We have taken appropriate steps to prevent this from happening again."
No bull: animal rights group to stage 'running of the nudes'
MADRID (AFP) - The annual "running of the bulls" in the northern Spanish town of Pamplona could get some serious competition this year, in the form of a rival run by naked humans protesting cruelty to animals.
The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) group, which has protested against the event in the past, even announced that it was asking the town authorities to replace the traditional bull-chase with its "running of the nudes."
The nine-day San Fermin festival, due to start on July 6, traditionally involves hundreds of runners, including many tourists, trying to outrace a herd of bulls, who chase them throught the town's narrow streets in a tradition that goes back centuries.
But PETA, which last year unleashed several protesters wearing nothing but fake horns and sandals into the streets of Pamplona, said it wants to turn the 'Running of the Nudes' into the official event this year to protest cruelty against animals.
The group is also concerned about last year's outbreak of blue tongue disease, a virus which forced restrictions on livestock movements in southern regions of Spain.
"In light of the outbreak of blue tongue disease and the negative press reports of the disease... we have asked the mayor to make PETA's Running of the Nudes' the official event this year, PETA's campaigns coordinator Yvonne Taylor told AFP.
A spokeswoman for Pamplona mayor Yolanda Barcina Angulo would not comment on PETA's plans, but said that: "as far as we know the bull-running will go ahead as usual" in the absence of advice to the contrary following the blue tongue outbreak.
"People are free to express their own opinion. But the criticism only comes from Britons and Americans, not Spaniards," she sniffed.
PETA tried a celebrity approach last year, with Chrissie Hynde, singer with rock group The Pretenders, urging an end to the "medieval" practice of "tormenting and slaughtering" the bulls, who last year gored 16 race participants.
Amid the controversy the organisers promise only that "the running of the bulls is an unforgettable experience for the spectator and above all for anyone who runs ahead of the bulls.
"It's a spectacle defined by risk and one's physical capacity."
The event has resulted in the deaths of 14 spectators, and of an unknown number of bulls, since records began in 1911.
Police Charge Man for Flashing With Banana
(AP)GREENWICH, Conn. - A former Stamford police officer has been charged with lewd conduct involving a toy banana. Arthur Bertana, 62, who had been on probation for lewd conduct more than four years ago, was arrested Saturday after police said he placed a toy banana in his pants and flashed people.
Bertana was charged with breach of peace and interfering with a police officer.
"Over a span of time, there were several reports of a subject wearing extremely tight pants with an obvious bulge stuffed down his pants," Sgt. Roger Petrone Jr. said Wednesday.
Bertana would allegedly greet passersby on the busy street while trying to draw attention, Petrone said. At times, he placed a bag in front of his pants, then moved it and show the bulge, he said.
"It was a yellow, plush, toy banana," Petrone said. "It had a smiley face on it."
Bertana was released on a $5,000 bond for a March 21 appearance in Stamford Superior Court in Stamford.
Lawmaker Seeks to End 'Sexy' Cheerleading
(AP) AUSTIN, Texas - The Friday night lights in Texas could soon be without bumpin' and grindin' cheerleaders. Legislation filed by Rep. Al Edwards would put an end to "sexually suggestive" performances at athletic events and other extracurricular competitions.
"It's just too sexually oriented, you know, the way they're shaking their behinds and going on, breaking it down," said Edwards, a 26-year veteran of the Texas House. "And then we say to them, 'don't get involved in sex unless it's marriage or love, it's dangerous out there' and yet the teachers and directors are helping them go through those kind of gyrations."
Under Edwards' bill, if a school district knowingly permits such a performance, funds from the state would be reduced in an amount to be determined by the education commissioner.
Edwards said he filed the bill as a result of several instances of seeing such ribald performances in his district.
J.M. Farias, owner of Austin Cheer Factory, said cheerleading aficionados would welcome the law. Cheering competitions, he said, penalize for suggestive movements or any vulgarity.
"Any coaches that are good won't put that in their routines," he said. And, most girls cheering on Friday nights were trained by professionals who know better, he said.
"I don't think this law would really shake the industry at all. In fact, it would give parents a better feeling, mostly dads and boyfriends, too," Farias said.
Although cheerleaders must meet the same no-pass, no-play academic requirements of athletes, cheerleading is not a competition sanctioned by the University Interscholastic League, the governing body of Texas high school sports.
The UIL also does not have performance regulations for squads who cheer for their teams at state championships, said Athletic Coordinator Peter Contreras. Cheerleaders give me a "feeling" alright... Doing a fine job if you ask me.
"I think it should have been cut out a long time ago," Edwards said. "It surely needs to be toned down."
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