| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"stoney" |
| Date: |
29 Nov 2003 12:50:19 AM |
| Object: |
OT: Here ya go, Ladies |
http://www.katu.com/news/story.asp?ID=62674
KATU 2 News - Portland, Oregon
www.katu.com
Nude calendar shatters goal
November 24, 2003
EUGENE - The Men of the Long Tom Grange didn't just surpass their goal
of raising $25,000 for Junction City schools with a nude calendar. They
shattered it.
With almost 10,000 copies sold and orders coming in from as far away as
Warsaw, Poland, the calendar has already raised about $100,000. And more
sales are expected between now and Christmas.
But it's also caused a stir in the small town, and put the school board
in the complicated position of deciding which lost programs to restore.
Superintendent Kathleen Rodden-Nord said a committee will likely be
formed to see how the money could best be used in a district where the
budget has been sliced by 20 to 25 percent the past two years, canceling
drama, art and music and costing teachers jobs.
Rodden-Nord said she is astonished that 12 men from the local grange -
between the ages of 40 and 70 - could raise that much money by posing
nude, their private parts hidden by tractors and banjos and horse
saddles.
And the rest of the nation seems amazed, as well. The men's story has
appeared on the pages of USA Today and on NBC's Today Show in recent
weeks.
Letters to the Editor, meanwhile, have poured into the town's weekly
newspaper, the Tri-County News.
Some older female members of the grange can't bear to look at it, said
Danuta Pfeiffer, creator of the calendar and the wife of Mr. March,
Robin Pfeiffer.
Some have gone so far as to call the calendar smut. Others, such as the
Rev. Charles Zach, pastor of St. Helen Catholic Church and an early
critic of the calendar, say they have moved on.
"It's a nonissue for me right now," Zach said. "I've got more important
issues to deal with than a bunch of naked men on a calendar."
Danuta Pfeiffer said the idea for the calendar was based on a similar
venture a few years ago in London, where some ladies of a certain age
got together to pose nude for a calendar that raised money for leukemia
research.
The story inspired a film, "The Calendar Girls," which stars Helen
Mirren and hits theaters in December.
There is also talk of a book and movie deal for the Men of the Long Tom
Grange. A Eugene woman is writing a screenplay based on their success,
Pfeiffer said.
As for those who still can't bear to look, Jim Bradshaw, who is not only
Mr. August, but a school board member when he's not running the Shadow
Hills Country Club, said "moral indignation is a strong emotion. As
humorous as (the calendar) is to us, it might not be to someone else."
But he doesn't think the school board will refuse the money.
Website: Men of the Long Tom Grange
www.grangecalendar.com
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press.
Stoney
"Designated Rascal and Rapscallion
and
SCAMPERMEISTER!"
When in doubt, SCAMPER about!
When things are fair, SCAMPER everywhere!
When things are rough, can't SCAMPER enough!
/end humour alert
alt.atheism military veteran #11
{so much for the 'no atheists in foxholes' rubbish}
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