Is that a Pumpkin on your Head, or are You just Happy to be Naked?

Here in Boulder, starting in 1999, some of our local crazies have been getting together on Halloween night, taking their clothes off, putting pumpkins on their heads, and streaking through the streets. Originally in South Boulder, then University Hill, in 2003 they moved this goofiness to the downtown mall.

Every year, the group has gotten bigger, and with it the publicity. Last year, the police were waiting, and ticketed several of the pumpkin runners, charging them under the state's indecent exposure law.

Unfortunately for the police (and fortunately for the runners), they were unable to get the charges to stick. Not one of the runners was actually convicted.

So, what will happen this year? Police Chief Beckner has promised his officers will be out again this year, and he promises to not just issue tickets but to arrest naked runners.

Beckner recently went on record saying that indecent exposure is not an appropriate charge for people participating in naked events like this. Yet, he has promised to arrest people under that law, because "we want to stop that kind of activity." In other words, he doesn't think these people are breaking the law as it exists, but he is going to arrest them anyway, because he doesn't like what they are doing.

I guess if I were the attorney of one of the folks Beckner promises to arrest, I'd love to be able to present that contradiction to the judge and see if that doesn't get the case thrown right out.