$40 000 donation by 'Calendar Girls' rejected by city

[dr. what]

Carmel -- A dozen women who posed in the buff to raise money for Carmel-by-the-Sea's fire station thought their efforts would be welcomed, with a chuckle, by this cash-strapped city.

But much to their surprise, the more than $40,000 raised by the Carmel Fire Belles' fund-raising calendar has been sharply rejected by city officials who say that the cash is too hot to handle. They say accepting it could offend sensibilities and expose the city to costly sexual harassment lawsuits.

"I feel belittled and insulted by the people responsible for bringing down a good cause and good people," calendar girl Paula Weber, 85, told city officials at a public hearing. The most senior of the calendar models, Weber is pictured hiding coyly behind a pair of firefighters' coveralls.

"You can't collect money for one thing and give it to another," said fellow calendar girl Patty Ross. "We are in a corner here."

The rebuff has stirred a tempest in this teapot-size town, with some of the Fire Belles vowing to force the city to accept their donation and city officials suggesting that the would-be donors find someone else -- anyone else -- willing to accept their money.

"Other fire departments might be willing to take it, and tsunami relief could use the money," said City Administrator Rich Guillen. "There are lots of groups, I'm sure, who would be interested and not have the concerns that we have."

The calendar girls -- ranging in age from 51 to 84 at the time the pictures were taken -- say they've been treated like the girls from a frontier brothel trying to donate brownies to a church bake sale.

Critics of the city's stance point out the scores of nude sculptures and artwork displayed in gallery windows throughout Carmel -- and wonder why the Fire Belles' heavily edited photos have inspired such civic angst.

City officials say they are not prudes but must be vigilant about exposing the city to lawsuits charging them with sexual harassment, gender discrimination and maintaining a hostile workplace environment.

City Administrator Guillen said that if the city accepted the proceeds of a nude calendar, it might encourage city staff to post the calendars in their offices.

"If the council accepts that money, anyone could say that (the city) is sanctioning the calendar," Guillen said. "An employee might want to hang it on the wall, and somebody from the public or a staffer would find it offensive. And that is my concern.

"I have heard some of the ladies on my staff say under their breath that they were concerned about that," Guillen added.

Guillen noted that the city has a long-standing policy banning display of suggestive materials in offices, and said a reminder of the policy was recently distributed to workers.

City Attorney Don Freeman could not be reached for comment, but has previously stated that accepting cash raised by the calendar could serve as the basis for workplace lawsuits even if the calendars are not posted in a city workplace. The city's legal analysis has drawn raised eyebrows from various quarters.

All parties now agree that allowing the Fire Belles to prance about nude in a city firehouse was a bad idea and could have sparked credible complaints. But no complaints have been raised in the six months since the photos were shot, and it is not clear how accepting a donation would increase the city's, er, exposure.

"That is just far-fetched, in my opinion," said Sidney Reade, chief of the neighboring Carmel Valley Fire Protection District and one of the models featured -- in a striking silhouette -- in the Fire Belles' calendar. "I'm responsible for insuring a safe, nonhostile work environment for my employees, and of course, those kinds of calendars can't be hung in public offices," said Reade, a 29-year firefighting veteran.

"But that's not what this is about. They are saying that they can't take this money because the calendar has women in it who are not fully clothed."

The idea for the Fire Belles' effort sprang from the 2003 movie "Calendar Girls," which told the story of a group of middle-aged British women who raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for charity with a humorous nude calendar.

The movie has inspired hundreds of imitations around the world. Carmel residents Mary Pankonin and Patty Ross saw the movie in January 2004, and afterward, "we looked at each other and said, "We could do that!' " Pankonin said.

The duo thought the city would welcome funds to ease an ongoing budget crunch, and approached Carmel Mayor Sue McCloud one morning while all three were taking morning walks. McCloud was initially enthusiastic about the project and mentioned to the pair that the city's historic fire station was in need of seismic retrofit, and the idea of forming the Carmel Fire Belles was born.

McCloud sent the pair off to meet with Reade, who was at the time serving as interim fire chief for Carmel, for a tour of the city firehouse. Ross and Pankonin assumed that the fire station would make a great photo location. McCloud assumed that the group would take their photos in front of city landmarks.

Reade understood that the project had been cleared by the mayor's office. But in July, when a local news channel showed footage of the group posing suggestively on an engine at the city fire station, the panicked city administrator ordered the Belles to stay off city equipment and out of city buildings, fearing litigation.

The Fire Belles say they agreed, but told Guillen they intended to use the photos they had already taken. Guillen said the city would not accept funds raised if the pictures were used.

McCloud claims the group entered the fire station and took the pictures after city officials told them not to, a charge that the Fire Belles heatedly dispute. But in any case, McCloud says it would be bad judgment for elected officials to ignore advice given to them by the city attorney.

"Those are the facts, and it's very unfortunate," McCloud said. "It was a good idea, and I'm not sure what happened."

The impasse has lasted for six months, and during that time, buyers have snapped up more than 2,000 of the $20 calendars from the shelves of local stores, and some businesses have donated much larger amounts to the cause.

But now that sales of the 2005 calendar are drawing to an end, the Carmel Fire Belles must decide what to do with the more than $40,000 in donations and sales proceeds resting in an interest-bearing account.

Some in the nonprofit group are so offended by city officials' actions that they would gladly donate the cash elsewhere, if that option were legal. Others want to demand a full public hearing before the City Council.

And some say the money should sit and earn interest until sitting city officials are voted out of office.

"I'd really like for a lot more citizens to come forward and put pressure on city officials to change their minds," Ross said. "We really do want something good to come out of this, eventually."

link--sorry, no pictures!

[Darth Wong]

What state is the town of Carmel found in?

[Joe]

Cal, I think.

[frigidmagi]

Okay, I'll be the dumbass. How does accepting this money open them to sexual harassment suits and just who is going to sue here?

My two cents? It's doesn't matter if the money comes from a real strip club, instead just some ladies who did it for fun, it's legal, it's doesn't have strings attached and you could use it. Just take the money and say thank you assholes.

[dr. what]

California.

Help my feeble memory here someone--wasn't Clint Eastwood mayor of Carmel at some point as well?

[Darth Wong]

California.

Help my feeble memory here someone--wasn't Clint Eastwood mayor of Carmel at some point as well?

It sounds like a small community, which is probably all you need to know. Small towns are bastions of conservative shithead-think.

[dr. what]

Yeah--looks like that, Mike.

Found it's website--place looks like it has only about 5000 people or so.

http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo. ... Index=9962

[Col. Crackpot]

California.

Help my feeble memory here someone--wasn't Clint Eastwood mayor of Carmel at some point as well?

It sounds like a small community, which is probably all you need to know. Small towns are bastions of conservative shithead-think.

Actually this looks like a rare bastard blend of conservative shithead-think and PC-liberal appeasement.

[Aaron]

California.

Help my feeble memory here someone--wasn't Clint Eastwood mayor of Carmel at some point as well?

Yeah he was, in the late 80's I think.

[salm]

so they could have bought that new set of really cool fire hoses which could prevent that little samy burns in the fire on march 25th. but they wouldn´t accept the money, so they have to use the old shitty fire hoses and sammy is going to burn.

time for a good cynical laugh, i guess.

[Stofsk]

Money is just money, for fuck's sake. Who cares where it came from? As long as nothing traceably illegal took place, it doesn't matter. Money itself is amoral, only the acquisition of which truly matters, and in this case it really boggles the mind at how they could refuse it.

This is up there with a totally unrelated, though equally idiotic, Cal decision. Apparently experts are agreed that Cal faces an energy crisis in the coming years, and Australia is there to export... oil, I believe, or no, i think it's gas... but noooo we can't have evil fossil fuels! Tough shit you greenie fuckers, you could also have our uranium and build nukular powah plants... but nooooo nukular powah is teh evil! Hey, if they don't want our business we can go elsewhere. I hear China is buying...

Bah, sorry for the off topic rant. Only Californians know what Californians must think of these matters.

[Guy N. Cognito]

I see what they are saying. If money comes from people who make an effort to raise it for a good cause by doing something that is a little noticable it's bad, but if a big corporation who makes it money by under paying people chooses to contribute money as a tax benefit it's ok. So as long as the money isn't contributed out of good will, it's ok. And yeesh, is it really a problem if a bunch of middle aged women want to pose in alluring scenarios to raise money? Is it better if they just make a small amount of money in a bake sale? And what about firemen posing with their shirts off for calendars? Does that moeny get rejected as well?

[dr. what]

I really don't get the 'sexual harrassment' aspect that they're harping on about. If this calendar is anything like the one that the UK women did, then there would be strategically placed objects hiding all the naughty bits (so there's no nudity there). We're talking about something out of an Austin Powers movie here. And if there's already a "long-standing policy banning display of suggestive materials in offices, and a reminder of the policy was recently distributed to workers." then what's the problem?

Besides--40K for a town of 5000 people is a fucking amazing amount of cash--take the money, say 'Please don't do this again' and run with it.

[Frank Hipper]

I'm personally disturbed by the fact that an 84 year old lady was photographed in a state of undress.

Some women look incredible for their age, but I have to wonder if she isn't pushing that envelope far beyond tolerance.

[Imperial Overlord]

Carmel is in California and it is very conservative. Yes, Eastwood was mayor there. More relevant to me, so did my great grandmother.

[Guy N. Cognito]

Did you mean that your Great Grandmother was mayor there? Or that she was one of the scantilay clad women?

[Imperial Overlord]

My bad. She lived there, before she died. *curses lack edit button*

[Flakin]

Carmel also had a law on the books that banned Ice Cream Parlors, apparently due to the fact it caused 'young people to gather'.

I beleive Eastwood repealed that law.

'So whats it going to be, punk? Vanilla or Raspberry Ripple...? Go ahead.. make my day...'

[Mayabird]

Being advertised on "epodunk.com" doesn't help this town's image at all. And now, morbid curiousity overwhelms me.

*checks*

Yep, they advertise my hometown too. Definately podunk.

[Guy N. Cognito]

Sorry to say, but suddenly your story isn't quite as interesting.