To the editor:
I never thought in a hundred years that I’d be writing this, but I have to applaud the courage of Brookhaven Councilwoman Rebecca Chase Williams for standing up to her own city government over its stance in abetting the continued operation of a strip joint in their village.
And I don’t say this easily, being a libertine that would probably have made even Henry Miller and Anaïs Nin blush, and at one time an exotic dancer myself – if being a member of a comic burlesque revue of Aristophanes’ “Lysistrata” counts.
Though I’m of the opinion that there is nothing more beautiful that nature has produced than the naked female form, I do believe that a bedroom community has the right to provide a sensible communal guardianship over their children.
I’m sure the parents of Brookhaven don’t want their daughters thinking that becoming strippers is a healthy or viable career option, or their sons to think that being patrons of these establishments is how to foster acceptable relationships with young ladies. Certainly they are free to choose those paths, but let them make that choice as an adult.
I’d push for a referendum on this issue, Brookhaven residents, and would listen to your Councilwoman Rebecca Chase Williams as she appears to be the only voice of reason among your elected officials.
Gary Ray Betz