Copyright 1999 Lake Edun Foundation, Inc

Official Publication of the Lake Edun Foundation, Inc          Nov 1, 1999

shower, put sand on the south beach, improved trails on the west side of the lake, replaced one of the bridges at the north end and did an excellent job keeping the land looking terrific.
    Conservation planted another 500 bare root seedlings and about 8 larger trees.  In addition, they continued the effort to transplant cedar trees in low areas along the road.
    Everyone agreed it has been a good year for the Lake Edun Foundation.
    Next, an election was held for new members to the Board of Directors.  The membership agreed the out-going board had completed an excellent year.  Special recognition was given to Ed who has put out twelve good issues of Bare Facts on time each month.  Thanks, Ed. 
    The following members were nominated to serve on the Board of Directors of the Lake Edun Foundation for a one year term: Webb Garlinghouse, George Hess, Nancy, Henry, Robert Klinge, Vicki Knueppel, Jason Liane, Walter Norris, Dorothy Sands, Carlie, Kelly Shepardson, Mark Sorensen, and Syd Weybrew.  The president opened the floor for additional nominations.  Larry Forbach volunteered to serve on the Board.  There being no further nominations, the members moved to vote on the slate for the Board of Directors of the Lake Edun Foundation.  On a motion made and seconded, all the above members were elected to serve a one year term on the Board.
    Finally, there was discussion about committees.  Several of those present volunteered to serve on some of our committees.  Social: Sally; Return to Edun: Robert; Facilities: Barry & Debbie, Jason, Big Mike, Tom C., Bill C., Larry the 'lectrician, and Steve G.  If there are any others willing and interested in serving on any of our committees, they should contact a member of the Board.
    There being no further business to come before

(Continued on page 2)

    As required by our by-laws, we held our annual business meeting of the Lake Edun Foundation on Saturday, October 30.
    The president called the meeting to order at 7:30 PM when it was determined that a quorum was present. 
    The Treasurer, Webb Garlinghouse, presented a report of our financial condition.  Year-to-date, our income is $31,392, which is $349 behind budget; our expenses are $28,507 which is $219 over budget.  Thus, we are $568 behind budget for the year.  A general discussion ensued.  Upon a motion made and seconded, the financial report was accepted.
    The President, Kelly Shepardson, then led a discussion of some of the achievements of the year. 
    Education/Outreach hosted weekly discussions at Kansas City coffee shops that resulted in several new members.  We have also reprinted our educational brochures, A Soul Set Free, and Familial and Societal Attitudes Toward Nudity, and the Effects on Children's Development.  In addition, we produced a new brochure, I Had a First.  If any member needs additional copies of any of these, please email us or send a SASE to our post office box.
    Member Relations has send birthday greetings to all our members and friends.
    Social held several excellent events through the season which our members enjoyed and were successful in introducing many others to the benefits of Naturism. 
    Our facilities committee completed the

(Continued from page 1)

the membership, the meeting was adjourned.  Thanks to everyone for making 1999 a great year for the Lake Edun Foundation.

the Board of Directors in the following year. Next year promises to be even better than the last year! Before this starts sounding anymore like an acceptance speech for an academy award, I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and wonderful holiday season!

Happy Thanksgiving!  Ok, so it's a little bit early, but I have much to be thankful for.
First of all, let me say that I am thankful for the wonderful board of directors that served Lake Edun very well this past year. They all did a wonderful job to make sure that Lake Edun stays the kind of place that we are proud to be associated with!
Next, let me say a great big thank you to Ed, our newsletter editor, a.k.a. "nudebrewdude".  He has done a fantastic job of getting the newsletter out on time, even if someone of the "Dizzie" persuasion was late getting articles to him so he could put out the newsletter! Ed, I would like to thank you for the time you put in on the newsletter between two jobs and family commitments.  Your talents as newsletter editor will be greatly missed.
I would also like to give a big thank you to Bob, our Webmaster. Bob has done a great job with the website and has made it more "people friendly". I have had numerous inquiries due to people viewing the website and responding with questions. Thanks, Bob and keep up the good work!
I would also like to give a big thank you to Webb for putting up with my finding my way around as President of the Board of Directors.  Thanks, Webb for your patience and understanding.
And last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank each and every one of you for believing in the Lake Edun foundation and working to make it the success that it is. I look forward to serving on

Once again, Myron Jones did a wonderful job (g)hosting our Halloween party.  No one had a problem finding Myron's rustic Topeka hide-a-way and the crowd quickly grew to about 30-35 people.  Although our (g)host furnished ample quantities of sodas, beer, chips and dip, visitors brought additional food & drink.  Sally brought some of her renowned "hot, spiced cider" and Ed a.k.a. "Nude Brew Dude" (a professional brewer) brought a keg of hand-crafted Irish Ale from the brewery.

Costumes of all varieties were in evidence.  A hairy-faced werewolf, a sailor, 2 construction workers, a pirate, a clown, a formal nudist (complete with bow tie & cumberbun), a "Jerry Garcia", a belly dancer, an indian, a 'Hershey' bar, a drive-by victim, a frog, a couple of flashers,  and more.  Sally even came as a 'Cereal Killer' (she had a cowboy hat, six-guns on her hips, and an ammo belt of breakfast cereal boxes.

A fun time was had by all and the festivities continued into the night but tapered off as the witching hour approached.

just couples. Families came in second and singles can in third. However, if you put the singles together with the people who have uninterested partners, that number increases to 1/3 of the respondents. I see two things that need to happen here. One is to get those uninterested partners interested, and to get more viable options for singles. One thing that could be done is some type of information and/or support group for people with uninterested partners to help change their mind about nudism. Like a "Textiles Anony

(Continued on page 4)

On October 4, 1999 we had 150 responses in our little unscientific survey of visitors at the Air Capital Naturist Society's web page at http://www.aircapital.org/ who were willing to fill it out. I wish to thank those 150 people and encourage others to visit us and fill out our survey also.

The analysis here is entirely my own observations and comments. Nobody of importance looked at the data. However, if there are experts out there, please feel free to comment. The rest of you, please share your comments also. Keep in mind that this analysis, at this time, is of only 150 respondents. The percentages might not equal 100% due to rounding.

So here we go:

The respondents consisted of 86% men and 14% women. This is about the same ratio as men to women on the Internet from what I understand. I am hoping more ladies will partake in the survey. Of the respondents, 36.7% were in
the 41-50 age bracket with the 31-40 age bracket second with 26.7% respondents. The future is looking kind of bleak with only 9.3% of the people in the 18-30 range. Something must be done to get more young adults exposed and involved in our lifestyle. According to this survey, nudism is
a baby boomer thing.

This was a series of questions I wanted to ask to see if the tradition still lives about skinny-dipping. 88% of the respondents have skinny-dipped. With 80% of them doing so in a group; 80% with the member of the opposite sex; and 76% in a group consisting of both sexes. And 71.3% of the skinny-dippers are still at it. The tradition continues!

According to the responses, most naturists are

* A subscription to our quarterly journel, Nude & Natural, the highly acclaimed publication on Naturism in the world.

* Membership card, which gains admittance and discounts at hundreds of Naturist clubs throughout the world.

* The Naturist Network. Contact information for affiliate groups, clubs & special interest groups listed in each issue of Nude & Natural.

* Discounts on most items available through The Skinny-Dipper Shop, includes books, magazines, clothing, accessories, etc.

* Regional gatherings.  Members receive advance information and discounts on admission.

* Membership dollars help support TNS' political action affiliates - Naturist Action Committee and Naturist Education Foundation.

Editor's Note: Starting or renewing a TNS membership through the Lake Edun Foundation benefits TNS and us!  The cost is still $40 but your card will have "Lake Edun Foundation" printed on it and we are allowed to keep $5 of the money to help with our budget.

(Continued from page 3)

mous."

Time spent in the naturist lifestyle is long lasting once somebody finally discovers it. Half of the respondents have lived the lifestyle at least 5 years with the majority of those over 10 years. When it came to whether respondents considered themselves a nudist or a naturist, half couldn't care less as long as they were nude; 18.7% considered themselves naturists and 19.3% considered themselves nudists.

What I found interesting was while 88.7% respondents where nude at home, only 13.3% were nude when they visited friends. I guess people become bashful when visiting. Or they never go visit their nudist friends at home. I guess this is reflected by the groups of people who know that the
respondents are naturists. 55.3% said that their friends know about their lifestyle and only 44% said some of their families know. Only 20% said they don't care who knows and 12.7% said that nobody knows. I guess the fear factor is high. I know that some are afraid of what might happen if people where they work find out. Most time, from what I understand, these fears are groundless. Especially in companies that require diversity training.  One question I ask people is what is the worse that can happen? Fire you?  Then that would be discrimination.

Of places to go, only 30.7% respondents said they were members of an established club or resort. Where as 64.7% respondents said they go to a clothing optional beach and only a little over 57% go to public lands and enjoy getting back to nature. For the most part, 26.7% stick around their
home grounds and 39.3% visit one or two other places a year. 13.3% respondents visit over 5 different places a year.

The number of respondents kind of surprised me that do not do anything to help out at their club, park, resort, beach, or the public lands they visit.

Unless the place is immaculate, I thought the unspoken rule was "Leave it better than you found it?" Only 40.7% do so. On the other hand, the one result that didn't surprise me was the number of respondents that delved into the world of club management. Slightly less than 11% of the respondents were "crazy" enough to become an official. Not that I blame the ones who haven't, but if you don't want to officiate, please help out. Even if it is for just an hour. You can always relax afterwards.

We naturists and nudists do like to have our fun. When it came to events to do nude that people have done or wish they could do, the top 15 things were:
85.3% - Swimming or skinny-dipping (duh!)
80.7% - Visiting clothing optional beaches
62.0% - Doing housework
57.3% - Working in the yard
57.3% - Hiking in the wilderness
56.7% - Walks in the park
54.7% - Getting or giving massages
52.0% - Visiting other clubs/resorts/parks
49.3% - Going to pot-luck dinners
46.7% - Canuding (That's taking a canoe trip in the nude)
46.7% - Playing volleyball
40.7% - Working (The work at home folks have it made!)
40.0% - Body painting workshops
37.3% - Traveling nude
37.3% - Attending different festivals

Some of the saddest bits of information that came out of this survey so far is that 63.3% respondents do not belong to either TNS or AANR and that only 24% of the people contribute financially to help fight for our rights. Yet 2/3 of the respondents want the world to be nude and another 20% want to have nude beaches, clubs and resorts. 13.3% of the people do belong to other national organizations, but 10.7% of them belong to organizations in their own country. No damn wonder we're losing more and more land all the time. People, we need to get off our collective asses and help out. Local, State and Federal

politicians and officials need to be told by our collective to give us back our rights, the lands you took away from us, and leave the rest alone! Out of 150 respondents, only 26% care enough to stand up to be publicly counted and speak out for all nudists and naturists.  Imagine if every nudist and naturist in this country would finally stand up, take a deep breath and shout "I'm a nudist! I have rights and I vote!"  On the good side of the issue 56.7% of the respondents do help out behind the scenes to further our lifestyle. To those folks, I tip my hat and salute you.

When it came to what should be done to promote the naturist lifestyle, 71.3% said it requires implementation of community awareness programs. I take this as meaning local clubs getting out and setting up information booths at area RV shows, travel, show and outdoor shows. 68% checked off more public land available. To me, this means getting land officially designated as clothing optional. This would go back to where we need to have every nudist, naturist and clothing optional proponent speaking out publicly for the establishment of clothing optional beaches, parks and
whatever other type of public land there is. 54% said that more political lobbying is required. Hey folks, this takes money! The respondents that do give money can't shoulder the entire costs alone. It also takes joining the national organizations that do lobby actively. Almost 53% said that more mainstream media advertising is needed to further our cause. Again, buying airtime is not cheap. Contribution from the wallet is needed. 22% said personal involvement would help things out. Actually EVERYBODY'S involvement would help things out a whole lot more.

When it come right down to it, it's up to you people and how much you want our lifestyle to grow or diminish. Attacks are happening in almost every state and at almost everything that has to do with clothing optional recreation. This has to be stopped! Personally, I think we should be able to walk on Main Street, Any town, USA nude (weather permitting, of course) and enjoy life in

the way we have discovered is the most beneficial. I can't stress enough of the importance of every one of us to publicly stand up and tell our local, state and federal officials "Enough is enough!" We need to publicly tell the other groups fighting to take away our freedoms and rights to prove what we do is harmful. We need to get and invite our friends, family, co-workers to a day at the clothing optional beach of club
function. We need to publicly correct the misconceptions about nudism or educate to ignorant about the benefits of nude living. Just today I playfully challenged a co-worker in my office about a remark he made about needing clothes to be able to work. I simply asked him why do we need clothes to work? Nothing hazardous is nowhere near by. So what's the sense?  He had to concede the point that I was right.

In close let me ask you one simple question. What have you done today to further naturism?

Naturally,
Mike Jan
Air Capital Naturist Society - Wichita, Kansas
"Family atmosphere with a clothing optional attitude!"
http://www.aircapital.org/
NAC/AR for Kansas & Nevada
"Clothes are for closets!!!"

Oct 9; Noon-4 PM; Work Day (Final One)
Oct 9; 7-9 PM; Sauna
Oct 24; 4-6 PM; Sauna
Oct 30; 6:30 PM; Annual Membership Meeting
Oct 30; Halloween Party (after Annual              Membership Meeting)
Nov 7; Noon-2PM; Board of Directors Mtg
Nov 7; 4-6PM; Sauna
Nov 19; 8-10 PM; Heartland Swim
Nov 27; 7-9PM; Sauna
Dec 11; Christmas Party
Dec 18; 8-10 PM; Heartland Swim
Jul 14-16, 2000; Return to Edun 8