The city of Carmel, Calif., has rejected a cash donation from a group of women who posed for a nude calendar to raise funds.
City officials said the more than $40,000 raised by the Carmel Fire Belles' fund-raising calendar cannot be accepted because it could offend sensibilities and expose the city to costly sexual harassment lawsuits, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Sunday.
"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.
City Administrator Rich 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."
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