Only one freebie for legislators today, but it’s one that inspires fond memories. A striptease for legislators.
The Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce will be pouring for legislators at 4:30 p.m. today in the press box of War Memorial Stadium. (Yes, it’s available for
Fond memory? It was 1973. Veteran Capitol correspondent Ernest Dumas passed along word that legislators were smirking about the traditional Hot Springs steak feed that night at the Davy Crockett Club at the Alamo Courts on Roosevelt Road. City editor Bill Shelton sent me and photographer John Partipilo to take a look. We got an eyeful. After drinks and steaks, the entertainment began. A stripper began shimmying in the center of the dining room, with help disrobing from a friendly legislator. Partipilo’s flash started flashing and things got chaotic. John and I were invited to leave. A short story appeared on the front page of the next day’s Arkansas Gazette. No photograph. Partipilo’s print (and it was a classic) and the negatives were soon sequestered by managing editor Robert Douglas. A columnist for another organization later opined that our coverage slammed the door on improvements to the Freedom of Information Act for that legislative session.
I’m guessing tonight’s affair will be more family friendly. Times change. Was there more than one woman legislator in the General Assembly in 1973?
