Topless mower rides again

By Brenda Seekins, Of the NEWS Staff -- NEWPORT - On Thursday, Shirley Davis' daughter mowed her mother's lawn on Martin Stream Road once again.

It was done early in the morning without fanfare or media attention. It was also done without wearing a shirt, the way she likes to do it and the way she will continue to do it, she said.

Last week, a spin around the yard on the riding mower earned the woman a visit from local police, called there by an outraged and offended neighbor because the woman was topless. Before the week was out, the entire country appeared to be talking about Newport's "topless lawnmower."

The woman, who won't reveal her name, doesn't want to be known as the "topless lawnmower." In fact, she doesn't want to be known at all.

"I got caught in the middle of this. I just want to be left alone to get the damn lawn mowed," the slender, thirty-something woman said Thursday.

The act is indecent and inappropriate for young children in the neighborhood, according to Mary Thompson, Shirley Davis' next-door neighbor. Thompson said she is fighting to protect the innocence of her 4-year-old grandson and other children in the area.

Thompson was not at home Thursday when the lawn was mowed. She was going door-to-door gathering signatures for a petition to get local selectmen to create an ordinance against nudity or partial nudity. It was Thompson who called Newport police last week.

The controversy was aired nationwide by the media after selectmen said topless lawnmowing wasn't illegal and refused to draft a law against it. Neither the town nor the state has any laws against nudity on private property.

Now, Shirley Davis is gathering petitions to counter Thompson's and prevent Newport from adopting a nudity ordinance.

After the mowing was completed Thursday, Davis said of her daughter's chore, "It was not a distraction and no one left the road." She emphasized the dead end road has little traffic anyway. There also were no children, or adults, visible outside trying to sneak a peek at her daughter, she said. One car passed by as the woman mowed, but the driver never looked her daughter's way, said Davis. And that's the way it usually is, her daughter added.

"How did this snowball into such a big thing?" Davis asked. "This shouldn't be an issue." Two of Davis' four daughters were present in support of their mother's stand on the issue.

"This is ridiculous," Davis said of the hoopla she has experienced in supporting her daughter's choice to work topless. Davis doesn't mow her own lawn because of a bad back. The older of her four daughters, likewise, was injured and turned the chore over to a younger sister three years ago. Davis refuses to identify which daughter is the mower.

"No one complained last year or the year before," Davis said. "If she [Thompson] had just asked me to have my daughter put a shirt on when her young grandson is around, I might have agreed. She's the one who took it to the police and the town office."

Now, Davis said she is simply having fun with it.

Calls came in from Maine radio stations and elsewhere for on-air interviews with Davis and the Newport town manager. Television cameras broadcast scenes across the state from Davis' flower-laden lawn. Relatives called from out of state. And, in October, Davis and her daughters expect to be guests on the Maury Povich Show, a talk show produced in New York City.

It's more than a neighborhood feud now, said Davis and her daughters. It's a matter of principle.

"Why is it all right for a man to walk through town, work at a construction site, or do most anything without a shirt?" asked Linda Hovey, Davis' older daughter. Hovey stressed many of those men have breasts, and bellies, larger than most women. Or worse - the view is from the rear and the man can't keep his pants above the waist.

"No one objects to that," Hovey said. "Who made these laws? What happened to equal rights?

"This is the United States. Your rights to freedom and independence are guaranteed. At least as far as men will let it go," Hovey said angrily.

Hovey's younger sister explained that she enjoys sunbathing to the point that she maintains her tan year-round at local tanning shops. Two hours of mowing the lawn with a shirt on can leave indelible tan lines, she said. "At home, I sunbathe completely nude. But I'm not telling you where home is," said the mower.

Both sisters pointed out they have brothers with bigger chests than either of them.

The issue is not about promoting nudity, the women said.

"After all, it's just breasts," Hovey said.

"And in my case, it's hardly that," her sister offered from the corner. The anonymous sister emphasized that the targets of the controversy are actually rather tiny.

"I waited for years to develop breasts," she said. "And I'm still waiting."

Davis said her only motive at the beginning of this issue was to get the junk cars removed from Thompson's yard, and to keep her neighbor's dog from roaming. The hedge that surrounds her lawn was planted so she wouldn't have to look at Thompson's yard, Davis said.

The publicity hasn't hurt. The Thompsons have put "for sale" signs on several of the cars Davis labeled junk since the controversy began. Other neighbors have opted to hold yard sales to take advantage of the anticipated traffic. But police say there has been no traffic increase on the road.

Thompson said Thursday her petition drive is going well, although she declined to specify the number of signatures she has secured. Davis said her petition drive is also going well, without releasing numbers.

"I have a lot of people who agree with me. Of course, there are some who agree with her [Davis]," Thompson said. "I'm doing this for the children. They shouldn't be exposed to this [nudity].

"I'm sorry this has gone nationwide. I never meant to create this much attention. This should be a local issue. In another town, let someone else take care of it. I just want to take care of it here," Thompson said.