Oxygen.ie - Council bans socks with sandals

Council bans socks with sandals

Large notices have been put up on the outer railings of Waterford town Tramore's only children's playground saying: 'Socks must not be worn with sandals at this playground. Especially white ones. Its very creepy and wrong.'

Local town councillor Maxine Keoghan said Tramore does not have a strict dress code but it did not want creepy old men with comb overs loitering around the playground and handing out sweets to children they didn't know.

Report say that a growing number of middle aged men have no fear of braving the elements in light-coloured socks and sandals.

Yesterday the town council has indicated that it's had enough of this ‘trend’ and will stop at nothing to enforce the law.

"Its just wrong! We've got hundreds of complaints from worried mums and dads over the past several months relating to middle-aged men hanging around the play area. Most of whom blatantly wear white socks and brown leather sandals." Ms Keoghan said in a brief interview with WWN.

In the past some local schools have appealed to older parents not to wear socks and sandals when dropping their children off.

Tramore CBS principle Mr. Gearoid M. O'Brien said: "To avoid causing embarrassment to others we ask that all parents, especially the older balding ones, to dress appropriately when dropping their kids to school. Older men seen wearing socks and sandals will be branded paedophiles and banned permanently from school grounds."

Tramore town councillors told the press today they put up the signs in response to the on-going complaints they have received on a daily basis.

"We do not want to stereotype people but in this instance we need to do something. Socks and sandal wearers are known to have creepy tendancies. Everyone knows this. We either hit it on the head now or we leave are vulnerable children there to be fantasised about."

While the majority of the people agree with this new rule, there are some who oppose the councils decision.

"It is ridiculous and stupid," said 58-year-old sandal wearing bachelor Peter Foyle, who was asked to leave the playground by a parent earlier today.

"I like the way the wind breezes through the cotton socks. Its not too cold or to warm. Just right. Its like a cute little kitten licking his grainy tongue between your toes.

"The playground is the only place that I can sit down and relax. The sounds of children playing makes the hair on my back stand up. I feel young again and free cause of the sandals and socks.

"Branding me a paedophile because of my footwear is wrong. I wouldn't harm any child. I love them too much."

More than 16 people have joined a Facebook group called "STOP CREEPY OLD PEOPLE WEARING SOCKS AND SANDALS AT OUR PLAYGROUND".

The new law will take affect from today.

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_{Topless Ukraine activist grabs Euro Cup}

(Reuters) - A Ukrainian women's rights activist stripped to the waist and seized the Euro-2012 soccer trophy while it was on public display in Kiev on Saturday in a protest against the forthcoming month-long championship.

The young woman, 23-year-old Yulia Kovpachik, is a member of the Kiev-based Femen women's rights group which believes the Euro-2012 soccer tournament being played in Ukraine next month will encourage sex tourism.

Kovpachik strode up to the silver, 60 centimeter (two feet) high trophy, which was on display as a tourist attraction in an open air exhibition in central Kiev, ostensibly to be photographed alongside it like hundreds of other sightseers.

But she then pulled down her red T-shirt to reveal the words "Fuck Euro 2012" scrawled on her torso. As she grabbed hold of the cup with both hands, she was seized by security guards, who appeared to have had advanced warning of the protest.

They covered her with a sheet and took her off to a waiting police car.

The protest appeared to be the first action in a campaign against the championship by Femen which regularly stages bare-breast protests in Ukraine - and sometimes beyond - to highlight what it sees as political injustice, social abuse and the exploitation of women in Ukraine.

Femen says Euro-2012, which Ukraine is co-hosting with Poland next month with the final in Kiev on July 1, will be a magnet for sex tourists - one of the group's main targets - and will feed a booming sex industry.

About one million foreign tourists are expected in Ukraine for the Euros.

Organisers said the 8 kg (17 lbs) Henri Delaunay cup was undamaged though Kovpachik appeared to topple back under its weight as security guards seized her. It was still on show in late evening.

Femen's spokeswoman, Anna Gutsol, said Kovpachik, who staged the protest on her 23rd birthday, was released after being told she would have to appear in court on Monday on a charge of hooliganism. The charge carries a maximum fine of 800 hryvnias ($100) and 15 days detention.

Conscious of Ukraine's growing reputation as a new destination for sex tourism, Euro-2012 organisers say they are taking steps to curb prostitution during the month-long tournament.

After Kovpachik's protest, Femen activist Olexandra Shevchenko told reporters: "We came here today to stop this Euro fan low-life from making a bordello out of Ukraine."

City authorities have mounted the trophy in a temporary exhibition area on Kiev's Independence Square.

Hundreds of sightseers were queuing up under the blazing sun for souvenir photographs alongside it when Kovpachik staged her demonstration.

Independence Square itself will be the centre of a huge 'fan-zone' during Euro-2012, capable of holding tens of thousands of football supporters.

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