Posted on 09/18/2003 7:29:12 AM PDT by martin_fierro
HELENA. Montana (Reuters) - A mural sculpture on a downtown hotel in Montana's capital city has local tongues wagging and pundits debating whether the nude dancer depicted shows state Governor Judy Martz.
The dancer, wearing eyeglasses and sporting a short hairdo with bangs similar to the 60-year-old governor is shown kicking up her heels.
"It's hilarious to watch people come and look at it and see their reactions," said one local business employee.
The creator of the mural, Kristine Veith of Seattle, has denied that the figure is Martz. She says the figure, one of a series of people in the work, represents a brothel dancer from Helena's rowdy gold mining history.
A spokesman for the governor, who was once a member of the U.S. Olympic Speed Skating Team, said Martz thinks the dancer does depict her.
"She feels the mural is historically and factually inaccurate, since bordello dancers wore dresses. Nude dancing came later in history," Chuck Butler said.
"She thinks someone is having some fun at her expense," he said, "but the world keeps turning."
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