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Posted: 10:29 PM- KANAB - City leaders here have a new message for bikini wearers: C'mon in, the water's fine.
Less than a month after publishing a ban on bikinis, Kanab's City Council is poised to modify the rule to permit the popular two-piece swimsuits and Speedos at the city's soon-to-open public pool.
City Councilwoman Nina Laycook said Tuesday the bikini-Speedo prohibition was unintentional and will be revised probably at their June 24 meeting to line up with other public pools in Utah.
"My recommendation is going to be no thongs or string bikinis," Laycook said.
The councilwoman said the original dress code - cribbed from the southern Utah city's parks and recreation policy manual - was an oversight.
"We were so engrossed with safety and health issues we overlooked the wording [about swimming attire]," she said. "We are addressing that now by amending the policy."
Her fellow council members discussed modifying the policy at Tuesday night's meeting and she said, "It was no big deal," about endorsing the change when it appears on the official agenda.
The apparently short-lived bikini ban became a much-talked-about and frequently mocked topic around town. One resident called it "crazy."
Rocking-V Cafe owner Victor Cooper said Tuesday night that the local customers in his restaurant joked about the ban and will probably be glad when it is lifted.
"They reacted to the [ban] with comical disbelief more than anything," said Cooper.
The rule also made headlines across the state and nation - attention Kanab hasn't seen since 2006, when it adopted the so-called "natural-family resolution" with its call for breadwinning husbands and homemaking wives to rear a "full quiver of children."
No doubt, city leaders are hoping the relaxed rules will refocus the community on Kanab's long-awaited city pool and the relief it will bring as the temperatures climb. Dubbed the Cowboy Water'n Hole, it is set to open July Fourth.
"It's a nice pool," Laycook said, "nicer than anything you or I ever had."
And townsfolk are eager to suit up - bikini and all.
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