No more strippers for Old Bastards

MONONA, Wis. (AP) - No more bare bodies for the old boys. Police on Monday stripped the local chapter of the International Order of Old Bastards of the exotic dancers who have performed at their meetings for decades.

The club, which consists of about 600 members, has met quarterly for at least 40 years, according to a police report. Members must be at least 35 years old, although the average age is mid-60s, said Richard Story, who described himself as the club's newly installed Arch Old Bastard.

Meetings typically draw 200 to 300 members. Story said the group has no charities or social agenda.

"This is for elderly people who just want to have a good time with their peers," Story, a 60-year-old retired engineer and tavern owner, told the Wisconsin State Journal for Wednesday's editions.

But police showed up at Monday's quarterly meeting at the Eastside Businessman's Association and warned them that they needed an adult entertainment permit to have strippers. The State Journal said police learned about the strippers after one of the paper's reporters started asking about it in June.

Story told officers the club had three to four strippers ready to perform on Monday. He said the women get naked, dance on a stage and mingle in the aisles, but no contact with them is allowed, the police report said.

Story told police the women are never out of his sight and he is the only one allowed to go into their dressing rooms - for security reasons, the report said.

When Story told the audience the strippers were canceled, many members left, the report said. Aside from a cynical "thanks" one of them uttered to police on the way out, members left peacefully, the report said.

A message The Associated Press left for Story Wednesday morning wasn't immediately returned. Sue Richmond, 54, told the State Journal she supplies the strippers for the Old Bastards through her DeForest business, exotic-dancers.com. She said she began dancing for the Old Bastards in 1972. She described members as well-behaved, adding that dancers earn $150 each plus tips for dancing from 9 to 11 p.m.

The International Order of Old Bastards began in 1945. The founder was Fred Kibbe, an American soldier stationed in Australia who was inspired by the Australian greeting "Hi, you old bastard."

The order has about 1 million members in 4,600 chapters around the world.