Published: August 03, 2007 12:40 pm      

Will East Texas girls go wild at Redneck Games?

By Jim Goodson

editor@jacksonvilleprogress.com

They’ve been pilloried in the press for being major contributors to the decline of morals in the United States.

They’ve been hauled into court in several states to answer to a variety of charges - to supplying under age teen-age girls with alcohol to having inappropriate sexual contact with young women.

Most recently, on April 25 Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis was charged with a misdemeanor of sexual battery for allegedly touching an 18-year-old woman repeatedly on her breasts, buttocks and thighs in spite of her protests. The incident is alleged to have occurred at a restaurant in January 2007.

This weekend Girls Gone Wild will be here in East Texas filming Mudd Chicks Gone Wild Aug. 2-5 at Pool Ranch ATV Park northeast of Athens. The event is part of the annual Texas Redneck Games, which moves around to different ATV sites the first weekend in August.

A lineup of fun games such as the Car Starter Toss, Texas Style Fear Factor, Spam Eating Contest, Wet T-Shirt Contest and the Mattress Chunk contest is scheduled.

After the games, country stars Kevin Fowler and Mark Cooke and the Cook County Line will perform.

And, of course, girls will be implored to briefly doff their tops to be captured on video for Mudd Chicks Gone Wild. The question is: is this legal?

To begin with, indecent exposure in public is a crime in all 50 states. But at large events on private property lawmen generally are tolerant, citing the difficulties inherent in attempting to arrest hundreds of people at a time.

Organizers of the Texas Redneck Games say the Texas Alcohol Control Board will be on hand to make sure no underage drinking goes on. In fact, no one younger than 18 will be admitted.

Girls Gone Wild officials must also distribute model releases for anyone they film to sign. Without the approval of the video subjects themselves, Girls Gone Wild cannot use their images in any for-profit manner.

The Girls Gone Wild videos, which sell for as little as $9.99 apiece, have grossed as much as $30 million per year for Mantra Films, producers and distributors of the video.

USA Today listed Girls Gone Wild number 23 among the top 25 cultural phenomenons that changed America in the 1990s.