MySpace Photos of Oregon Mayor Causing Stir in Arlington

(ARLINGTON, Ore.) - It is the "Home of the Honkers" and it is hard to miss the irony. A scantily clad image of the city of Arlington, Oregon's mayor is making the rounds on the Web today after news agencies lifted the image from her public MySpace page.

Arlington, Oregon's Mayor Carmen Kontur Gronquist did what many people do in the new Millennium; she posted images of herself on MySpace wearing lingerie. Maybe posing on a city fire vehicle was pushing it a bit, but then I lived in Las Vegas for five years where calendars feature the city's "sexiest firefighters."

We aren't talking nudity here folks, or overly expressive poses. So far just one image has crossed our desk and it is a sexy but somewhat tasteful photo.

Either way, the mayor is taking heat according to reports posted today as her lightly clad image flies around the Internet. One source, Digg.com, reports that this public official doesn’t care what other people will say about her pictures. Who can blame her? It is a free country last time I checked.

Another source, associatedcontent.com, points to the traditional side of this community of 524 residents that is named for the birthplace of Robert E. Lee. Their article suggests that the MySpace image of Gronquist is a poor fit with the city's rodeo and apple pie image.

Gronquist told the East Oregonian January 5th, that the photos are part and parcel of her personal life, and that they have no bearing on her professional life. Still, it appears that some local residents disagree and instead worry about their town's image as her photo is viewed by the rest of the world.

FOX News reported that the photos were taken some time before Gronquist became the town's Mayor. She has held the office for three years. It appears FOX and the conservative East Oregonian got their shovels out for this one. I am writing about it too, granted, but this strikes me as a matter of interest and not exactly a news story.

The mayor told reporters that there are citizens in the community who are perennially digging up dirt on others - "especially when it is considered salacious - and thus gives little thought to the concerns about residents with respect to the photos."

And there are Arlington residents coming to her aid, calling it a waste of time and a needless focus of attention. The Mayor did not pose nude, there are no allegations of anything other than a picture that could have been taken on a beach and caused little stir. Unless that beach was in Eastern Oregon of course.

For now, the Mayor has set her MySpace page to private. We placed a call to her office and she was not available for comment. If she reaches us we will bring you her remarks.

Tim King has more than twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. Tim is Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. His background includes covering the war in Afghanistan in 2006 and 2007, and reporting from the Iraq war in 2008. Tim is a former U.S. Marine who follows stories of Marines and Marine Veterans; he's covered British Royal Marines and in Iraq, Tim embedded with the same unit he served with in the 1980's.

Tim holds awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing from traditional mainstream news agencies like The Associated Press and Electronic Media Association; he also holds awards from the National Coalition of Motorcyclists, the Oregon Confederation of Motorcycle Clubs; and was presented with a 'Good Neighbor Award' for his reporting, by the The Red Cross.

Tim's years as a Human Rights reporter have taken on many dimensions; he has rallied for a long list of cultures and populations and continues to every day, with a strong and direct concentration on the 2009 Genocide of Tamil Hindus and Christians in Sri Lanka. As a result of his long list of reports exposing war crimes against Tamil people, Tim was invited to be the keynote speaker at the FeTNA (Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America) Conference in Baltimore, in July 2012. This is the largest annual gathering of North American Tamils; Tim addressed more than 3000 people and was presented with a traditional Sri Lanka ‘blessed garland’ and a shawl as per the tradition and custom of Tamil Nadu

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