Way to go San Antonio! Thong-clad biker has some eyes sore By Jesse Bogan San Antonio Express-News Web Posted : 05/05/2003 12:00 AM Though he appears nearly naked from time to time, Joseph Gottschalk is legally covered. "Don't they call that a thong? I think it's disgusting," said Norm Sutton, 66, of the undressed man who rides his bike around Southside Lions Park. San Antonio Park Police have received several complaints over the past month about a man who cruises on a bicycle wearing only shoes and a thong — a swimsuit or undergarment that doesn't cover the buttocks. "This is unique, let me tell you. Normal general public doesn't do that," said Park Police Capt. Raymond Castro. "But he's within his civil rights and legal rights to wear his thong." According to state law, no offense is committed if the man has "his anus and genitals" covered, Castro said. Which the thong does, if nothing else. Gottschalk, 52, an unemployed truck driver who dabbles in carpentry, is aware of his rights and compares riding nearly naked to driving the maximum legal speed limit. "It doesn't take much clothing to take care of the requirement," he said. "I call it exhibitionism. "We all claim to believe in the value of personal liberty, but we don't," he said. "No one person has the right to outrank the law and tell me what to wear." Ed Mitchell, 63, a retired Bexar County deputy who frequents the park, shook his head at the fine line that keeps Gottschalk from going to jail for indecent exposure or disorderly conduct. "That little bit he's got on, a fig leaf would probably cover more than that," he said. Ivonne Castoreno, 33, said Gottschalk keeps to himself, but she changed her walking schedule after seeing him a couple of times. Her 13-year-old son was with her. "What disturbs me is that he's doing this by a public park around small children," she said. "Look at this guy — you know, he's not hiding much. Keep it in the bedroom." Gottschalk has been contacted by police at least 20 times in the past four years regarding his lack of attire. When asked about the criticism, he raised his arms high and averred that seeing the human body is not traumatic. "I am a person. How could it possibly harm anyone — child or not —— to see a person? It can't," he said. Gottschalk, who is divorced, has four sons, ages 14 to 25. "They consider me to be a mild embarrassment, but they love me," he said. Some at the park near Hiawatha and Pecan Valley streets just smiled. "He comes here often wearing the same black thong," said Marisa Ayala, 26, who like many others in the area enjoys walking in the park before the heat of the day sets in. "He doesn't look like he bothers anybody. He's just riding around." Betty Seibold, 57, who lives down the street from Gottschalk, said she's seen him mow his lawn and wash his truck in the skimpy attire. "From an artistic perspective, he's attractive looking," said Seibold, a retired schoolteacher of 32 years. "He's in good shape. His behavior may seem strange to us, but we are all a little strange in different ways. We are all eccentric." Just before getting back on his bicycle, Gottschalk clipped on his cell phone. "I am sane," he said. "Heck, I am better than sane. I basically love life. ... You gotta find some humor in life."
hey, if he's in the bounds of the law... then ride free. I wonder why most American's are so ashamed of the human body... if you go to Europe you see women with their tops off, getting some sun on a lunch break in a public park. No one's gawking. But here in the states, cover up, no one should see you, blah blah... Why is America so hung up on nudity? A friend tells me it's because of our Puritan values dating from the founding days of America. He also mentioned you don't see many 'born-again' christians in Europe either.
I think kids everywhere could benefit from seeing a dude riding a bike while wearing a thong. It's healthy.
Are you sure we need that more than a cyclist wearing nothing but <b>her</b> thong? you have to ask yourself, what does 60mph of wind do to a pair of bared breasts.
We *need* to see the female equivalent, pasties and a thong on a bicycle. I feel naked while wearing bicycling shorts when riding my bike.
I don't think so ....it would be more like a "hey, way to go buddy!" ........ya know, like a baseball player slapping his teamate on the rear
Thank God I live in Austin. If all cities are going to have some crazy guy that wears a thong in public daily, at least I get to lay my head in Austin. Is that Leslie's cousin?
And if they told her that she had to have them covered, she could argue that guys don't so she doesn't.
Damn sad... RIP thong man 'Thong Man' found dead at bottom of Big Bend cliff By Maro Robbins, Elaine Aradillas and Jesse Bogan San Antonio Express-News Web Posted : 06/24/2003 12:00 AM Joseph Gottschalk, a self-described exhibitionist who invited attention by bicycling San Antonio's streets in nothing but a thong, was found dead this weekend at the bottom of a remote West Texas cliff. Big Bend National Park officials said hikers spotted some clothing near a bluff's edge, some 30 feet from the South Rim trail, Saturday afternoon. Peering down a steep drop, the hikers saw Gottschalk's naked body on a wide ledge about 100 feet below, park spokesman David Elkowitz said. A search-and-rescue team used pulleys to retrieve Gottschalk's corpse. Afterward, a mule carried it to the Chisos Mountains basin, where a Brewster County justice of the peace examined it Sunday. The fall is what appears to have killed Gottschalk, officials said, but the cause of death remains under investigation. Rangers said Monday that they found no sign of foul play or any note near the cliff. "It could have easily been an accident," said Shirley Williams, a justice of the peace in Brewster County. "Big Bend National Park is known for rough terrain." The 52-year-old's mysterious death added dark tones to what had been a colorful San Antonio tale, albeit one that offended as well as bewildered and amused residents. Gottschalk made himself the talk of the town and earned the nickname "Thong Man" by parading his pale buttocks during leisurely rides, first near his Southeast Side home, then into more central neighborhoods. The ponytailed nonconformist described himself as an unemployed truck driver. He said he wanted to challenge himself while startling others into examining their shame and their identities. His vehicle was near-nudity. "I want to look as naked as I can," he said in an interview last month. "Let's face it." Rangers at Big Bend found boots and clothes about eight feet from the drop-off. With them was a half-gallon or so of water — enough for a day's hike. Gottschalk had no camping permit, and no tent or sleeping bag was recovered. His motorcycle remained in a parking lot some seven miles away from the precipice. Rangers recalled that Gottschalk stopped by a visitors office Friday afternoon to ask about the South Rim, a popular trail along the edge of the Chisos Mountains, which peak at nearly 7,400 feet above sea level and offer some of the park's best vistas along with its sheerest drops. As the rangers recalled it, Gottschalk was clothed then. Nothing about the exchange seemed unusual. "They said he was fine," said Mark Spier, chief ranger with the National Park Service at Big Bend. "He just asked a lot of questions about that area." By Monday, Gottschalk's next of kin — he has four sons and a brother in the San Antonio area — had been notified, and his body was taken to El Paso for an autopsy. The family knew he had gone to the park, a place he enjoyed and had visited before, Williams said. Gottschalk's ex-wife declined to discuss his death, and his other relatives could not be contacted. "We are having a hard time dealing with this, too, so please understand why we don't want to comment." she said. Gottschalk's well-kept home appeared quiet Monday. His green Ford Ranger pickup was in the driveway under a pecan tree that shaded the house. A neighbor said Gottschalk had few visitors since moving there about two years ago. Lois O'Bryant said she rarely talked with him, but she recalled how he mowed his lawn days earlier: in his trademark thong. Gottschalk announced he was growing "bolder" in May after a local radio station named him grand marshal of a thong parade. Just more than a week ago, he pedaled into the downtown celebration when the Spurs won the championship. And days later, he rode along Broadway wearing only a pouch over his genitals. Because the pouch failed to meet legal standards for public attire, he was arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct. But nothing in his recent public comments hinted at trouble, danger or anything that might lead to a sudden death. Indeed, Gottschalk described riding with a thong as if it was a way to live with zest. "I am sane," he said last month. "Heck, I am better than sane. I basically love life. ... You gotta find some humor in life." (Editor's note: Joseph Gottschalk sent this letter to the San Antonio Express-News in late May. It appeared in the newspaper June 1.) In all the comments made about my public nakedness, I note that one highly essential argument has yet to be presented. This argument is for the importance of establishing the nature of morality. Those whom I offend base morality on appearance. I would argue that true morality is a matter of behavior. Indeed, controlling one's appearance to present the outward "form" of morality is in actuality a falsification. The more assiduously we deny our own nature in fact, the more likely it is that the repression resulting from this denial will erupt in true immorality. I am, perhaps surprisingly, a person of extremely high moral standards. I invite others to examine the proper definition of morality before judging me. --Joseph H. Gottschalk
