Thursday, November 26, 2009

Article: State spent over $40,000 to fight nudists


BY CINDY CARCAMO
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
SAN ONOFRE
State officials spent more than $42,000 battling a group of nudists who wanted to keep Trail 6 a clothing-optional beach, California Department of Parks and Recreation documents show.

Also, a public records request for all reports and complaints relating to public nudity at Trail 6 revealed only two written complaints.

A man who identified himself only as Gary enjoys the warm weather in the nude at San Onofre State Beach. Recent documents indicate that the California Department of Parks and Recreation has spent more than $40,000 in legal fees fighting the Naturists Action Committee over the issue. It was also revealed that there have only been two written complaints about the nudists at San Onofre State Beach.
FILE PHOTO: LEONARD ORTIZ, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Park officials had said a growing number of complaints were one of the factors for banning nudity at Trail 6.

The documents shed light on more than a year of legal wrangling between a group of nudists who want to keep a portion of San Onofre State Beach clothing-optional and park officials who issued a crackdown on nudity in June 2008.

The fight essentially came to a close when the California Supreme Court decided against hearing the nudist group's latest petition.

Allen Baylis, a Huntington Beach attorney who led the fight against the ban said state officials could have saved the legal costs and grief, if they had engaged the public rather than "mandating their point of view."

"They would have saved the state that money if they had simply decided to go ahead and work with us instead of forcing us into litigation," said Baylis, a director of the Naturist Action Committee.

Ken Kramer, district superintendent of the Orange Coast District, said the money spent was well worth it.

"Our approach to this issue transcends dollars and cents," Kramer said. "This is money well spent to make sure we address these concerns. We have the duty to make sure that with this type of increased popularity and visitation that we have a park where all visitors feel welcome and that there is lawful activity occurring."

Kramer said providing a safe and comfortable environment for park employees, an increasing amount of criminal activity in the area and a growing number of complaints were their impetus for enforcing a nudity ban at a 1,000-foot stretch of secluded beach abutting Camp Pendleton.

When asked as to how two complaints about public nudity jived with the claim of a growing number of complaints, Kramer said that the majority of complaints were verbal.

The agency, however, has not documented nor kept track of such verbal complaints, Kramer said.

He did not comment about why the agency did not keep track of verbal complaints.

"It couldn't have been too serious," Baylis said, questioning Kramer's reasoning. "If they took verbal complaints seriously, they would have documented them."

Kramer instead pointed to what he said was an increased level of criminal activity in the surrounding areas of Trail 6.

A document of about 150 criminal incidents for about the last 10 years includes citations and arrests on suspicion of lewd conduct, indecent exposure and sexual assault.

While Kramer stopped short of blaming the nudists, he did say there was a correlation between the two.

"I don't think we can ignore the fact that we have a substantial criminal activity problem where nude recreation is going on," he said.

Baylis, who leads Naturists in the OC, said the data is not reliable.

He points out that the data includes more than just the clothing-optional beach but also surrounding areas, such as the parking lot and areas on top of the bluffs.

In some instances, he said, incidents in the data are doubled and even quadrupled

"They inflated their numbers by the way they counted them," he said.

Baylis said the naturists have helped police the area, which had been one of the few "clothing optional" beaches for decades.

Regardless, Kramer said they are forced to enforce the nudity ban.

"We have to default to protect the interest of folks who abide by the law," he said. "At some point, I'm sure that folks will not comply voluntarily, and we'll be forced to take it to the next level. We'll have to cross that bridge when we get there."

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Article: Taking a dip in 'The Bucket'

Monterey County Herald - Monterey,CA,USA
Updated: 11/17/2009 09:19:16 AM PST

Under the burning orange leaves of autumn, I was drawn to Carmel Valley in search of "The Bucket." This swimming hole is a hidden hot spot.
When in the mood for some fresh water fun hidden from the main path, "The Bucket" is just the place to go. Off the right side of the road past the Village, the Carmel River is a short hike from the intersection of Carmel Valley Road and Klondike Canyon Private Road. Parking is a little tricky, so watch out for no parking signs; I have heard that deputies are known to ticket along this strip of roadway.

According to lore, the area is named after a rough-and-tumble saloon, the Bloody Bucket, that once operated entrance to the trail leading to the river. The place was allegedly notorious for its rough bar brawls and gunfights.

Finding the perfect spot may involve some swimming and trekking up the river.

Activities include swimming, hiking and sunbathing. Gray and honey colored beaches are found in patches along the banks of the Carmel River. Aspen trees grow in clumps. Large rocks line the edges of deep swimming holes. On the right days, you will find a private paradise. A location known for its nude swimming and sun chasing, inhibitions run free.

The spot provides a cool swim on warm autumn days. The climb down to the river's edge is a little steep and involves some rock climbing. Wear a sturdy pair of shoes and watch out for poison oak and cactus.

The path is easy to follow, once you find it. There was one section I thought was a fork in the trail, but upon further investigation I realized that the path led down a steep rocky cliff that was like a waterfall of rocks. Cactus lines the vertical wall that fell off sharply from the road above. The tall twisting oaks offers shade throughout as the sound of the river becomes louder with every stride. The bed of the river extends past the water's edge and widens at the base of the trail.

Up the river is a rope swing and plenty of boulders to climb and from which to plunge into the cool waters. If you're going to take the drop, it's a good idea to swim below to the bottom and check out the depth of the water. The river can raise and fall dramatically depending on the weather.

With a little lunch with plenty of water, I was set for the afternoon. The escape into the twist of the river to absorb the heated rays of autumn offered a needed relief. As I could feel the rhythm of the river and the landscape, I knew I had found an enchanting spot.

Kristin Leal, a student at CSU-Monterey Bay, is The Herald's outdoors columnist. She can be reached at kristin.leal@yahoo.com.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Article: "Skinny Dip series on Channel Canada

Posted in the Nov 12th AANR E-Bulletin and the SkinnyTrippers forum. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to figure out how to get ChannelCanada or the Travel & Escape network . . . shows up in none of the listings for cable or sat. providers in the Seattle area.

Canadian viewers can view Skinny Dip starting November 18th at 10pm on these networks and channels:

Bell ExpressVu [527]
Star Choice [572]
Shaw Cable [102]
SaskTel [104]
MTS [302]
Rogers Cable [267]
Shaw Cable [102]
Videotron [145]
Eastlink Cable [160]

[hint] [hint] any lucky Canadian readers feel up to recording the series?

Rick


Travel Host Reveals Best Skinny-Dip Spots
Skinny Dip SeriesChannel Canada will air a six-part series "Skinny Dip," beginning November 18 on Travel & Escape. Following the success of last year's hour-long special, host Eve Kelly travels the world in search of the best locations to skinny-dip, challenging unsuspecting strangers along the way to try swimming au naturel.

Episodes include travels to the Canadian Yukon, Costa Rica, Australia, the Bahamas, British Columbia, and New Zealand.

Click here for a show schedule and to read more.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

What's the Difference Between Nude and Naked?

Note: Though a 'dated' article I thought it would be interesting to revisit the confusion and choice of usage between NUDE and NAKED - Rick


From Glode and Mail.comWednesday - April 7, 2004 (this article is no longer available online)
Alanis looked nude, Janet was naked
By WARREN CLEMENTS

Since singer Alanis Morissette's body suit at the Juno Awards Sunday night was designed to make her look nude, should it have been spelled bawdy suit?

And what's the difference between nude and naked anyway? Why was Quentin Crisp (as his book title had it) The Naked Civil Servant rather than the nude one? Why is a nude beach not a naked beach? After Justin Timberlake exposed Janet Jackson's breast at the Super Bowl on Feb. 1, writers in this newspaper described it in two articles as a naked breast and in one as a nude breast. However, they preferred the expression "exposed breast," which appeared in five articles, and were so taken with Timberlake's desperate euphemism for ripping off Jackson's breastplate and brassiere -- "wardrobe malfunction" -- that they used it 11 times.

In a 2001 column, I noted that naked derives from the prehistoric Germanic naquethas and nude from the Latin nudus, but that both originated in the Indo-European nogw, unclothed. If there is a distinction, it may lie in the sound (nude is softer, naked has an aggressive k) or in the words' associations. The expression "in the nude" is coy, suggesting that a choice has been made to doff one's clothing. That's a far cry from the way we come into the world -- naked. The stage play has a nude scene; very civilized. We speak the naked truth; very harsh. When being unclad is natural, it's nudism; when it's startling, it's bare-naked. In the financial world, a naked option is one not backed up by its related stock. William and Mary Morris wrote that, while the words nude and naked are synonymous, "nude has the edge in gentility and is more likely to appear in polite publications than naked."

Hugh Rawson spoke to this point in his book A Dictionary of Euphemisms and Doubletalk. "A woman may pose for an artist in the 'nude,' but if she is seen minus her clothes by a Peeping Tom, then she is 'naked.' And if, as happened once in an art class I attended, the unauthorized viewing is done during the posing, then the model is simultaneously 'nude' and 'naked.' In this instance, the model immediately grasped the semantic point as well as her robe, and would not resume her pose until the cops had been called and the peeper chased away."

In comparing ourselves with other animals, we prefer the hard sound of naked: naked as a jaybird. When Desmond Morris placed humans with the rest of the kingdom in 1967, he called his book The Naked Ape, not the nude ape. But the animal kingdom does have nudibranches, which are marine gastropods that don't have shells, and nudicaudate creatures, which have no hair on their tails.

Coincidentally, the Anglo-Saxon word for tail in the 1200s was steort, later spelled start. A person who was starkers right down to the tail was known as start naked, until the expression evolved into stark naked. When Morissette opts for the modest option of a body suit, that may qualify as star naked.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Adopt-a-Tire from Glassbar Island State Park



So . . . what are you doing to help the environment and promote and support the efforts to designate locations where we can legally enjoy being nude?

There are many hundreds of viewers of this blog every day (I view the stats). Three dollars is next to nothing . . . a simple doing without a latte for one day, which will pay for the cost of recycling one of those tires that have been discarded in the river and park over the years; restoring this park to a pristine and environmentally-sound location for us to visit and enjoy being naked.

Three dollars. You're reading this article. Pull out your checkbook and write a three dollar check to help. Right now. Do your part. I challenge each and every one of my readers to help out and make a contribution; and prove to Lane County Commissioners that interest in a clothing-optional beach legally-designated in Glassbar State Park is a wide-spread desire (with potential tourism dollars) from all over the country (and world)!

This is how we get our clothing-optional beaches . . . one baby step at a time. Your baby step? $3 for a tire . . . or better yet, more!

Print the flyer up (download and print links at the top). Post them in your club . . . at your favorite coffee shop . . . to friends who might be interested in nudism. Generate interest in the environment and the healthy nudist lifestyle.

Related Posts with Thumbnails