California lets parks crack down on nude beachgoers

[Auggie]

San Francisco Chronicle, 10-22-09

The California Supreme Court poured cold water on skinny-dippers Thursday, allowing state parks officers to enforce a ban on nudity at state beaches, including those that have been informally designated as "clothing optional."

The court unanimously denied review of a lower-court ruling upholding a May 2008 decision by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's parks director, Ruth Coleman, to allow officers to cite nude sunbathers on a portion of San Onofre State Beach in Orange County where they had previously been undisturbed.

Coleman's action revoked a policy announced in 1979 by then-Parks Director Russell Cahill, who said officers would wait until someone complained before enforcing regulations that forbid public nudity at state parks and beaches. Under that policy, officers who got a complaint would tell the nudist to put on a swimsuit or leave for the day. Otherwise, they took no action as unclad sunbathers and swimmers congregated in isolated sections of state beaches from San Diego to north of Eureka.

Despite the new ruling, park rangers won't be conducting sweeps of beaches up and down the coast looking for lawbreaking nudists, Roy Stearns, spokesman for the Parks and Recreation Department, said Thursday. "An officer still has the discretion to take action or not take action," he said. "He can warn them, have them put their clothes on, and if there's no compliance, he can cite them.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/22/BA6U1A9BE4.DTL#ixzz0UmHHcHPF
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Just thought you all should know

[CreekDog]

1. We have to get the crack off our beaches

:think: