Nude Beach Ban (Los Angeles Times)
SAN ONOFRE -- Nude beachgoers will have to find another place to bare it all. San Onofre State Beach is no longer looking the other way when sunbathers let it all hang out.
State parks officials are cracking down following the long Labor Day weekend. Beginning today, nude sunbathers on a 1,000-foot stretch of beach will be cited for breaking the law and will be arrested if necessary.
California officials decided to crack down on the nudity along the beach last year. Parks officials said they were rescinding their longtime policy because of an increasing number of complaints from the public of lewd behavior.
Nudists have frequented the beach at the south end of the state beach near Camp Pendleton for more than thirty years.
Since 1979, park rangers statewide have adhered to the "Cahill policy," issued by then-state parks Director Russell Cahill, which instructs rangers to ignore nudity unless a member of the public complains.
A panel of justices at the 4th District of Court of Appeals sided with the officials ruling that the "Cahill Policy" is an invalid policy because it was adopted without any sort of public feedback.
Their decision overturned a lower court's decision in which an Orange County Superior Court judge ruled that the Cahill Policy is indeed a regulation and that state Department of Parks and Recreation violated procedure when they adopted a nudity ban without first seeking public feedback.
State officials said the naturists have to adhere to a code in state law called nudity prohibited, which states that "no person shall appear nude while in any unit except in authorized areas set aside for that purpose by the department."
Huntington Beach attorney Allen Baylis, who led the fight against the ban, said the Naturist Action Committee will likely appeal their case to the state's Supreme Court.
State parks officials are cracking down following the long Labor Day weekend. Beginning today, nude sunbathers on a 1,000-foot stretch of beach will be cited for breaking the law and will be arrested if necessary.
California officials decided to crack down on the nudity along the beach last year. Parks officials said they were rescinding their longtime policy because of an increasing number of complaints from the public of lewd behavior.
Nudists have frequented the beach at the south end of the state beach near Camp Pendleton for more than thirty years.
Since 1979, park rangers statewide have adhered to the "Cahill policy," issued by then-state parks Director Russell Cahill, which instructs rangers to ignore nudity unless a member of the public complains.
A panel of justices at the 4th District of Court of Appeals sided with the officials ruling that the "Cahill Policy" is an invalid policy because it was adopted without any sort of public feedback.
Their decision overturned a lower court's decision in which an Orange County Superior Court judge ruled that the Cahill Policy is indeed a regulation and that state Department of Parks and Recreation violated procedure when they adopted a nudity ban without first seeking public feedback.
State officials said the naturists have to adhere to a code in state law called nudity prohibited, which states that "no person shall appear nude while in any unit except in authorized areas set aside for that purpose by the department."
Huntington Beach attorney Allen Baylis, who led the fight against the ban, said the Naturist Action Committee will likely appeal their case to the state's Supreme Court.
