CURRENT NEWS ABOUT BATES BEACH

CURRENT BEACH STATUS

Summary: It is still a violation of a Santa Barbara County ordinance to go nude on Bates Beach. Some people have told us if you walk waaaaaay down to the far end of the beach, beyond the cement retaining wall, you are probably safer because deputies rarley walk down that far. With deep budget cuts looming, this undercover operation may be cut back, but not stopped. If you go to Bates, be on your guard. Your best bet is to walk way down to the end past the concrete barrier, because that area is rarely used.

The good news is most of the locals no longer seem to care about our state of dress (especially if you are friendly to their dogs) as long as we aren't parading ourselves in from of their kids walking to or from the water. In summary, nudists should exercise caution, comon sense, and only remove your bathing suit at your own risk.

IF YOU GET A TICKET: Always be polite to the officer and admit to nothing. We want to hear from you as many cases get dismissed because they charged you incorrectly. The deputies count on you being intimidated by the experience, just paying the fine and never coming back. Contact us by email immediately if you get a ticket, or see police activity on the beach, so we can contact our legal team. You might have a case.

On June 19, Sonya Robinson, Walt Stephens, and Gary Mussell met with the two administrative assistants to Santa Barbara County Supervisor Carbajal to discuss restoration of the traditional clothing optional section of Bates Beach. We wanted to give everyone an update on what happened.

The meeting went surprisingly well. Walt was there not only as an AANR Trustee but also because he is a Carpinteria resident (and active in the Rotary) and a retired Deputy Sheriff, so he added much gravitas to our law enforcement discussion. Sonya, our resident Beach Mom, embodied the history of the beach and how we plan to organize the Beach Ambassadors there. I represented SCNA and did the PowerPoint presentation since my professional background is training. The power of our collective backgrounds was not lost on Eric and Jeremy, as we definitely were not the ragtag bunch of beach hippies spouting the joys of nude living, which they might have expected. We dressed professionally, and the focus was on specific business and law enforcement benefits of the beach being restored and they really seemed to respond to that.

We designed the slide show with the help of many people around the country who get our great thanks for their suggestions on how to do the presentation, specifically Allen Baylis and Bob Morton of the Naturist Action Committee, and Richard Mason of BEACHES at Florida’s Haulover Beach. Their collective suggestions to improve our proposal were spot on.

The 25-minute presentation reviewed the history of the beach, the criminal element there now since the nudists were chased away, and our proposal to help and attract tourist dollars to the cash-strapped region.

It was planned for 25 minutes, but with the constant questions from the Supervisor’s staffers, it stretched to an hour. Both of them interrupted us throughout with questions – especially about us bringing in tourist money - that showed they were really into the discussion and not being hostile at all, a very good sign.

They also appreciated we weren’t asking for the county’s nudity law to be overturned, but instead, that the enforcement of the nudity law should be reprioritized and focused only on lewd and criminal behavior at that beach. SCNA agreed to do our part, educating the beachgoers about proper behavior with our Beach Ambassador program. They also agreed that proper signage was a logical requirement.

At the end of the hour they freely gave us advice about what to do next and who to speak to (the county sheriff, the public defender’s office, city officials in Carpinteria, and also to get some local business people on the record as favoring the beach). Interestingly, they also suggested the public defenders office be contacted by us, because they think those who get tickets for nudity on the beach should know their rights to defend themselves if they were not engaged in lewd conduct. Wow. Never expected that.

So our next steps are to refine the presentation a little and get ourselves in front of the Carpinteria officials, the local Touist and Visitors organization, followed by the County Sheriff.

CARPINTERIA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

NBA belongs to the Chamber and has attended their monthly mixers for the past 2 years. We always contribute a full-body size beach towel to the event raffle. At first the other participants snickered upon hearing "Nude Beach Alliance" was there. But in the two years, we have co-mingled and spoken to most of the other Chamber members and have made a lot of friends and supporters there.

On June 25, Sonya, Dan, Patty, and Gary attended the Chamber mixer and quietly asked individual business people there who have been friendly to the cause in the past if we might distribute an ad or discount coupon for their businesses to Bates beachgoers and in our newsletter. We came away with about a dozen very enthusiastic responses.

This obviously is the first of many such meetings with officials in Santa Barbara County and begins the next phase of our multi-year campaign. We know this is going to be a LONG process, but so far the energy level at our end remains high.

June 18, 2009 There is a new "Nudity Prohibited" sign on the ramp from the parking lot to the sand (see photo, click image to enlarge) replacing the one that "disappeared" a year ago. We have observed that often a paper bag has been placed over the sign. There are also many many dogs off the leash running wild on the beach while their owners watch. The owners are not picking up the dog poop. Both are violations of county law, but the deputies are not enforcing the law. Every few days we see dogs fighting and getting injured. We even saw a horse on the beach a few weeks ago, standing right in front of the sign that said "No Horses." I guess nudity is a bigger threat to the community than feces on the beach. We continue to hand out NBA brochures and Beach Etiquette information to interested people on the beach.

Updated: June 17, 2009

ON-SITE SECURITY OFFICERS AND OTHER CHANGES OBSERVED AT BATES BEACH

In May we received word through our network of volunteers of a renewed police presence in the parking lot and some other curious goings-on.

A mobile trailer with a camouflaged netting is now parked in the bushes adjacent to the parking lot (see photo, click to enlarge). A sign posted in front of it says the trailer is the home of “beach hosts” Lori and Louie. (click on image to see a pdf full size version of the text you can print.)

There is also a new wrought iron gate at the parking lot entrance with a sign stating the beach is only open from sunrise to sunset.

As luck would have it, while we were there taking pictures of the trailer and signs, Lori and Louie drove by and asked us what we were doing.

Three of us had a pleasant 15 minute conversation with the two hosts. They said they are there through the summer to reduce the amount of drug trafficking, lewd behavior, and even prostitution going on in the parking lot. They welcomed the idea of having us establish a Beach Ambassador program to act as a kind of Neighborhood Watch because they are only there part time during the day (they are mostly there overnight.) Their policy is not to focus on lesser violations like dogs running on the beach without leashes or people occasionally sunbathing nude. They said there are undercover officers who will come down during the summer to look for nudity and/or lewd behavior, but these officers are there mostly on weekends and holidays, and only occasionally during the week. "With a 10% cut in manpower looming, the sheriff's department simply cannot patrol everything all the time."

Richard, one of our volunteers who visits the beach often said he asked the deputies issuing the woman’s citation to also give tickets to all the people running their dogs off their leashes on the beach. He said the officers said they would, but instead just turned and went up the ramp to the parking lot without speaking to any of the dog owners. Talk about selectively enforcing the law!

In conclusion, we recommend caution to all nudists planning to visit Bates because it appears the deputies are back, especially on holidays and weekends. Please call us with your own experiences there right away so we can better monitor the situation.

We observed a young top free sunbather received a ticket. One of our Bates group was on the beach near the woman when he saw this homeless-looking fellow - looking totally out of place ont he beach - walked down and plopped on the sand near her, then rolled over and was observed on a cell phone. What homeless man has a cell phone??? The deputies arrived a few minutes later. Coincidence? The woman was sunbathing near the rusty drain pipe. Unfortunately the woman left the beach immediately, before we could talk to her or tell her we could help.

June 22, 2007

LISTEN TO A RADIO DISCUSSION ABOUT BATES BEACH

A 20-minute discussion on local talk radio show hosted by CNN's Maria Sanchez.
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