WHAT'S THE NEWS? NUDE BEACH ADVOCATES BEGIN PETITION DRIVE IN SANTA BARBARA COUNTY

NUDE BEACH ADVOCATES BEGIN PETITION DRIVE IN SANTA BARBARA COUNTY

Advocates of re-establishing a nudist-optional section of Bates Beach at the Ventura-Santa Barbara County line have begun circulating a petition in favor of the proposal.

“We intend to gather several thousand names of people living in the Santa Barbara County area,” said Marc Welter spokesperson for the Nude Beach Alliance. “We want to demonstrate to the Board of Supervisors there is a great deal of support for re-establishing the beach where it was for thirty years.”

Petitions will be circulated at public venues and community events throughout the summer and then presented to the Board of Supervisors sometime around Labor Day. Petitioners are scheduled to be at the Solstice Parade in downtown Santa Barbara on June 23 and at other similar events scheduled throughout the summer months.

“We have found overwhelming support for the idea of re-establishing the nude beach,” said Welter. “The petition asks for a one-year moratorium on enforcement of the county’s anti-nudity law on this stretch of Bates so we can demonstrate to law enforcement and the politicians that we can make this work.”

Besides the one-year moratorium on issuing tickets for nudity, the nudist want proper signage posted on the beach warning people they are approaching clothing optional area.

“At every successful nude beach in the country, the beach people are organized and have a great relationship with the sheriff and local politicians. They bring in thousands and thousands of tourist dollars to the local community. We understand that not everyone wants to see nudity so we specifically chose this isolated stretch of beach where few ever go, so the odds of running into someone by accident are minimized. Proper signage tells the unsuspecting we are there so they can choose to continue onto that portion of the beach or not. It works everywhere else in the country, so I know it will work here. We just want the chance to prove it.”

The group has not ruled out putting their proposal onto the 2008 ballot. “We want to see if we can reach some accommodation with the Board of Supervisors first, before we take that next step,” said Welter. “We don’t think the local politicians want this to become a campaign issue so we are trying to resolve the issue before the election season begins.”

To view a printable version of the petition, Click Here. Please sign it and mail it to the address at the bottom of the page.

For more information about the Bate Beach campaign, email the Nude Beach Alliance at nudebeachalliance@yahoo.com.

Affiliated with the Southern California Naturist Association (SCNA) 23679 Calabasas Rd #160 Calabasas CA 91302-1502 (818) 225-2273