WHAT'S THE NEWS?
Gaviota State Beach

January, 2007 - SCNA member Robert G. has informed us that Santa Barbara sheriff deputies and park rangers have begun an aggressive crackdown on nudity at Gaviota Beach, about 30 miles north of Santa a Barbara. On clear days you can see Santa Cruz Island, although the sand there tends to have oil on it.

Gaviota State Beach is listed as “recommended” on several gay web sites and it has been raided frequently in the past few years after complaints of lewd conduct there. As a result, the number of non-gays on the beach have begun to dwindle during the past few years.

Robert G., one of those nudists who has enjoyed the beach for many years, said he escaped with a warning the weekend before Christmas, but deputies took down his name and was warned if he returned and was caught nude there again he would definitely get a ticket. The deputy also informed Robert that the sheriff department is planning to sweep the area at night and during the week also, in order to remove all nudists from the traditionally clothing-optional area.

The crackdown is all the more troublesome because Gaviota is a State Beach, and as such, should be covered by the 1979 Cahill Policy, in effect since 1979, that states people cannot be ticketed for just being nude unless a complaint is made by someone other than the deputy and only after the nude person is given the opportunity first to get dressed.

NAC Board member Allen Baylis has a call into the Gaviota sheriff’s office to get more information, but that conversation had not taken place by the time this newsletter went to press.

February, 2007 - Last month we wrote about some of our members and others being harassed and ticketed at Gaviota State Beach, about 30 miles north of Santa Barbara. We are happy to report the situation is “looking much better,” according to Allen Baylis, Naturist Action Committee (NAC) Board member in a telephone interview.

He said the State Park District Superintendent Richard Rojas admitted he ordered his deputies to sweep the beach of nudists a month ago in hopes of getting rid of the “bad conduct” (meaning sexual activity by mostly gay couples) there.

In response, Dennis C Smith, the local NAC rep, organized Friends of Gaviota practically overnight and printed up a flyer for distribution on the beach outlining acceptable behavior on the beach. Smith’s group has been at the beach every weekend for the past month and reports that the locals there are determined to keep the beach safe…and nude.

Meanwhile Baylis arranged a meeting last week with Sup. Rojas and his Sector Superintendent, Davita Rodriguez, to clarify the Cahill Policy and In re Smith, court cases under which nudists have been allowed to use the state parks and beaches for over 30 years. Baylis said the two officials left the meeting with a better understanding of the law as it pertains to nudism and the promised cooperation in the future