San Onofre court decision

Judge upholds nude sunbathing along stretch of San Onofre State Beach
The court rules that state parks officials can cite nudists only if there is a complaint by a private citizen. The policy had been in place since 1979 but was revised earlier this year.
By Susannah Rosenblatt
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

August 28, 2008

Visitors to a stretch of San Onofre State Beach will still need extra sunblock for those hard-to-reach places, thanks to a legal victory Wednesday for nudists who frequent the spot.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Sheila Fell ruled that state parks officials can cite sunbathers and swimmers in the buff only if a member of the public complains.

After complaints of lewd behavior earlier this year, state parks officials announced a crackdown on completely bared bodies at Trail 6 near Camp Pendleton in northern San Diego County. Signs warning against nakedness appeared, and parks officials warned that after Labor Day, beachgoers in birthday suits would be cited.

The naturists sued the California Department of Parks and Recreation, alleging that tighter enforcement -- a departure from a decades-old tolerance of beach bumming sans clothes -- required a public hearing.

"It's going to be a nice, happy weekend," said R. Allen Baylis, 53, a Huntington Beach attorney and head of the nudist activist group Friends of San Onofre, both petitioners in the suit. "We're really pleased that the court agreed with our position. It shows that the government has to be responsive to the public that they serve."

The state parks department had long abided by a policy outlined in a 1979 memo from the then-director of the department, saying that fully exposed visitors would be subject to enforcement "only upon the complaint of a private citizen."

Judge Fell's ruling stipulated that any change to that policy was subject to a public hearing under the Administrative Procedure Act............

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-nude28-2008aug28,0,2285558.story