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 Posted - 09/11/2003 : 4:27:26 PM
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From the Chico Enterprise Record - Sept 11, 2003
Nudists argue unsuccessfully against law
By ARI COHN - Staff Writer
Members of two nudist groups urged Chico officials Tuesday to scrap a proposed law restricting public nakedness, to no avail.
The city's Internal Affairs Committee voted 2-1 to recommend that the City Council draft an ordinance giving police more power to deal with complaints about public nudity.
Currently, there is no city of Chico law to prevent nudity. The Chico Police Department relies on state law regarding indecent exposure - Section 314 of the California Penal Code. Assistant City Attorney Lori Barker said under the state law, officers only can act if someone complains, and if the nudity involves "sexual intent."
If adopted by the City Council, the proposed city law would give officers the authority to act in response to a complaint even if the nude person is not engaged in sexual behavior. Councilors Dan Herbert and Steve Bertagna voted in favor of the recommendation, while Coleen Jarvis opposed it.
Jarvis said she would support an ordinance precluding nudity if it was limited to the One-Mile Dam Recreation Area in lower Bidwell Park.
"The only place I've heard it being a problem is One-Mile," she said.
Chico resident Daniel Moore, a member of the American Association of Nude Recreation, said he has enjoyed the ability to swim nude in upper Bidwell Park for 10 years. He and his family go to remote spots in upper park to avoid "textiles," or people who wear clothes, in nudist terminology.
Moore said hundreds of Chico residents engage in nudism, but the city's size prevents them from revealing their identities.
"My family lives as nudists. It is a philosophy and in some quality a religion," he said. "In the proper setting, public nudity should not be an issue. I don't think the nude body is offensive."
On the contrary, Moore said, nudists need law enforcement's protection. Sometimes teen-age or college-age boys will stand on the rim of the canyon in upper park and throw rocks at him, he said. And where those boys go, they leave broken bottles and beer cans, while nudists do not, he said.
Charles Harris, director of the Naturist Action Committee, traveled from Marin County to oppose the anti-nudity proposal. He said state law already regulates nudity of a lewd and lascivious nature.
"Nudity with a sexual connotation already can be controlled," Harris said. "If nude recreation is conducted in a non-sexual manner, we believe it is wholesome and promotes a positive self-image."
He said there is not a right in our society not to be offended.
"It makes you hostage to the most conservative member of the community," Harris said.
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calmnude
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Posted - 09/11/2003 : 5:42:50 PM
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ignorance is everywhere, and we have to fight for our beliefs. this is just another reminder.
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Admin
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Posted - 10/31/2003 : 12:19:34 PM
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Good news update on Chico, CA
From the Chico Enterprise Record
The right to go naked in public in Chico prevails
By ARI COHN - Staff Writer
The right to go naked in public in Chico remains intact after the City Council Tuesday declined a proposed anti-nudity law.
The council voted 4-3 against drafting an ordinance giving police more power to deal with complaints about public nudity. A half-dozen people spoke against the measure, and one threatened a lawsuit on religious grounds if the council passed the law.
Mayor Maureen Kirk and Councilors Scott Gruendl, Coleen Jarvis and Dan Nguyen-Tan voted against the proposal, while Steve Bertagna, Larry Wahl and Dan Herbert supported it. It was Bertagna who first broached the issue after he received calls from neighbors of One-Mile Recreation Area in lower Bidwell Park. The neighbors complained about frequent sightings of skinny-dippers at the city-operated Sycamore Pool.
"The question really comes down to whether nudity is acceptable on public property," Bertagna said.
Currently, there is no city of Chico law prohibiting nudity. The Chico Police Department relies on state law, the California Penal Code, which criminalizes indecent exposure. Under the state law, officers only can act if someone complains, and if the nudity involves "sexual intent." The proposed city law would have given officers the authority to act in response to a complaint even if the nude person is not engaged in sexual behavior.
Chico Police Chief Bruce Hagerty said he knows of only one complaint to the Police Department about nudity. Responding to the council's questions, Hagerty said the new nudity law would be a low priority.
"We do not have enough officers to answer the calls for service we have now," he said.
But Bertagna said if police have received only one complaint, it would not be a burden to enforce the law.
"How is that going to take up so much time for the Police Department?" he said.
Other councilors noted the legal hurdles the city would have to overcome to craft an anti-nudity ordinance. Nguyen-Tan said officials would have to define the term nudity.
"Is a woman breast-feeding nude? Is a man or woman wearing a skimpy thong nude?" he said.
Jarvis said, "I would find something discriminatory that says we'd find topless women nude but not topless men."
Gruendl said morality affects how he legislates, but that he does not legislate morality.
The proposed law struck a nerve with some members of the community.
Greg Tropea, a philosophy professor at Chico State University, said he would sue the city if the law passed. Unless the city has the will and resources to defend the law in court, he said, "Don't touch it with a 10-foot pole."
"Any ordinance broadly prohibiting public nudity is a violation of freedom of religion for at least some Christians," Tropea said. In his view, nudity has to do with the teachings of Jesus and the recovery of innocence lost in Adam and Eve's fall from grace in the Garden of Eden.
Steven Hatfield of Red Bluff also offered a biblical justification, and said he has practiced nudity for more than 45 years.
"If you say, 'It's gross,' what's gross about it? If you say, 'You're fat and ugly,' so what? I'm fat and ugly in clothes, too," Hatfield said. "There are a lot of things that offend me, but I don't go running to the man just because I'm offended."
Donald Stanton said he was asked to speak on behalf of Chico members of the Naturist Society, which he described as a nationwide group.
"The number of persons that find clothing-optional uses acceptable is growing. That includes your constituents," Stanton said.
Summer Moore said, "Chico is rapidly growing. We should not be held hostage to the conservative idea."
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tucsonnude
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Posted - 10/31/2003 : 10:01:04 PM
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I went to school in Chico in the middle seventies. I used to frequent upper bidwell park and loved every minute. I just hope that the city council et all will not limit any kind of public nudity in bidwell park. It never fails that when textiles are involved they blame the nudists/naturists for the trash etc that is left behind by the textiles. We all know that being nude has no sexual connotation or intent. So the city acted proberly. I just hope that others will stay on their pulpits and stay out of the secular world.
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Chico, CA - Public nudity ordinance in California
