USAnudist.com

The Friends of Playalinda Beach Group have been having trouble with the Superintendent of Canaveral National Seashore and the Chief Ranger for the past year.  Attempts to resolve problems by F of P have yielded no success.  Letters to the Southeast Regional National Park Service Director have resulted in no success, either.

A letter from the Regional Director to Florida’s U.S. Senator Bill Nelson, who has been brought into the dispute, contained many errors and negative innuendoes on the issues involved.

This has led the F of P no recourse but to petition its elected officials for a solution. That solution is to obtain a designated naturist beach with signage to eliminate user conflicts, once and for all time.

Please print extra copies for your club members, your friends and family members, have them sign them and mail to the address at the bottom of the Petition. They currently have over 950 signed Petitions.  There goal is 1500.  These will be delivered to Florida’s US Senators.

Thanks for your support
Richard Mason, Florida Naturist Association

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RECALL PETITION

By signing this document, I am adding my name to the list of users of Playalinda Beach, Canaveral
National Seashore who petition the National Park Service and the U.S. Government to remove Carol A. Clark, as superintendent, and Eric Lugo, as chief ranger, by dismissal or reassignment to other NPS facilities where they will not be in conflict with visitors who represent federally legal lifestyles and philosophies that differ from their own.

Signature:_________________________________________________________________________

Print Name: _____________________________________________________________________

Residence Address: _________________________________________________________________

Street and number: _________________________________________________________________

City, State and Zip: __________________________________________________________________

Email address: ______________________________________________________________________

Date signed: _____________________________________________________________________

Email to:  Playalinda2000@aol.com

Mail to:
Bob Allen
Friends of Playalinda
190 E Olmstead Drive #E3
Titusville, FL 32780

Once again the State of Virginia is in the news for intolerance toward nudists.  From the State that tried to outlaw nudist sumer camps now comes another story of nudist repression.

Recently appearing on Delmarvanow.com was a story, Vocal Nudists battle to bare it on the beach.  The story gives the general background of Donn & Cindy Murphy’s visit to Virginia and Assateague Island where they were cited for public nudity.

Although they were on Federal Property, part of the National Seashore, they were cited by the Federal Park Ranger under 50CFR which allows the Feds to cite based on local laws, in this case, a County ordinance that prohibits public nudity.

Donn & Cindy are the owners of a Nudist Resort in Mexico, Playa Sonrisa, and  took the advice of some of their guests at their resort that there was a nude beach on Assateague Island.  Unfortunately, it has been years since it was common there.

Once arriving, they took many precautions to avoid offending anyone with their skinny-dipping, including a 2-mile walk up the beach, and judiciously scouting the area for others before stripping for a swim..

The web article mentions that the Murphys wrote an open letter to the  “citizens and legislators of Virginia”, but stops short of actually providing the actual letter.  Murph has graciously allowed permission to print the complete letter here.

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Last week marked the 17th anniversary of the nude beach at Haulover Park near Miami. Here is a report of the activities from Richard Mason, co-founder & President of South Florida Free Beaches, and one of the parties most influential in convincing Dade County to designate a clothing optional beach.

On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, July 25, 26, 27, BEACHES Foundation and South Florida Free Beaches had a 3 day festival celebrating the 17th Anniversary of Haulover Beach Park’s designated Naturist family beach.

All three BEACHES Foundation’s chickee huts were in use as well as 6 canopies set up for various uses.

Two chickee huts were set up as bars, serving made on the site, Margaritas, and other mixed tropical drinks, Smoothies, fresh fruit bowls and draft beer, The third chickee hut had a massage therapist soothing out body kinks.

We had one canopy with two massage therapists from Educating Hands, donating their services.

Three canopies were set up by So., FL. Free Beaches and The Naturist Society to dispense educating material, answer questions and signing up beach users to our new SFFB/FNA’s email newsletter. Extra back date N Magazines were given free to serious beach visitors.

A professional DJ played music for two days to the delight of the beach visitors. The beach was packed with in excess of 8,000 visitors.

The Miami Herald had a reporter there on Saturday and the CBS/TV’s local affiliate was on the beach on Sunday.

Neither BEACHES or SFFB had notified the media of the event, proof of the media having employees visiting the beach as naturists.  Flyers had been handed out on the beach for a week by BEACHES.

More to follow.

Richard Mason

SFFB/FNA

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NATURIST ACTION COMMITTEE
UPDATE
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http://www.naturistaction.org <http://www.naturistaction.org/>
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Copyright  2008 by the Naturist Action Committee, which is responsible for its content.  Permission is granted for the posting, forwarding or redistribution of this  message, provided that it is reproduced in its entirety and without  alteration.

DATE   : July 9, 2008
SUBJECT: NAC files San Onofre  lawsuit
TO     : Naturists and other concerned citizens

Dear  Naturist,

This is an Update from NAC.

On Wednesday, July 9, 2008,  the Naturist Action Committee filed a lawsuit against the California Department  of Parks and Recreation (DPR), as a direct result of the Department’s recent  attempt to put an abrupt end to traditional clothing-optional use at San Onofre  State Beach in San Diego County.  Judge Sheila Fell of the California Superior Court for Orange County has set a hearing on the matter for late August.

NAC’s legal request is a “petition for a writ of alternative  mandamus.”
The action seeks relief for clothing-optional beach users who are threatened with citation and prosecution as a result of a precipitous change to  public policy by DPR. The Department was represented in court by the California  Attorney General’s office.

Director Ruth Coleman of CA Parks has revoked  the Department’s long-standing Cahill Policy, as it is applied to San Onofre  State Beach. That policy allows for the management of clothing-optional areas within state parks and has been in force statewide since 1979. According to  records obtained by NAC under California’s Public Records Act, CA Parks has  plans in place to issue citations to those who are merely nude in the  traditional clothing-optional area at San Onofre State Beach.

Represented  by attorney Elva Kopacz, the Naturist Action Committee maintains that in  abrogating the Cahill Policy, the Department of Parks and Recreation has  violated the state’s Administrative Procedures Act.
The APA requires state  agencies to go through prescribed procedures, including public hearings, before  making changes to regulations or public policies that have the force of  regulations. The DPR did none of those things and claims to be immune from the  requirement.

Based on assurances in court from the Attorney General’s  representative that no enforcement of the new anti-nudity posture would be made  at San Onofre until after Labor Day, Judge Fell declined to rule immediately on the matter and set an August hearing date.

Joining NAC as petitioners are  Friends of San Onofre Beach (the local naturist group), as well as individual  beach users Allen Baylis and Gerda Hayes.

A VERY BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE  SITUATION

Details of this situation and specifics of the Cahill Policy  and associated documents may be found in the NAC Action Alert of May 21, 2008,  and in the NAC Update of June 1, 2008. You will find those on NAC’s Web page: www.naturistaction.org <http://www.naturistaction.org/> Look under  “ALERTS.”
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Traditionally, Independence Day has been a beach-centric holiday. People who rarely go to the beach often end up spending the 4th slathering on SPF-30 and baking in the sun until they’re the color of a well-boiled lobster.For the nudist the availability of suitable beaches is very limited. The coastline of the United States is 12,380 miles and of that, less that 25 miles is dedicated to nude use. Fortunately, there are several well known nude beaches on both East and West coasts. The unfortunate part is that many of these nude beaches exist because they are so difficult to get to that only someone very dedicated is willing to make the effort.

This seems especially true for the California beaches. While California has more legal nude beaches than any other state, their use is restricted because of long hikes or difficult climbs are required to reach them. Black’s Beach, near San Diego, is at the base of cliffs with limited difficult trails to decend. While close to population areas, with public transportation easily accessible, the difficulty of the climb limits access to many.

Wreck Beach, near Vancouver, Canada is another nude beach near a major population center. 7.8 Km of beach at the base of a 200 foot-high cliff is Canada’s largest, legal, clothing-optional beach and is a Mecca to visitors from around the world! with over 500,000 annual visitors. Adjoining the University of British Columbia campus, Wreck Beach is easily reached from Vancouver.

On the east coast, access is much easier due to the flat coastline. Haulover Beach, near Miami, is easily reached by car via Collins Avenue, the main highway on Miami Beach. Multiple parking lots are available within the park, which is run by Dade County. Handicapped parking is available with paved trails to the boardwalk and sand chairs available for loan at the lifeguard station. The park is near many hotels, restaurants, and amenities. Due too the ease of access and year-round good climate, Haulover is one of the busiest nude beaches in the world, with 5,000 - 7,000 daily visitors.

In the New York Metropolitan area there are nude beaches on Long Island, at Fire Island National Seashore. Near Robert Moses Park, Lighthouse Beach, traditionally clothing optional. While easy enough to get to the general area, it could require a walk of as much as a mile to get to the beach.

Sandy Hook, New Jersey offers a nude beach in view of the Manhattan skyline. Gunnison Beach, a part of the Gateway National Recreation Area, is one of the busy beaches. With it’s close proximity to New York City, the only thing restricting it are lack of adequate parking and easy road access. To counter this, a company in Manhattan is now running a regular ferry service directly from Manhattan to Gunnison Beach. Ironically, the name of the ferry is SeaStreak.

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The following story appeared in the Delray Beach edition og the Palm Beach Post.

Delray Beach

Advocates say nude beach would be a boon

By Pilar Ulibarri de Rivera Neighborhood Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Some people like to fish, others like to ride bicycles or read books. Dave Armstrong likes to lie out in the sun naked. To Armstrong, 43, sunbathing nude is a hobby. It’s something the Delray Beach resident enjoys and he doesn’t see anything wrong with it.

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Almost every nude beach has a character that everyone knows and expects to see.  Haulover Beach, Miami, Florida’s premier nude beach, has Larry Fleischman.

Just about everyone who has visited Haulover Beach has probably seen this man. It’s rare that you don’t spot Larry’s encampment of chair, coolers, flag, and windscreen almost as soon as you cross the dunes. An unbelievably dark tan and a mass of curly white hair make him stand out even among all the other well-tanned bodies.

His open greeting to everyone make him a friend to all who are fortunate enough to spend some nude time at the beach.  He’s been at Haulover since the beginning days. The following article from Miami New Times gives some insight into who is Larry Fleischman and why is he here.

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