Bad Behavior on Clothes-Off Beach
"Nude" not a synonym for "lewd"
By JESSICA GREENE
Updated 9:53 AM PST, Fri, Jun 19, 2009
There are beaches where clothing is optional but courtesy is still in effect.
And then there's Marin's Muir Beach, where nearby residents say some naked beachgoers are going too far.
Little Beach, situated on a Muir Beach cove, is a big deal to its neighbors. Some people say sexually explicit acts are problem and are calling for a crackdown on lewd behavior.
About 50 people attended a community meeting this week to discuss the issue. Lawmakers and police were there too and heard stories from residents detailing bad behavior. One resident told the group that her neighbor saw a nude sunbather masturbating on the beach.
"It's the goal of the community of Muir Beach to eliminate this lewd behavior on the beach," Muir resident Laura Pandapas told the Marin Independent-Journal, "and if we can't we're going to have to revisit the whole idea of allowing people to use this beach the way they have."
Posting signs designating the beach as clothing-optional would help, residents say. But if the unacceptable behavior continued after the signs are -- ahem -- erected, complaining residents say they would seek to end the naked option.
Most of the people who were at the community meeting showed support for the nudity at the beach, County Supervisor Steve Kinsey said.
"But there is a difference between naked and nooky," Kinsey told he paper. "What we really saw was unanimous agreement that public sex is unwelcome and unlawful."
First Published: Jun 19, 2009 9:16 AM PST
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