Nudists protest to keep their beach 'clothing-optional'

Joelle Budzynowski wants to preserve what she calls her "Eden before the apple."

"The water is like 70 degrees and the sun feels warm on my body," the 47-year-old said, wearing nothing but a straw hat. "The wind plays in my hair. The sea rocks me. Some of my happiest moments are here."

That's why the Escondido woman and her husband, Robert, felt compelled to make their voices heard at a rally Sunday at San Onofre's Trail 6.

"To not make my voice heard … it would be cowardly," she said.

The rally comes nearly a week after officials started enforcing a ban on nudity. For more than a year, the state Department of Parks and Recreation said they would start citing nude sunbathers after Labor Day weekend at the traditionally clothing-optional beach.

The state's move came after more than a year of legal wrangling and an appellate court ruling in its favor. The nudists have appealed to the state's Supreme Court, asking the court for a hearing.

More than a hundred people gathered on the beach Sunday with signs denouncing the state's crackdown on public nudity at Trail 6.

When asked whether the protest may make an impact, the group's leader answered.

"It shows the Parks Department that we're not willing to go away," said Allen Baylis, who is a Huntington Beach attorney.

Veronica Carlson, who enjoyed the beach with her husband, 3-year-old twins and 18-month old, said she sees nothing wrong with nudity at Trail 6.

She said her children are not fazed by the naked body.

"You're born that way. There's nothing wrong with it," the 35-year-old Lake Forest woman said.

Carlson said she goes nude at the beach but keeps her children's clothes on because she's afraid of the sun's toll on their sensitive skin.

"I think it's small-minded," she said of the nudity ban. "It doesn't hurt anyone and if it's something you don't want to see, don't come here. There are 4 miles of beach. … If we get a ticket, we get a ticket. We'll fight it."

State rangers didn't issue any citations last Tuesday – the first day of enforcement. While state parks spokesman Roy Stearns said officials have the authority to cite nudists at the 1,000-foot stretch of beach, some of the nudists at the beach Sunday said they hadn't heard of a ticket being issued all week.

The nudists' attorney Elva P. Kopacz contends the state would violate California law by issuing citations. She said a Superior Court ruling that sides with the naturists will stand until the state's Supreme Court decides to hear an appeal.

Stearns disagreed. The state Attorney General's office says rangers are within their rights to start writing citations, according to Stearns.

Still, he said, park rangers will attempt to seek voluntary compliance before handing out citations at the beach.