April 2010 - The Lieutenent at the Carpinteria Sheriff substation was quoted on television saying his office issued 12 tickets for nudity in 2009 and 4 for lewd behavior.

May 2010 - After a TV news report about the nudists trying to re-establish the clothing optional section at Bates Beach, the police received several sweeps, yielding a few tickets from surprised nudists who didnt expect any trouble on this mostly-deserted stretch of beach. The mysterious "homeless-looking" man described above was on the beach at the time of both sweeps but was not cited. Some are suspecting he is an undercover cop directing deputies to nudists sunning themselves quietly on the beach. In one case one of our beach patrol people saw two deputies climb down the broken concrete above the concrete sea barrier so be aware that not all deputies come from the walk ramp at the south end.

The two people who got tickets have received legal representation and fought their citations. Both cases were pleaded to lesser charges and the people paid a lesser fine.

12/2009 - NUDIST UNDER TOWEL BEATS BATES BEACH TICKET In September a man received a ticket for nudity at Bates Beach while sitting nude under his towel. He decided to fight it and was just rewarded by having the ticket thrown out.

In October a young woman who was cited at the same beach in May for top-free sunbathing also won her court case. She described a "homeless-looking" person sitting nearby on his cell phone prior to the deputies arriving. Hmmmmm....

The good news is most of the locals no longer seem to care about our state of dress (especially if you are friendly to their dogs) as long as we aren't parading ourselves in from of their kids walking to or from the water. In summary, nudists should exercise caution, comon sense, and only remove your bathing suit at your own risk.

There are also many many dogs off the leash running wild on the beach while their owners watch. The owners are not picking up the dog poop. Both are violations of county law, but the deputies are not enforcing the law. Every few days we see dogs fighting and getting injured. We even saw a horse on the beach a few weeks ago, standing right in front of the sign that said "No Horses." I guess nudity is a bigger threat to the community than feces on the beach.

We continue to hand out NBA brochures and Beach Etiquette information to interested people on the beach.

ON-SITE SECURITY OFFICERS AND OTHER CHANGES OBSERVED AT BATES BEACH

In May, 2009, we received word through our network of volunteers of a renewed police presence in the parking lot and some other curious goings-on.

A mobile trailer with a camouflaged netting is now parked in the bushes adjacent to the parking lot (see photo, click to enlarge). A sign posted in front of it says the trailer is the home of “beach hosts” Lori and Louie. (click on image to see a pdf full size version of the text you can print.)

There is also a new wrought iron gate at the parking lot entrance with a sign stating the beach is only open from sunrise to sunset.

As luck would have it, while we were there taking pictures of the trailer and signs, Lori and Louie drove by and asked us what we were doing.

Three of us had a pleasant 15 minute conversation with the two hosts. They said they are there through the summer to reduce the amount of drug trafficking, lewd behavior, and even prostitution going on in the parking lot. They welcomed the idea of having us establish a Beach Ambassador program to act as a kind of Neighborhood Watch because they are only there part time during the day (they are mostly there overnight.) Their policy is not to focus on lesser violations like dogs running on the beach without leashes or people occasionally sunbathing nude. They said there are undercover officers who will come down during the summer to look for nudity and/or lewd behavior, but these officers are there mostly on weekends and holidays, and only occasionally during the week. "With a 10% cut in manpower looming, the sheriff's department simply cannot patrol everything all the time."

Richard, one of our volunteers who visits the beach often said he asked the deputies issuing the woman’s citation to also give tickets to all the people running their dogs off their leashes on the beach. He said the officers said they would, but instead just turned and went up the ramp to the parking lot without speaking to any of the dog owners. Talk about selectively enforcing the law!

In conclusion, we recommend caution to all nudists planning to visit Bates because it appears the deputies are back, especially on holidays and weekends. Please call us with your own experiences there right away so we can better monitor the situation.

We observed a young top free sunbather received a ticket. One of our Bates group was on the beach near the woman when he saw this homeless-looking fellow - looking totally out of place ont he beach - walked down and plopped on the sand near her, then rolled over and was observed on a cell phone. What homeless man has a cell phone??? The deputies arrived a few minutes later. Coincidence? The woman was sunbathing near the rusty drain pipe. Unfortunately the woman left the beach immediately, before we could talk to her or tell her we could help.

We hear a few people have retaliated by wearing minimal brown or orange-colored suits so they look nude from the cliffs and the police get to walk down for nothing. The things people will do! tsk tsk.

Using a male officer as a decoy, the Sheriff's Department is cracking down on suspected lewd homosexual activity on the bluffs above Bates Beach near Carpinteria.

In the past two days, 10 men were arrested on suspicion of engaging in lewd acts and booked into Santa Barbara County Jail in lieu of $2,500 bail each. As part of the undercover operation, a deputy dressed in shorts and a T-shirt would hang around on the bluffs just outside the parking lot of nearby Rincon Beach Park and would wait for men to approach him, authorities said. The men would frequently engage in small talk about the weather or the scenery and then begin to touch the deputy, authorities said. There's been physical contact in each one of these arrests," said Sgt. Phil Willis. "This area has a long history of having these types of issues. But we haven't gotten any complaints. We're just taking a proactive approach."

For years, nude sunbathers have frequented Bates Beach and the surrounding bluffs. But authorities say they don't issue citations for public nudity unless someone complains.

"Nude versus lewd is completely different," said Sgt. Willis. "This is a completely different crime. It's in a whole different category because there's physical contact."

In the arrests this week, the majority of the men were from Carpinteria, Santa Barbara or Ventura. One was from Manhattan Beach.

"Apparently this location had been posted on a gay Web site at least a year ago as a place for people to congregate for this type of activity," Sgt. Willis said. Deputies arrested three men on Sunday and seven on Monday. On Tuesday afternoon, they spotted two men going into the bushes together. One stated he was just going in to see some squirrels," Sgt. Willis said. "The other didn't have a reason."