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Place insunsoughtBathers bare news across nationNEW YORK (UPI) — The thing to then go nationwide with it shortly, beach phenomenon,wear on the beach this summer, for Some of us decided, hey, it would beincreasing numbers of Americans, is irresponsible to let them get theirthers, residents or authorities. Thevery necessary mostnothing.Two years ago an invasion of nude bathers near the town of Truro,wav. Somebody had to take responsibility”AFTER THE DEMONSTRATIONSsane, free society to do lese artificial limitations.”striking exceptionBrooklyn's Jacob Riismay beState ParkofMass., on Cape Cod attracted thou- in which hundreds of nude sunbatherssands of curiosity seekers and nation- risked arrest, Baxandall decided toal television coverage. This year the take up the cause of “free beaches” onvoyeurs ami their traffic jams are a broader scale.gone. But the nude bathers are stillthere. And they are not alone. Across 1975 I had no idea there were organ-the country sun lovers are taking to ized groups anywhere else.” he said, ocean beaches, lake shores — anywhere that offers sun and some seclu-THE PHRASE “clothes optional” spells the difference between most free beachers and nudists. “I don't consider myself a nudist,” Baxandall said. “Nudist camps were founded generations ago by people who tended to ghettoize themselves. This is a much more free society we live in today. A lot of people want to make‘‘But then I had calls from Los Angel- their own decisions. They want to es saying, ‘Terrific. We must get to- wear clothes to keep warm, for adorn-At the time I involved myself insion — with nothing on but suntan lo- gether.’ I’d had a lot of experience intion and a portable radio.Not that the swimwear business haswriting and publishing so I put out ament, for protection. But there are awiiere clothes don’tpaper. There are 32 groups around the seem a plus factor.”near Coney Island. The stretch beach favored by nude sunbathers happens to lie iifimediately in front of the Neponsit Home for the Aged, a former hospital w-ith almost no grounds and separated from the sand by nothing more than a cyclone fence.Frank Wexler, deputy director of New York City’s Bureau of Adult Institution Services, says there have been complaints about nudity from local property owners, but not from any of the Neponsit Home's 200 residents,mostly in their 70s. “They mainlylook,Thereanything to fear. Last year more than country now.61 million swimsuits were sold, upfrom 53.7 mi lion in 1976, according toIra Chynsky, statistician for the Na- thusiasts call “clothes optional” rec-tional Knitted Outwewear Assn. “Is reatkm areas, recently appeared inthere an increase in nude beaches?” its third annual edition, finacned, Ba-Free Beaches, a tabloid-sized roun- beachers are in opposition. Dick Ba-dup of information on what en- con, 4campers and free curiosity, but not much.beachersMilwaukee“Nudity isn’1 few years ago, perintendent. ‘RiisChynsky asks.xandall hopes, by the $2 “contribu-YES, THERE IS, as apparent in a tion” requested on its front page. Itsnumber of areas around the country this weekend when “Nude Beach Day” is observed.52 pages give directions to clothes-op-tional areas in all but eight of the 50 states as well as tips on nude beachesCredit for the factor blame in numerous foreign countries.tive “naturist.” He says he got into nudism 25 years ago when figure modeling at the University of Wisconsin led to nude modeling. “The white stripe from a bathing suit wasn’t very good for nude modeling,” he noted.MOST FREE BEACHERS look forsecluded areas where they are unlike- courts andnothat allows us to make an arrest.” Nude bathers can be charged with disorderly conduct, like anyone else. “But the person making the complaint would have to follow it through thethe view of some — belongs in large measure to Lee Baxandall, a 43-year-old wTiter-publisher in Oshkosh, Wis.THOMAS WILSON, a spokesman for the National Park Service in Washington, D. C., said in a recenthassledever doing that.”d WTiter-publisher m Oshkosh, Wis. Washington, D. C., said m a recent 11*1*Baxandall had vacationed on Cape interview, “There is no federal policy JjC3CI1 StFlI) SCl IOI* llVICiC I.)£ltIlC*lIl“ThAn siiHHpnlv Tnirn hwamp tar. rpaardiner midp hathina Wa Iaavp it iThen suddenly Truro became tar- regarding nude bathing. We leave itgeted as the place to go for nude bath- to the discretion of local superintend-(Continued from Page 1)Lasting and it grew at an alarming pace. ents. It’s not our job to keep jails full. have t^en arrested there in the past. County Circuit Court, seeking a decl*The National Park Service responded with the extremist measure of banning it entirely. At the time I was one users.Our job is to protect the environmentFor Wills, it is a religious war.judgmentand insure maximum happiness for “We shouldn’t be ashamed of our- from arresting him or preventing himof hundreds, thousands, of local residents who used the beaches.“We discovered the National Parkselves, which is basically why we from sunbathing nude.Baxandall, whose WTiting credits include plays produced by New York’s La Mamma group and other off-wear bathing suits,” he says. “We“THERE SHOULD BE at least onehave guilt feelings about our bodies, beach in the city of Chicago set asidebut we are OK. We are God’s crea-Service never had a rule against nud- Broadway companies as well as a vol- tions.ity on their books. An assistant park ume on sexual politics, “Sex Pol,J9Today’s demonstration will not bedirector let slip that they were intending to introduce one here andpublished by Random House in 1972, his first confrontation with societytakes a philosophical view of the free over the issue.nudists,” he said. “A society in pornography seems to be a con* mally protected growth industry irdlv condemn the best form olnudity.”
Newspaper Details
Arlington Heights Daily Herald Suburban Chicago
Arlington Heights, Illinois, US
Sat, Aug 05, 1978
Page 63
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous A.
WI, USA 12 Nov 2021
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