[Vision2020] Article of Interest

[Tom Hansen]

And you think that topless car washes in Moscow, Idaho is a problem?
 
>From yesterday’s (July 16, 2007) Orange County Register –
 
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Huntington Beach council considers nudity ban
Naturist prompts police to tighten city code on nudity in public.
 
HUNTINGTON BEACH - Forget the towel. Don't even bother with a swimsuit. Residents can walk around town naked because as the law stands now, they don't have to worry about tan lines or tickets. 
 
But City Council members might change that soon. 
 
On Monday, Huntington Beach Police Chief Kenneth Small is scheduled to ask City Council members to change city law to ban public nudity. Currently, state and city law allows police to arrest someone who is nude only if they are displaying behavior indicating sexual gratification. 
 
Police said they want to be able to keep people from exposing themselves in public after a downtown resident, who is a naturist, frequently was seen naked at his home. 
 
Some council members agree with the chief, while others question the intent of the proposed law. 
 
"Generally speaking, we don't want to create an ordinance for one individual," said Councilman Keith Bohr. "That's not something we do if we can help it."
 
The Naturist Action Committee defended the man's actions, stating that the proposed law would infringe on the man's constitutional rights. 
 
"I don't think we should be in the business of prohibiting something just because it offends some people," said Allen Baylis, a director of the committee who is an attorney representing the naturist. "Where do you draw the line on that?"
 
It all began when Michael Ferreira moved about two years ago into a home two blocks from Main Street. Neighbors started calling police complaining that they had seen Ferreira standing naked in his front yard and inside his Walnut Street home with the windows and doors open. 
 
"My son went to get Jamba Juice one morning, and there was this man naked," said neighbor Dawn Melton. 
 
She said he seemed friendly but was bothered by his nudity. She was so disturbed by the man the neighborhoods had labeled as "Naked Man," she was embarrassed to have visitors over for dinner. 
 
"You don't want to be spending a couple million dollars on your house and find you have a neighbor that's naked," she said. 
 
Melton and other neighbors filed complaints with police. As result, police turned over at least seven cases against Ferreira to the Orange County district attorney who chose to press charges on one case. 
 
In February, Ferreira was charged on suspicion of three counts of indecent exposure. He was also convicted of indecent exposure in 1996. He pleaded not guilty to the recent charges in May and is scheduled for a preliminary hearing July 23. Ferreria has also been convicted of battery against a co-habitant after pleading guilty in 2004. 
 
He has since moved from his downtown home partly because of neighbor and police pressure, Baylis said. 
 
The new ordinance would have made it easier for the district attorney to charge Ferreira on the other cases filed against him. 
 
"That's why we are presenting an ordinance so we can take enforcement action on every incident … on people that are walking around naked," said Craig Junginger, spokesman for the Huntington Beach Police Department.
 
The law would make it illegal for persons to be nude in public or private areas that can be seen by the public. 
 
However, this type of ordinance is not new to cities in Orange County. Half of the cities in the county have approved similar bans on public nudity, Junginger said. 
 
The police molded the proposed ban by looking at public nudity ordinances in Newport Beach and Long Beach.
 
Other cities with similar ordinances are Mission Viejo, which passed its ban in 1994. This ordinance was aimed at curbing sex shops, massage parlors and topless dancing in the city. Santa Ana banned public nudity in 1989 in an attempt to make it easier for police to arrest prostitutes who expose themselves in public. 
 
City Council will meet at 6 p.m. Monday at City Hall, 2000 Main Street.
 
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Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
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