Several Three Mile Beach residents have told tax-paying Penticton public and naturists that public nudity is morally reprehensible.
They ignore not only Canadian case law (Beaupre and Benolkin), but also Paul M. Bowman’s defence of social public nudity in his Nakedness and the Bible. Pope Paul II said that the naked human body was beautiful because God created it, and that prurience was only in the eyes of the beholder!
Three Mile Beach is not the private domain of residents. The only one who can determine whether or not to prosecute for public nudity under the Canadian Criminal Code is the Attorney General of this province. A small cadre of resident complaints remind us of how evangelical minister, Bernice Gerard and supporters, catapulted Wreck Beach to international fame as a destination naturist beach after trying to shame naturists off the beach in 1976.
Naturist caretakers keep Three Mile Beach safe and clean. When Mr. Bazen (Nude beach decision by council leave property owner shocked, March 11, Penticton Western News) suggests that naturists shifted to the south after their access to the northerly section of beach was closed by Mr. Pinkowski seeking to market his property, he fails to mention that former Mayor Garry Litke gave permission for the naturists to move there. Public access to the foreshore cannot be blocked either on marine or fresh waters in Canada.
Finally, comparing Three-Mile to Cedar Creek in Kelowna, ignores that Cedar Creek naturists were not represented by an organized group to speak out for naturist rights on public lands. It was lewd behaviour of textiles, not of naturists which led to banning of nudity there. How ironic that Cedar Creek has gone to the dogs much like the entire southerly section of Three Mile.
One should also note that Cedar Creek above the park is zoned as residential with 31 listings for sale above 500 MSL whereas Three Mile has only two ALR-zoned listings above the 500 MSL which remain isolated. Former Cedar Creek naturists have now moved to naturist-friendly Three Mile Beach. Mr. Bazan should work with naturists, the public, and City of Penticton so that we may all co-exist in harmony with nature, as nature intended.
Judy E. Williams, National /International Contact, 3-MNBC
Bradner, B.C