http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010717/od/nudists_dc_1.html

Tuesday July 17 10:17 AM ET

Town to Fight for Right to Bare All

PROVINCETOWN, Mass. (Reuters) - Backing the right of beach-goers to bare all, officials in the Cape Cod community of Provincetown said on Tuesday they were prepared to defend their nude beach from those who wanted bathers to cover up.

Two families who own summer homes with views of the beach, dubbed ``Spaghetti Strip'' by locals because it is so long and narrow, are suing the town to require bathers to keep their clothes on.

Voters agreed at a town meeting in April to make the remote, mile-long strand ``clothing-optional.''

Only 25 feet wide, the beach is owned by the town. Most of the rest of the town's coastline is owned by the federal government as part of the Cape Cod National Seashore.

``Provincetown has a long history of supporting clothing-optional beaches,'' said Keith Bergman, town manager of the beach community that has traditionally attracted bohemians and artists. ``We have nothing to hide.''

``Back in 1996, we passed a resolution asking the National Seashore to officially set aside such an area, which they declined to do.''

But Sally Adams, whose family has owned a summer home near the beach for almost 50 years, said the clothing-optional rule has brought nude beach-goers ``really right outside our door.''

The beach is separated from the town by over a mile of sand dunes -- a distance town officials thought would prevent the nude beach from becoming too popular.

``It's not what one would call easy to get to. You couldn't walk there,'' Bergman said.

But Adams said bathers take dune buggies or all-terrain vehicles to the beach and bring ``their grill, their blankets and their birthday suits.''

Her family and their neighbors, Mildred and Nathaniel Champlin, have a hearing on Tuesday at Barnstable Superior Court and hope a judge will bar nude sunbathing on the patch.

Town officials have hired lawyers to defend the clothing- optional rule, said Bergman.

At the April town meeting, about 700 voters of the 3,400 registered in Provincetown passed the resolution making the beach clothing-optional.

-- Tidbit (of@the.day), July 18, 2001

Answers

But Adams said bathers take dune buggies or all-terrain vehicles to the beach and bring ``their grill, their blankets and their birthday suits.''

They will probably tell the bathers to leave their birthday suits at home.

-- Cherri (jessam6@home.com), July 19, 2001.