http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/news/local/11692966.htm
Posted on Fri, May. 20, 2005
TOPSAIL BEACH, N.C.
Authorities inundated with inquiries about nudity
The Associated Press
TOPSAIL BEACH, N.C. - Word that topless sunbathing is legal isn't
really news in Topsail Beach, but that hasn't stopped calls from
arriving at the desk of Police Chief Rickey Smith.
Reports about the lack of a local law against topless sunbathing
spread last week, and Smith increased his beach patrol in response.
But unlike the calls asking about the reports, sunbathers who want to
drop their tops aren't flocking to the oceanside town on the
southeastern N.C. coast.
"We were expecting a big increase," Smith said. "It's business as
usual down here. We still do not promote that type of activity. If
we're called, we're going to respond and try to correct the problem."
Topsail Beach, along with three other area beaches, abides by state
and federal laws, which do not distinguish between a man's and woman's
bare chest. Women sunbathing without a top will be asked to move to a
more isolated area of the beach, which is what Topsail Beach police
officers have done in the past.
"We've never had a problem with it, actually," said Danny Salese,
North Topsail's police chief. "It's very isolated. They find places
that are more secluded. ... There's been one complaint that I know of
since I've been here."
Smith said he fielded more than a dozen telephone calls from the media
asking for interviews. Property owners called, wondering if they
should sell their vacation homes. They were under the impression the
town changed an ordinance that never existed in the first place.
One man called to make sure that if his wife took off her top on the
beach that she wouldn't be arrested.
Smith said he took a few crude calls, but he refused to elaborate.
"We've been getting a lot of calls since it hit the news," Salese
said. "Some people are disturbed by it. We're keeping a sense of humor
about it, but there are people who don't think it's funny."
Salese said one youth minister who's been taking groups to the beach
for years told him he wouldn't return.
Rachel Grant, a junior at the University of North Carolina at
Wilmington, said she wouldn't mind baring her chest if she could find
a secluded spot on the beach.
"If somebody asked me to cover up I would," Grant said. "I think most
people would be too bashful to do it."
© 2005 The Sun News and wire service sources
--
Contempt of Congress meter reading-offscale.
Hello, theocracy with a fundamentalist US Supreme
Court who will ensure church and state are joined
at the hip like clergy and altar boys.
America 1776-Jan 2001 RIP
"As democracy is perfected, the office of president
represents, more and more closely, the inner soul
of the people. On some great and glorious day the
plain folks of the land will reach their heart's
desire at last and the White House will be adorned
by a downright moron." --- H.L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)
Religion is the original war crime.
-Michelle Malkin (Feb 26, 2005)
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