Jim Nutter, Main Arm.
I can sympathise with Jennifer Innes of Tyagarah re the problem of sexual predation at her local beach.
In her letter she reiterates many of the points covered already in the discussion. However, she says ‘many of the letter writers criticising efforts to address the safety issues at the clothes optional beach at Tyagarah appear to believe in their own entitlement to be nude in public more than the entitlement of others to be safe’. She provides no evidence for this statement which is patently untrue. No-one is safe on a lonely beach anywhere.
She also blames the council, NPWS, the police and the ‘naturists’. She says that ‘If nudity were not legal at the beach policing it would be less complex’. Also, ‘the sex-pests have become an ugly and dangerous by-product of Byron’s free and easy lifestyle’. Que?
And she finishes with ‘A council initiative to address sex offences taking place in isolated hard-to-police locations is an urgent matter for council’. She is correct on this point. Main Beach to Clarkes Beach is the obvious answer. Great for the tourist industry.
In the meantime I suggest she drive the extra mile to Coolangatta or Ballina as others have had to drive to Tyagarah.
In passing, as one who lives naked (except when it is cold), I have not swum at Tyagarah for fear of being classified as a ‘dirty old man’ – a fate that we all face.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
