Pedophiliacs Beware!

They're not clothes-minded: Austin nudists enjoy nature, unfettered recreation in the Texas Hill Country

This The Daily Texan - Online article bares all about the nudist world -- especially about Austin's own Hippie Hollow, which has been a legend in Austin since way before the 70's when I was going to college at The University of Texas.

Besides mentioning, too, the nudist's organizations:

* The American Association for Nude Recreation
* The Naturist Action Committee
* The Hill Country Nudists

they also refer to HB 772 which proposes to prohibit youth nudist camps from forming. Rumor has it that a 2003 article in the New York Times propogated that there just might be a youth nudist camp forming by 2005. To this date, no such camp has actually formed, but House Representative Hughes signed the initial bill proposal in order to ensure that no such camps are formed, in hopes of preventing it from becoming a haven for pedophiles. This is a grave concern in Texas where pedophiles tend to run rampant enough to cause a deep-rooted concern.

In 2002, for example, the FBI had a sting operation called Operation Candyman which arrested over 89 folks, including (I believe 5) in the Houston area, connected with a child pornography ring. Therefore, as silly as HB 772 may sound, there is a connection for the concern. While nudists do their own thing, at their own place and time, and to each his own, I personally do not care what the adult nudists do, but they do need to protect their children from criminalistic behavior and activities. The fact that the Ausitn group doesn't run background checks, other than checking for banning from other nudist groups, is a bit alarming; however, they will be the ones greatest affected by their inaction because it will be their children, as a rule. Perhaps, some presure to the Austin group should be had, to improve their background checks to help eliminate a means for a pedophile to get into their club and, in the end, protect their children who also attend these nudists events. Apparently, this is Texas House Representative Hughes' concern as well.

The old addage: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure would seem very appropriate here.