Commission close to approving resolution banning nudity

By Roger Sims, rsims@linncountyjournal.com

MOUND CITY – After a final push by Pleasanton City Councilwoman Angie Randall, the Linn County Commission at its meeting on Monday, Aug. 25, seemed ready to approve a resolution that makes public nudity against the law. While the commission appeared to be ready to sign off on changes after some discussion, the issue didn’t come up again before the meeting ended.

Following some reluctance by Commissioner Alison Hamilton earlier this summer, Hamilton and  commission Chair Jim Johnson voted to approve the resolution after some changes, including the maximum age at which a child can be without clothes without legal repercussions, were agreed upon.

Randall, who pushed for a similar ordinance passed by the city of Pleasanton in June, said that by not passing a resolution, it was creating a problem for the sheriff’s office.

“The sheriff office can’t do their job,” Randall told commissioners during the public comment portion of the meeting. “You’re tying their hands by not passing this clause.”

She said she had several people reach out to her about the issue, and she chided the commission for inaction. “That’s the easiest thing you could have done,” she said.

Randall, who has a background in law enforcement, pointed out that if a person was on fentanyl  or meth and stripped off their clothes, deputies couldn’t do anything because it’s not illegal to be high. Nor could they arrest a person on disorderly conduct charges just based on public nudity. 

Randall said she was very disappointed that the county didn’t have any statutes regarding nudity except in cases involving sexual gratification. 

Hamilton in earlier discussions was concerned that by passing nudity resolution the county would be trampling on peoples’ rights, particularly when people were on their own property.

Apparently there was an incident earlier this year involving a nude man washing his vehicle outside of the Pleasanton city limits.

“It’s not a right,” Randall said, “it’s not whatever I do on my property. You’re disrespecting everyone around you. And it doesn’t matter if they’re high on drugs or they’re just doing it to seek attention, that’s impressionable on young people and young children, and I don’t want my grandchildren seeing something like that.”

She then urged the commission to stop delaying and take action on the issue.

Minutes later, after the close of public comment, the commission took up the discussion again.

County Counselor Jacklyn Paletta passed out a copy of the proposed resolution that was based on research by the sheriff’s department on similar laws passed by cities and counties in the region. She said she had reviewed the document as well and the commission could vote on it.

However, Hamilton made changes that Paletta had not seen, so she quickly reviewed the changes. Most of the similar laws had language preventing parents with children age 3 and younger from being prosecuted for public nudity, however Hamilton wanted to change that to include children up to age 6.

“So, the age issue is kind of nuanced,” Paletta said, “because the officers are not going to be ticketing children to the extent that parents are letting children between the ages of 5 and 17 run around naked. That is a different issue.”

She also said that the county wanted to be careful about drafting a law that would conflict with other laws already on the books.

Paletta said she could make changes to the proposed resolution and give them back to the commission for adoption. The commission is scheduled to vote on the issue at its meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 2.