Tuesday, July 26, 1988/The Battalion/Page 3
State and Local
onvention for sunbathers draws nudists to resort
By Alan Sembera
Staff Writer
I More than 400 people had shown
dp by Saturday at the Live Oak
Ranch between Navasota and Bren-
ifam. The occasion was a convention
jr nudists.
Live Oak Ranch is a family nudist
ilesort and is the site of the South
western Sunbathing Association’s
S' th annual convention, which be-
Banjuly 18 and ended Sunday.
I Members of 13 nudist clubs from
Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas
tnvened at the 25-acre country re-
)«.
While the convention did take
re of some business, the partici-
ants spent most of their time just
aving fun.
They held dances Thursday, Fri-
ay and Saturday nights. The
gimp’s secretary, Patsy, said clothes
ere worn during the dances.
I She said she didn’t know if the
Jountry and western bands who
layed Friday and Saturday were
Aiide, but Thursday’s rock ’n’ roll
jBand did play in the buff after its in
termission, she said.
1 ^ Much of the outdoor activity at
■ie resort centered around the pool,
■len and women, young and old, sat
around and visited while the water
t :med with young skinny-dippers.
■ Near the pool, volleyball teams
; E Hompeted on the fenced-in court
|H/hile friends watched from the
\ Bhade of a nearby tree.
1 ■ For those inclined toward less
• Strenuous activities, there’s a club-
Souse on the other side of the pool
^Sith a pingpong table, a pool table,
“HIidoor bathrooms and showers, a
h'l i'ide-screen television and video
['■< irnes '
For outdoor sports, there’s horse-
Hhoes, washers, lawn darts and bad-
'luitton.
OjH There’s even a hot tub for those
who just want to sit back and relax.
I In fact, if all the people weren’t to-
Sillv nude, this would be your typical
pieekend resort.
]fl Jim, a member of the club, said
|jSie “weekend resort” nature of nud-
iKi camps is one of the things the
^■nudist movement” is trying to pub-
frize.
I “A lot of people think its orgies
But here and all that stuff,” he said.
|rlt doesn’t happen. It’s a family at
mosphere. See all the kids?”
These are the misconceptions that
live nudists a bad image, Jim said,
.the convention is one of the things
I.Biey are doing to help mollify the
yBnage.
rB “The last couple of years the
'"'I whole movement has just experi-
llc 4 eiiccd a great openness,” Jim said.
zeB
onfl
“There’s just a real push for open
ness now in the movement,” he said,
“where in the past, people didn’t
want their neighbors to know they’re
nudists, and their boss to know . . .
and that still exists.
“I thought, before I started, ‘Nud
ist resort — you go out to a back
road somewhere and there’s a stock
pond and a volleyball net, and that’s
it.’ ”
The nudist movement also is try
ing to clear up misconceptions about
what kind of people go to nudist
camps, Jim said.
“People think ... if you went to a
“A lot of people think its
orgies out here and all
that stuff. It doesn’t hap
pen. It’s a family atmo
sphere. See all the kids?”
—Jim, member of
Southwestern Sunbathers
Association
nudist camp everybody would be
beautiful — all the women would be
playmates, all the men would be
male models,” he said. “Well, they’re
not.
“There’s all shapes . . . there’s fat
people, skinny people, tall people,
short people, all kinds. It’s just like
your town except that nobody wears
clothes.”
The club members also encom
pass a broad scope of professions, he
said, including doctors, lawyers, con
struction workers, pilots, farmers,
ranchers and even a genetic engi
neer. “You name it, there’s some
body here that’s a member.”
Another member of the resort,
Don Q., said the diversity of people
at nudist camps is what makes them
special.
This diversity is possible because
of the lack of social barriers created
by clothing, he said.
“When you take your clothes off
and you’re meeting people that
you’ve never seen before in your life,
that communication barrier is gone,”
Don said. “All you have is your per
sonality and your mind.
“You come up to a place like this,
you’ll find more people, people like
you’ve never met in your life. You
talk to them like you’ve known them
all their life.”
Charlie Moss, owner of the
Bluebonnet nudist resort, which is
north of Fort Worth, agreed that nu
dism brings club members closer to
gether.
“Nudism removes barriers rather
than creating them,” Moss said. “It’s
a good vehicle for sociability. People
end up becoming friends and com
municating with each other with a
great deal more ease.
“In this world people tend to iso
late themselves and to have a para
noia as far as engaging strangers in
conversation. The opposite occurs in
nudist parks.
“It’s not for everyone. It’s not a to
tal panacea, but it is a much better
conduit for conversation and com
munication in the ‘textile’ world.”
This attitude fosters a family type
atmosphere, and parents bring their
children with them to the resorts.
The children have an organiza
tion of their own, the Junior South
western Sunbathing Association.
The JSWSA held its convention at
the ranch July 18-20.
More than 50 children partici
pated in tournaments, saw movies,
discussed “Young Nudist Health
Concerns” and went on field trips.
The junior sunbathers visited the
Bluebell Creamery in Brenham and
the Washington-on-the-Brazos State
Park. They wore clothing during the
trips.
There are about 1,500 members
of the Southwestern Sunbathing As
sociation. More than 275 of them are
members of the Live Oak Ranch.
Larry and Sabra Hilderbrand
bought the resort in April, and have
added a number of improvements
since then.
They expanded the bathroom fa
cilities in the clubhouse, built a pavil
ion and added enough RV hookups
to bring the total number to 65.
The resort also has a restaurant,
which serves three meals a day, al
though the selection is limited.
The new owner also built a 10-
foot fence around the volleyball
court and covered the surface with
sand.
The new owners have even ex
tended an invitation for the A&M
volleyball teams, including intramu
ral teams, to come out and practice
for free on the newly fixed-up court
during the week, a member said.
A few years ago an A&M team
had asked for permission to use the
court to practice but was refused, the
member said.
“The previous owners wouldn’t
let them, but we will now,” he said.
“If your team wants to come out and
practice on our court — keep their
clothes on or take them off — it’s up
to you guys,” Hilderbrand said.
Larry Hilderbrand said mem
bership at the club has gone up 22
percent since he took over. He said
he wants more members, and said
A worker at Live Oak Ranch, far left, talks with
some campers Thursday at the sixth annual
Photo by Jay Jan net
Southwestern Sunbathers Convention. The con
vention for nudists was July 18 through July 24.
everybody is welcome to visit the
camp.
More information and directions
can be obtained by calling (409) 878-
2216.
Visitors are allowed three visits.
All they have to do is come to the of
fice and sign in. After three visits,
they can apply for membership.
The camp is not a clothes-optional
camp, so everyone inside must be
nude unless weather or medical
problems make clothing a necessity.
First-time visitors can keep their
clothes on until they are acclimatized
to the nudity. This time period
should last a maximum of a half
hour to an hour.
A couple of the club members said
men often have trouble undressing
in public because they are afraid of
having an erection when they get
around nude women.
They emphasized that unwanted
erections are never a problem.
“When everyone is like you, it just
doesn’t happen,” one said.
Applicants must be screened and
approved by a membership commit
tee before they can become a mem
ber.
Since the resort is primarily for
families, single men have a more dif
ficult time getting approved than
single women or families do, because
of the long waiting list for single
men.
“They try to keep it balanced,” a
camp employee said. “We have a
tendency to get more male appli
cants than we do female. They don’t
always get in.
“You pretty well get approved if
you’re respectable, decent sort of
people. They don’t screen too heav
ily on families. Males, they watch you
a little more.”
Visitors must pay $15 per day to
stay at the camp. Members pay $12
per day. There is an extra charge for
staying overnight at the resort.
There is also a yearly membership
fee.
Members of the Live Oak Ranch
are automatically members of the
SWSA and the American Sunbath
ing Association. The ASA has seven
regions, with 200 parks, resorts and
camps in the United States.
There are rules of conduct at the
ranch, and the “don’ts” outnumber
the “do’s.”
The resort prohibits the use of il
legal drugs, excessive drinking, pro
fanity, obscene and vulgar language,
“offensive familiarities” and “indis
creet behaviors.”
The rules also bar public dis
cussion of “swinging” and any un
due demostration of affection.
Patsy, the secretary, said these
prohibitions are nothing more than
would be expected in daily public-
life.
“We want your conduct to be the
same as it is in the main street of
Houston,” she said.
fDomputer network links universities in Texas
By Reisha Tucker
Reporter
larflWhen Texas A&M talks the University of
, Tlexas will listen and vice versa because of a
^ statewide computer network that is expected
to vastly improve communications between
1 more than 30 academic institutions.
3 BThe Texas Higher Education Network, or
id THEnet, is the largest state academic com-
isetputer network in the nation, linking A&M,
l|r and 32 other universities and academic
institutions.
[■THEnet links colleges and universities and
0 | f gives them access to important national data
...bases and libraries. Each university can get ac
cess to the network through existing com
puter systems.
The system helps researchers, administra
tors and students collaborate on research pro
jects, George Kemper, assistant director for
technical services at A&M, said.
With this system for example, two profes
sors from different universities who are writ
ing a book together can communicate faster.
“Before, if you were real lucky, you would
get something sent through the mail in a
week or so,” Kemper said. “With THEnet,
electronic mail can be received in a matter of
minutes.”
Users of the network can share library re
sources, compare notes and perhaps in the
future utilize video teleconferencing.
The 3,000-mile network originally began
two years ago when the UT system started
connecting all of their universities with the
Cray supercomputer in Austin, Frank Walter,
public relations manager at ClayDesta Com
munications, said.
In spring 1987, plans were carried out to
link UT’s systems with A&M’s.
ClayDesta, owned by Clayton W. Williams
Jr., Class of ‘54, provides the telecommunica
tions for THEnet.
“Kemper and William Bard, director of
UT’s System Office of Telecommunications
Services, were the masterminds behind this
idea,” Walter said.
Because of Williams’ loyalty to A&M, he
wanted the state-wide digital network based
in Bryan-College Station, Walter said.
“When all these lines were interconnected,
we had to find a long distance carrier,”
Kemper said. “ClayDesta ha/d the best service
and the cheapest price.”
Having this connection among Texas
scholars builds the infrastructure of Texas,
Kemper said. Now, Texans can communicate
and more effectively compete for grants, he
said.
“Our two universities coming together,”
Kemper said, “proved that we were deter
mined and serious about working together
cooperatively.”
Teen escapes
drowning
BAY CITY (AP) — A teen
ager working late at a city swim
ming pool says he escaped
drowning after two men who
anchored his feet and threw him
into 14 feet of water failed to tie
his hands.
Due Tran, 17, said he was lock
ing a gate at the pool shortly after
6 p.m. Sunday when a man
grabbed him from behind, cov
ered his eyes and held his arms. A
second man grabbed his feet,
Tran said, and he was dragged
the edge of the pool.
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Now Taking Requests..
For The 1988-89
Student Directory
To Place an advertisement call
845-2697
Deadline is August 15th!