
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 10, 1993                   TAG: 9307100256
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CRIGLERSVILLE                                LENGTH: Short

DON'T LOOK, ETHEL! HE'S STILL NEKKID!

Patrick Gaffney says he will comply with a court order preventing his nudist camp from reopening, but it can't stop him from walking around naked.

"It prohibits us from operating a nudist club. But it doesn't prohibit us from being nude on the property or inviting our friends over," Gaffney said Thursday.

Gaffney, his wife, Phyllis, and Leighton Brown - all co-owners - were forced to shut down the clothing-optional Avalon Campground in Madison County earlier this year after a Virginia Supreme Court ruling.

The court ruled that their permit for a conservation club did not allow nude recreation. The county in March obtained a restraining order prohibiting the operation of a nudist club on the 40-acre site.

Several justices, however, had indicated that the campground might have been able to remain open if it had been classified as a recreational facility.

The owners last month presented a proposal to the county to add "recreational facility" to the uses allowed under the zoning ordinance by special permit.

But the county Board of Supervisors on Wednesday voted against the zoning change.

Gaffney said he and the other owners are planning to fight the decision.

Gaffney said the property cannot be seen from the road and that the nearest neighbor lives more than a half-mile away.

He said the camp's activities are typical of those at any campground - volleyball, swimming, hiking - except that people may or may not be clothed.

by CNB