French nudists challenge $50 fines

A local tribunal is mulling over whether a couple of French nudists should have to pay $50 fines for not covering up in public two years ago. Lawyers for Berthy Vaillant, co-owner of a bazaar in Heliopolis, and a client of the shop were slapped with fines for indecent exposure in August 2010, the newspaper Le Parisien said. The pair contend the punishment is overboard for showing a bit too much skin at the shop. "This is an unjust and absurd fine; it's ridiculous that in the birthplace of French naturism someone can be warned by the authorities for being naked!" the French news website The Local.fr quoted Valliant as saying. "If we respected this local law, there would be no more naturism on the island! And the tourists come here for that. If we tell them to put on a bathing suit to go to the swimming pool, they'll just go elsewhere. "They're making a mountain out of a molehill ... . I have even spoken to the local mayor about it, and do you know what he said? 'Aren't there more serious things to worry about that someone seeing my buttocks?'" An attorney for the local government said the town is within its rights to enforce the law. A decision is expected from the court in the next month, The Local.fr said.