Naturist gardener/carpenter Rob Jenner cleared of all charges

[Davin]

Naturist slams 'prudes' after court rules he can work in his garden with just his boots on

Rob Jenner went through a two day trial, which cost the taxpayer thousands of pounds in legal fees, after neighbours spotted him mixing cement naked

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/naturist-slams-prudes-after-court-9779755

[FireProf]

Good for him!

[Christian]

Not much bearing in the U.S. since this happened in the U.K. but still a move in the right direction.

[Guest]

Maybe it's me, but it seems this guy lived in complete disregard for his neighbors. Having a right to do something, and exercising that right regardless of the impact on others living in close proximity seems to violate one of the basic tenants of civility. We all do need to get along after all.

Don't get me wrong, I would love to have free reign over what I wore on my property when working outside. But there are societal limits set by the majority like it or not. I have gone to great lengths and expense to create a very private oasis in my back yard out of the prying eyes of the neighbors. My wife and I enjoy it whenever we can but we know our limits. And in the 8 years I have lived here, no one has complained. There has only been one instance where I can think of where a neighbor caught a glimpse of me walking around in the yard but nothing was said. Perhaps because I took immediate steps to close the view.

My take is that if you want to roam around the entirety of your property nude, you should either ensure it is sealed off from outside view, or move to a community where that's acceptable.

[Adler]

Nudkin is right. Social / societal norms dictate that nudist respect the norms of the community just as we would expect someone whose lifestyle involved some activity that infringed on other; e.g. making noise during socially accepted quit times (night). My neighbor may enjoy his/her drumming circle and his/her religions belief dictate that s/he drum while meditating but please not at 3:00 AM. And my NASCAR neighbor who maintains his/her race car in his/her garage should well expect a complaint if s/he decides to tune-up the racer during the night. Nudist imposing our lifestyle on others just serves to damage our reputation as a group.

[FireProf]

Where do your rights end and there's begin? Where is the line where a nudist must stop living as a nudist for fear that their neighbor may go out of their way to spy on you? Where is the line for a nudist to have the same privacy most of us give our textile neighbors?

There is a grey area that needs to be respected on both ends and not just the nudist's side of this argument. Textiles need to understand privacy and respect for nudists and our rights to live as we do. As far as I can tell from the news story, this man was not acting in a lewd fashion. He was merely working on his house. A "neighbor" should and would have talked to him about it before calling the cops.

[Guest]

Fire Prof..."A "neighbor" should and would have talked to him about it before calling the cops." I agree emphatically. The article doesn't indicate what type of relationship this guy had with his neighbors, but I imagine it was close to nonexistent. As for where rights converge....if you take reasonable precaution to establish a private setting, I agree you have the right to enjoy your property as you want. But I didn't get that image in this case. It seems his front was reasonably accessible to view with little effort. Based on the facts presented, I believe this guy was out of line. My $.02.

[FireProf]

I agree, to a point even your response puts all the responsibility on the nudist; " take reasonable precaution to establish a private setting." Most times, I've read where the nudist has gone to great lengths to establish these private settings only to be challenged by neighbors for fences too high, walls to high, landscaping too high and after providing this reasonable precaution, the nudist has been forced to succumb to prying eyes, nosey neighbors that want to see their nudist neighbor naked so they can complain. Case in point; we were always naked in our previous backyards. Our last home, had wooden fences and there were gaps between the boards. I damn near pleaded with our neighbors to help us pay for a wall between us and they always said, "we don't have the money." After the woman saw me about 3-4 days in a row, her husband came to the door and said, "we'd like to put up that wall now." We did. I paid for 2/3rds of the cost. We now had our privacy. The neighbors then went out and bought their boys a swing set with an observation deck and placed it against the wall we just built, so ... they went our privacy when the boys played on this swing set. One day, she was even up on this observation deck and I walked out the back door. She saw me, I saw her. I stood there with my arms out as much to say ... What the hell!!! Amazingly, they moved the swing set to the other side of their property that afternoon.

I'll admit, I've not talked to our neighbors, any of them. It was our intention but my wife was not on board with sharing that information until now. Our current neighbors aren't that accessible or outgoing. Too much time has passed. They've obviously seen me naked and I've seen the woman topless from an upstairs window in their home. He has seen me out front and has shared when they were going to have company staying and that the company uses the bedroom with the window that looks down into our side yard. I'm often back there while taking the trash to the cans. He telling me this was a warning that I could be seen and a request that I maybe cover up when on that side of the house. I respect that, I waited for an opportune time to visit this area when I couldn't be seen. I could have slipped on a robe but I just waited til I could safely do it naked. We seem to have an understanding that even in some instances, if I/we can be seen, we will do whatever we can to limit or avoid those incidents. They in turn, seem to allow us to live and let live, but WE have taken all the reasonable precautions and more. We are just fortunate to have reasonable and tolerant neighbors.

I guess I equate some of these incidents and situations with any neighbor that does something or has something going on, on their property, that agitates, frustrates or infuriates neighbors. A constantly barking dog/dogs, working on vehicles til very late at night, constantly playing music loudly, having parties without respect for noise late at night ... It's hard to find reason that you, as a nudist, could overlook some of these things as long as this neighbor leaves you alone to live as you wish.

I wonder if our neighbors, with the dog that barks all the time, thought about this and figured, "they never complain about our dog barking all the time, maybe we shouldn't complain cuz they're always naked in their yard." Our hope, anyway. It's worked so far and it's been over 4 years.

[Guest]

FireProf...sounds like you have found a good balance. The neighbors have been accommodating as have you. That's the way it should be. I think I have the same balance where I live now. I am fortunate to have sufficient resources and The wherewithal to do most of the work myself. A toast to your good fortune.

Now, I need to get on to modifying a fence on one side to raise it up enough to be a useful screen without raising suspicion on the city code enforcement... 😎

[FireProf]

Those code enforcement people are sometimes tough to deal with. We had a very active and nit picky HOA for the first 5 years we lived here. Our HOA board changed the management company and they are less strict about a number of things. I knew they would not allow us to add two more courses of block to the existing walls so I planted 9 red leaf privets to provide added privacy for those house across the way. I think the HOA is much more a PITA, in our neighborhood than code enforcement. I think our city's code enforcement is so over booked with work, they are too busy to worry about much of what we'd all like to do to provide more privacy. That's a good thing for us!