A Prince George woman warned by RCMP that she could face criminal charges for sunbathing topless in her Hart neighbourhood yard is claiming she is being harassed by staff and parents of the adjacent elementary school over her complaints about motorists parking their vehicles in a no-parking zone next to her house and teens playing late-night basketball games in the school playground.
Lynn Blatta said in a letter to the editor that the police visit was prompted by a complaint about her baring her breasts, which she says she is legally allowed, based on a BC Supreme Court ruling in 2000, which gave women the right to be topless in their backyards and in public places such as parks and beaches.
The clash between Blatta and school officials and parents of Glenview Elementary flared up a week ago Thursday during sports day at the school when she asked a woman driving a pickup truck to move her idling vehicle, which was parked next to the no parking sign. She said the woman refused and swore at Blatta and as she walked back to her yard a man followed her to her driveway, questioning her authority.
“He called me a (more swear words) and took his hand and drew line at the end of my driveway and said I need to stay in my yard and started filming me with his camera,” said Blatta.
Bill Harkness, Blatta’s 87-year-old neighbour who lives on the opposite side of the street, watched what was happening and wanted to intervene but couldn’t because his mobility is limited as a result of knee replacement surgery.
“This guy was there for about 15 minutes, going after her,” said Harkness. “If I could have walked over there, I was going over there, but I couldn’t. I have a bad leg.”
Blatta was intimidated by the man’s behaviour and took photos of his vehicle. She asked the School District 57 office to try to find out his identity so she could lodge a formal complaint but says school officials offered no assistance.
“When I tried to contact the school to find out who those parents were yelling at me, so I can file a police complaint, everybody ignores me. But when my boobs come out for half an hour it’s like the end of the world,” Blatta said. “And the police are telling me that I can be charged criminally, no I can’t.”
After the police visit, Blatta phoned the Prince George RCMP detachment asking to speak to the supervisor of the shift but said she was refused that opportunity by the operator who answered her call.
RCMP media spokesperson Cpl. Jennifer Cooper said in a text to the Citizen Friday that a response to the incident will be delayed because the investigator of the complaint is on days off and cannot be reached.
Blatta contacted the city’s bylaw enforcement office asking them to enforce the parking ban on the street and issue tickets to violators but said she was told it wasn’t important enough to justify sending anyone.
On Saturday, she emailed Mayor Simon Yu and city council asking for their help. Yu and counsellor Tim Bennett both contacted her to say they would look into the situation.
The one-block section of Cluff Road that leads to the school from the Dawson Road intersection is narrow and lacks sidewalks. Harkness says when people park on the street it creates a hazard for students attending the school. But he says the parking restriction and the school zone speed limit are rarely enforced and motorists take advantage of that.
“It’s always the same ones who park there.,” Harkness said. “I hollered at a woman three or four years ago not to park there and she came out cussing and swearing the F-word, in front of the kids and everything.
“I’ve been living here 15 years now and I think I’ve only seen a cop up here once. The ticket woman only came out here once since I moved here, about four of five years ago.”
Blatta has made several calls to the School District 57 office to have the school board consider having the basketball hoop moved to another part of the school property but the board has not responded.
“I talked to an administrator and what they did is phone the police on me for sunbathing in the backyard with my top off,” said Blatta. “I’ve been doing that for months, and nobody complained about it until I filed all these complaints.”
Soon after she was warned about going topless by the RCMP on Monday, Blatta said a school district administrator, whose identity she can’t recall, phoned her and chastised her for baring her breasts in her yard.
“All he was about was, ‘How could you go out in public with bare boobs,’ and “Why would I move the basketball court, there’s never been another complaint. He was just trying to bully and intimidate me.”
Harkness’s yard backs onto the basketball court. The retired navy veteran relies on a hearing aid and he says he can’t hear the sound of the ball being bounced only a few steps away from his yard, but his wife, now deceased, could clearly hear it from inside their house.
“It bothered my wife,” he said. “She could hear better - the bang, bang, bang,”
Blatta moved to her home on Dawson Road from the Lower Mainland in December 2021 and since then she says she’s tried to be a good neighbour, picking up garbage and broken glass and bringing kids’ belongings left in the playground back to the school. Last year, when somebody took bags of dog poop out of the garbage can and smeared it on the playground slide, she came by with gloves and soap to clean it up and the entire school staff showed their appreciation in a thank-you card.
Now she feels everybody has turned against her.
“There’s no interest from the school board in working with me, even after all the work I’ve done for them, it’s like I’m the enemy now and they’re not going to move the basketball court to the back of the school,” Blatta said.
“Not only do these people do whatever they want and violate municipal bylaws, but if you try and say anything, you’re under attack and you’re on your own. Nobody cares.”
