SOUNDING OFF: Support is needed to keep yoga in park

It seems that in Laguna, our police have very little to do. On March 26 we had our yoga class stopped by the police and were threatened with a warning that we were not entitled to use the paved area in the park.

It seems that the city garbage truck called the police on us after they had to wait four minutes for us to finish a sequence and move our mats so the truck could get through.

The driver never asked us to move and never honked his horn. We finally just asked if he wanted to come through, and we let him through. The police came, they stopped the class, asked a number of questions, and I explained that we had every right to use the park and there were no signs that restricted any use of the area we were in. They went away for a while and then came back and stopped the class again. This time they wanted to talk with me alone, they wanted to issue me a warning, and advised me that we did not have a right to use the park for yoga.

I explained that I had been through this with the city and that we in fact do have every right to use the park.

After much debate back and forth, they left us with a verbal warning, and I told them that we would take this up with the city again.

It so happens that Mayor Kelly Boyd walked by our class just before all of this happened, so he knows what we were doing.

I would appreciate it if all of you could use the power of e-mail and send Boyd and the other City Council members your thoughts on the use of the park for yoga.

There was no need for the city truck driver to call the police; he could have just asked us to move. The police could have just realized they were wasting their time and that we were well within our rights to use the park.

Please write the council. If you don’t, we may lose the right to have our classes.

CARL A. BROWN lives in Laguna Beach.