Terrebonne Parish, a town in Louisiana, passed an ordinance this week to ban saggy pants in public. Their council voted 8-1 to pass the proposition despite divergent opinions in the community.
Offenders will be fined $50 for the first offense, $100 for the second offense and $100 plus 16 hours of mandatory community service for the third offense. A judge will determine the punishment for any further violations.
WWLTV reports that the local NAACP chapter wholeheartedly agreed with the ban. Jerome Boykin, the group's president, declared, “There is nothing positive about people wearing saggy pants. This is not a black issue, this is not a white issue, this is a people issue... Young men who were in prison who wanted to have sex with other men would send a signal to another man with his pants below his waist.”
Community resident Ida Moore disagreed at the council meeting: “It’s certainly not the first time elders complained about the social mores and dress habits of young people. But to make laws of governing social differences is a slippery slope to the level of government that we do not allow.”
Terrebone Council Vice Chairman Russell Hornsby advised that the council check up on the saggy pants ban in a year to see if it's changed community standards and potentially re-evaluate the decision.
This isn't the first time U.S. governments have had their hands down citizens' pants. The style's been banned in Chicago schools, a town in Georgia has collected fines for the offense and campaigns have been launched against the trend in various other cities.
Do you find baggy pants offensive -- and do you think town governments should be able to ban them?
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