Talladega looks to ban sagging pants

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Barack Obama in jeans

Should terrible fashion choices be outlawed? If so after we ban sagging pants can we re-evaluate the high-waisted Daisy-Duke cutoff jeans that young women wear these days?

Joining a long line of cities before them the Talladega City Council is renewing a previous look into a resident’s request to ban sagging pants.

The Anniston Star reports that resident Paul Johnson became concerned about the way sagging pants effects the community as a whole. He told the newspaper he considers them disrespectful, specifically to his granddaughter and the women in town. He asked that a ban be put in place and that punishments for violating it have  teeth.

Johnson told the Star, “I care about my community, about how and where I live. I want to teach my granddaughter what’s right, but we can’t do that if (sagging) is what she sees in public. If we don’t do something, it’s just going to get worse.”

Bans on sagging pants have been proposed throughout the nation including in Talladega in the past.

Last year, Ocala, Fla., passed a ban but repealed it when the NAACP threatened legal action.

Even President Barack Obama weighed in on the issue. As a candidate in 2008 he said, ““Here’s my attitude: I think passing a law about people wearing sagging pants is a waste of time.” He did however go on to say, “Having said that, brothers should pull up their pants. You’re walking by your mother, your grandmother, and your underwear is showing. … What’s wrong with that? Come on. There are some issues that we face that you don’t have to pass a law [against], but that doesn’t mean folks can’t have some sense and some respect for other people. And, you know, some people might not want to see your underwear: I’m one of them.”

Councilors have said they will hold public meetings on the issue and have the new city manager look into it when he starts. I’m hoping this issue only comes up just after the city gets to all the other important ones like actual crimes, poverty, hunger, etc.

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