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* Believe it or not, an Illinois town has actually passed a law dictating to its citizens how they must wear their trousers…
Sagging pants are now illegal in Collinsville.
The City Council voted 3-2 to approve an ordinance forbidding the low-riding pants common among young people over the objections of the city staff and the mayor.
The ordinance forbids pants that sag more than 3 to 4 inches below the waistline of the underwear. A first offense is punishable with a $100 fine; a second offense would carry a $300 fine plus 40 hours of community service. The citation would not allow arrest or detainment.
Are the coppers going to carry tape measures so that when they line up the kids they can make sure everybody’s in strict compliance? Amazing. Read on…
Councilwoman Liz Dalton said she proposed the ordinance because her constituents asked her to do so.
“If there is a problem (the people) want us to address, then it is our responsibility to address it,” she said.
There’s some logic for you.
* Collinsville Mayor John Miller tried to stop the goofiness, but to no avail…
Miller said that unlike Dalton, most of what he had heard was against the ordinance, not the sagging pants.
“I must live in a different city,” he said. “I find it very strange that we would spend taxpayer money to facilitate something the taxpayers don’t want. I find it irresponsible as a council, and as a human being.”
He likened the issue to people with piercings, tattoos and even the bouffant hairstyle. All have been hugely popular at some point, he said.
“It might be offensive to the person viewing it,” he said. “But that doesn’t just give them the right to prohibit it.”
What is it with some folks who hate the government unless it’s being used to suppress an activity (or a group of people) they don’t like?
*** UPDATE *** A large majority of a nearby town may actually be nuts. From the Belleville News-Democrat’s unscientific reader poll…
posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 2:40 pm
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Next up- “Get OFF my lawn” ordinance. I hope the city has deep pockets. Is see a first amendment case coming up.
Comment by How Ironic Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 2:44 pm
I’m sure this has the Collinsville PD’s morale at an all-time high now that they have this to work on instead of real police work.
Comment by Dirty Red Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 2:44 pm
I wonder what would happen if, instead of underwear, the kids wore swim trunks.
Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 2:48 pm
===The ordinance forbids pants that sag more than 3 to 4 inches below the waistline of the underwear.===
Is the wearing of underwear mandated in Collinsville or will we have the commando loophole to deal with next?
Comment by 47th Ward Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 2:49 pm
LOL. Good point. Also, what happens if some poor kid is given an atomic wedgie? Would that put him in non-compliance?
Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 2:49 pm
What about old men who wear their pants to high, are they next?
Comment by Wear'em High Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 2:50 pm
Nice one, Rich.
Comment by radio guy Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 2:51 pm
Do you suppose Cllr. Dalton in Carlinville would agree that if the citizens demand that the mayor’s underpants be run up the flagpole for a good airing, she’d vote for it? Or if the citizens demand that all parking restrictions be abolished? Hmmmmm…..
I think at some point in this country our politics have jumped the shark from the politics of representative democracy to the politics of the condo board.
Comment by Angry Chicagoan Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 2:54 pm
If saggy pants really are “an outward symbol of gang activity,” wouldn’t it behoove them to keep them legal so they know who the gangsters are?
Comment by LJC Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 2:56 pm
Whatever the Collinsville city council is drinking from that giant ketchup bottle must have fermented.
Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 2:57 pm
If her constituents told her to jump off the garage roof would she do that, too?
Comment by D.P. Gumby Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 2:57 pm
See? That didn’t take long. Illinois’ “reputation” remains intact. Thanks, Collinsville!
Comment by Responsa Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 3:02 pm
===“If there is a problem (the people) want us to address, then it is our responsibility to address it,” she said.===
In that same spirit, I hereby demand as a constituent that Larry Bomke and Rich Brauer introduce legislation banning Liz Dalton from ever holding public office again.
Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 3:02 pm
What poor slob has to go around measuring?
Wait, I can see it, a new governmental body in Illinois, the “Collinsville Area Saggy Pants Abatement District.”
It will need funding, offices and salaried positions.
Comment by Bubs Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 3:05 pm
Hey, don’t just single out Liz. Two other councilcritters voted for it, too.
Comment by Responsa Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 3:06 pm
So, what if the kids decide to wear their underwear a few inches lower, just to ensure their compliance with the law?
Collinsville’s soon going to be dealing with a…wait for it…crack epidemic!
Comment by jerry 101 Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 3:11 pm
The ordinance is stupid, but so are saggy pants, piercings, tattoos, and bouffant hairstyle.
So we have stupid people passing a stupid ordinance to police stupid behavior.
I guess Forrest Gump’s momma was right…stupid is as stupid does!
Comment by Jaded Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 3:12 pm
Now to tackle the spandex problem…
Comment by Ahoy Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 3:15 pm
If we just outlaw sagging pants, gang activity will leave the area to sag elsewhere, right?
Ridiculous on so many levels.
Comment by Regular Reader Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 3:17 pm
I guess that Collinsville has grown weary of open-carry and is now opting for conceal-carry.
Comment by How Ironic Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 3:28 pm
Yet another clue to help us all understand the mystery that is the Shimku.
Comment by JN Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 3:32 pm
Yet people argue local government should be given more responsibility…
Comment by Small Town Liberal Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 3:43 pm
Bill O’Reilly, here we come…
Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 3:44 pm
Darnit, I can’t go to Collinsville now. The Man’s not gonna tell me how to dress.
Comment by just sayin' Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 3:51 pm
It isn’t illegal to walk around in just your briefs right? So it’s the adding of the pants that causes the problem.
Comment by OneMan Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 3:56 pm
I suspect the law is gender neutral so will the cops be looking for thongs that emerge when people bend over. That could improve cop morale…
Comment by OneMan Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 3:57 pm
==A large majority of a nearby town may actually be nuts. From the Belleville News-Democrat’s unscientific reader poll ==
Here are the results you get when your poll is taken 100% at a retirement home by a rude, unwashed teenager wearing low-riding pants.
Comment by Pat Robertson Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 3:59 pm
Daniel Patrick Moynihan proved right again!
Comment by walter sobchak Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 4:00 pm
Our school board applied this same kind of rule to the dress code. So, the students wore their gym shorts under their pants and covered everything up with long T-shirts. Their pants are still on the ground.
Comment by Wensicia Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 4:15 pm
I just realized that you had a Mike Madigan web crawler which got you the news of the Miller Beer issue, hahah, nice.
Comment by JBilla Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 4:18 pm
The same law has been repeatedly found unconstitutional in other jurisdictions. How much taxpayer money are they prepared to spend defending the law?
Comment by Don't Worry, Be Happy Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 4:36 pm
the perfect counter argument to those in congress trying to stop government from telling us what kind of light bulbs we can, or cannot, screw into our sockets.
Comment by lite bulb Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 4:47 pm
It’s a nonjailable petty offense, so the municipality doesn’t have to worry about proving any violations beyond a reasonable doubt (though wouldn’t that be a fun case to be a jury member on). So any trials can be the police officer’s word against the defendant’s, but I still don’t see how this can stand on First Amendment grounds. I would not want to be the Collinsville City Attorney.
Comment by Captain Angrypants Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 5:01 pm
How else are we going to push real issues off the front pages of our news — like bankers conspiring the bid rigging of muni bonds, banker foreclosure frauds, and phoney bank assets used as collateral whose value is marked to fantasy and not marked to market?
Chicago’s answer to children getting shot is an earlier curfew too.
More and more restrictions on the law abiding taxpayers as the mobs run wild and uncontrolled.
The law abiding citizens are so weak and easy pickings to extract revenue from ya know? Isn’t that the only thing that matters. Tax revenue. How to get more tax revenue?
Stay at home and cower inside as there is crime out there that the politicians are unwilling or unable to control it.
We all should just work and go inside and hide and pay our taxes and fines and fees so the corporate despots can continue there crimes against humanity…
Yeah…Okay…that was a little extreme to some I guess, however how far away from reality is it for some? Really?
We’re so proud to pass a rear seat-belt ordinance that will “save lives” Heh… yeah…just look at the rear seat-belt fatality count in Illinois and compare it to the homicide count in Chicago, not to mention the number of gun shot victims in Chicago.
This is not meant to be a call for more gun control laws. It’s a statement on how the priorities are all screwed up. Don’t start at the bottom and work up, Start at the top and work down. Billion dollar banker rip-offs going down - it’s excused and the distraction of a kid stealing a candy bar is used as a distraction and I find it so tiring.
Burqas and head coverings for the women should be the next step. These are the types of laws and regulations that politicians can use to say we are winning and to validate the politico’s existence.
Comment by Snj Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 5:01 pm
Maybe Collinsville can hire some of the mutaween from Saudi Arabia to stand on the street and enforce the law.
Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 5:04 pm
The Collinsville City Council is obviously in the pocket of the suspenders lobby.
– MrJM
Comment by MrJM Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 5:20 pm
=== Also, what happens if some poor kid is given an atomic wedgie? Would that put him in non-compliance? ===
I think in that case the kid is legal because the underwear is raised well ABOVE the waistline.
Comment by Just Observing Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 5:21 pm
“What poor slob has to go around measuring?”
Hey there, it’s a new job (maybe if we do things right, a couple of jobs - QE3, where are you?). The State can probably regulate & certify individuals as “BPIP” (Baggy Pants Inspector Professionals).
Say, a three person office staff of:
BPIP Supervisor
BPIP 1
BPIP Administrative Assistant
Make Todd Stroger the new BPI Supervisor for Cook County outside of the incorporated areas.
This could work….
Comment by Judgment Day Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 5:21 pm
Won’t they have to issue cameras to the police so each case has the proof? Or maybe they can just parade the defendant in front of the dash-cam.
Comment by Champaign Dweller Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 5:39 pm
Maybe there should be a law against politicians with sagging brains.
Comment by Ghost of John Brown Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 5:53 pm
You’re all overlooking a more sadly plausible explanation for this. I grew up in Belleville. Belleville, Collinsville and the environs surrounding East St. Louis are hotbeds of racism. The most probable explanation for this ordinance is a vain hope among a few that if they outlaw a style of dress favored by the element they dislike (african americans), perhaps the element will simply go elsewhere and all that is bad with their towns will go away with them.
Comment by Well, Well, Well. Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 5:54 pm
Dang Plumbers.
Comment by ArchPundit Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 6:57 pm
This could be the next big revenue stream. Just like the red light cameras and automatic traffic cameras. Fashion cameras that issue automatic tickets for bad clothing choices.
Comment by Gallery Sitter Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 7:05 pm
The Census says that Collinsville has gone from 6% to 10% African American in the past ten years. Probably all we need to know to understand why those City Council members pushed this. . . .
Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 7:09 pm
Rich: Put your poll up here for the same questions.
Comment by sal-says Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 7:23 pm
Dressing offensively and looking like an adolescent moron is a problem that should be handled by parents. Today, to many of these offending morons, that parent is our government. So, it seems like a logical extension of a culture that has sold government as our wet nurse, nanny and daddy.
I am not offended by this sartorial practice. When men my age prefer to dress like idiot, that simply makes me look better. I can’t figure out how these guys could be considered attractive to women. But then, when you consider how our government has replaced bread-winning father figures, then I suppose looking for a responsible mature man to settle down with is not a high priority anymore.
The whole issue seems to have an undercurrent whereby a majority of citizens recognize how such an appearance could be counterproductive to a healthy society.
Like a broken window signalling the decline of a neighborhood culture, men dressing like four year old orphans seems to be signalling the decline of a neighborhood culture too = at least to the majority of citizens.
As to the bloggers here, it seems that they want to pretend that this entire issue is not an issue at all, and that a majority of their fellow citizens are just raving loons.
Try folks, just try to open your minds a bit and pretend to empathize with your neighbors. Give it a shot. Make it OK to have an opinion about this, because this kind of solution is extreme.
Comment by VanillaMan Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 8:39 pm
The scary thing is that Collinsville isn’t even the first Illinois municipality to try to take this issue on. The Chicago suburb of Lynwood created their own measure on this very “problem” three years ago.
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=6266798
For all I know, there may be other Illinois municipalities that have done the same thing.
I just wonder if if is somehow the effect of being located so close to a state border (Lynwood’s border is the Illinois/Indiana state line) that causes the local officials to think so foolishly.
-30-
Comment by gregory tejeda Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 8:48 pm
In a world where even after someone is given a fair trial and found not guilty, we feel entitled to take them out in the town square and stone them, this does not surprise me.
Comment by Get real.. Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 9:14 pm
Next….golf pants! I rest my case!
Comment by Justice Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 9:31 pm
===As to the bloggers here, it seems that they want to pretend that this entire issue is not an issue at all, and that a majority of their fellow citizens are just raving loons.===
Do you ever get lonely in your tower of anti-government self-righteousness VanillaMan?
Comment by 47th Ward Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 9:41 pm
Wow 50 comments about a dumb law and dumb kids who don’t wear belts.
Make that 51 comments
Comment by Allen Skillicorn Wednesday, Jul 13, 11 @ 10:58 pm
Over-legislating, over-regulating, over-reaching.
Aren’t there other laws about “indecent exposure”?
Of course, that would require judgment to be used….can’t have that.
A dumb law and a dangerous trend.
Comment by JustaJoe Thursday, Jul 14, 11 @ 8:32 am
It isn’t lonely siding with a clear majority. Crazy is when you think you are the only sane person around. Sometimes this blog becomes the tower.
Comment by VanillaMan Thursday, Jul 14, 11 @ 9:13 am
I am acknowledging that after years of ignoring this fashion, a majority feels a need to launch a poor solution. I am not the one insulting them. It is OK to empathize.
Comment by VanillaMan Thursday, Jul 14, 11 @ 9:19 am
I hereby propose a saggy-pants solidarity march to Collinsville
Comment by bdrlgion Thursday, Jul 14, 11 @ 9:46 am
===after years of ignoring this fashion, a majority feels a need to launch a poor solution===
What clear majority are you talking about? The 3-2 council majority, or are you claiming Nixon’s “Silent Majority” on this one? Is this your 2011 version of a VanillaMan Moral Majority?
Seriously, how can you sit there and say a majority feels anything? Did you poll this question? Do you have any facts to back up anything you say?
Comment by 47th Ward Thursday, Jul 14, 11 @ 10:01 am
At a concert many years ago Frank Zappa got the whole crowd riled up by dissing uniforms. He went thru a list of various groups that wear them eliciting raucous cheers with each example until he mentioned the last one…..jeans.
Once these fashion pates realize they are conforming to a perceived “norm” they will move on to another shocking clothing/sartorial/body mutilation fad.
Those who can’t figure it out will try wearing their pants on the ground to a job interview. Let’s hope this doesn’t become a free speech issue with employers.
Comment by dupage dan Thursday, Jul 14, 11 @ 10:04 am
—”What is it with some folks who hate the government unless it’s being used to suppress an activity (or a group of people) they don’t like?”—
Well said! Add [insert undesirable social issue here] and you pretty much sum up the hypocrisy of the far right.
Comment by Left Leaner Thursday, Jul 14, 11 @ 1:46 pm
Two to one in the poll posted on this web page. Do you only listen to people who agree with you?
Comment by VanillaMan Thursday, Jul 14, 11 @ 8:45 pm