Council takes broader view of pants law

Ken Grissom

St. Martinville — None dare call it sagging.

City Councilman Mike Fuselier said the way to make a proposed law against droopy trousers acceptable to the courts is to avoid singling out the unlovely fashion trend.

“The best thing is to not make it a ’pants’ law but to amend the (existing) indecent exposure ordinance,” Fuselier said at last week’s council meeting.

And Councilman Arthur Champ said the way to make restrictions acceptable to the people is to a) eliminate the monetary fine and b) don’t make parents responsible for what their kids do after they leave the house.

Whether violators are juveniles or adults, the punishment would be community service, the pair said.

All of this will be hashed out again at the next council meeting on Feb. 18. (The council’s first meeting in February is cancelled due to Mardi Gras.)

Despite warm feelings against the wearing of pants so large and so low as to expose the underwear or worse, the council has balked at joining Breaux Bridge, Delcambre and other cities across the nation in specifically banning the intentional display of undergarments or private parts. Mayor Thomas Nelson has urged caution, preferring to see other municipalities take on any court challenges first.

Even people who don’t like to look at young men’s drawers are not too happy with the element of the proposal that would fine the youths’ parents when their kids are caught sagging.

“I don’t believe we should hold the parents responsible for something the kids do,” said Champ.