Posted on 07/03/2005 1:59:30 AM PDT by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
A church has asked for a citywide ban on low-hanging pants and gold-capped teeth, saying they promote a thuggish image.
Changing the image of young people could help Jacksonville cut unemployment, racial profiling and a rising per-capita murder rate now the highest in the state, said Richard Burton, deacon of Epiphany Baptist Church.
The 250 member independent Baptist church approved the resolution last month.
"They were tired of seeing kids' underwear," said Burton, who serves on the NAACP's national board.
Jacksonville city officials have yet to take up the measure, although Councilwoman Elaine Brown said she was willing to discuss it with church members.
Others were less encouraging.
"I think it's unenforceable," Councilman Daniel Davis told The Florida Times-Union for Sunday's edition.
Duval County public schools have banned sagging pants and exposed underwear, but not removable gold or silver teeth caps.
Dentists say the caps can help breed tooth-rotting bacteria.
A proposal to ban exposed underwear died in the Florida Legislature this spring. Lawmakers in Louisiana and Virginia have also failed to ban exposed underwear.
Did you grow up on the West Coast?????
Nope – my teen years were as an Eastern Yankee and Southerner. The style was heavy in the Pittsburgh/Cleveland area. It didn’t go over too well in the bib overalls area.
I don't like baggy pants or gold teeth either.
So let's ban them.
Do people really think this will make a difference in how the kids turn out? What brilliant lawmakers we have. How about banning lousy parenting instead? Or maybe banning people who refuse to blame lousy parenting and look to banning irrelevant symbols instead?
That is funny!!
I wonder if there could ever be one thread without someone Baptist bashing????
LOL! My now deceased father would have been arrested if such a law existed here.......
What mall are you talking about?
I also live in JAX and see guys walking around w/ their pants around their knees and their boxers fully showing.
I just laugh, not only does it look dumb but they can't walk unless they've got one hand holding up their pants or they have to walk funny to keep their pants up, it's just funny.
The Baptists here in the story made themselves a pretty big target here.
And they did it without any help from any one of us.
At least baggy pants may keep them from stealing. Can't run if your pants are falling down!!
I grew up Baptist.
We could not play baseball on Sundays. We could only watch others do it on TV.
We could not work on Sundays, mom included. So we went out to eat for our Sunday meal, making other people "violate the Sabbath."
We could not go to movie theaters. I was in the 7th grade when a Disney cartoon was playing at the theater. My parents would not even let me see a cartoon.
We were not allowed to listen to music, other than Christian quartets singing 300 year old hymns. (Michael W. Smith sang "demonic music.")
So, no offense, but because of my upbringing, I have little compassion for those who make senseless rules.
And I think most of the Baptist's problems are self inflicted. (South Carolina Baptist pastor tells Democrats to leave the church. Oklahoma ? Baptist minister puts up a sign that says, "The Koran Needs to Be Burned." Now this.)
And I don't see what difference the color of their skin has on the story.
That's a very silly proposal.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Math 23:25
First they came for the BLING.
Apparently there are a variety of looks depending on which gang is involved, and it can include wearing a lot of red clothing, or blue, (imagine wearing a set of red sweat clothes in 90 degree weather), wearing caps backwards or to one side, tying shoelaces to one side--all sorts of silly looking things, depending on which gang is represented.
It got sufficiently bad that the administration banned caps, was careful about clothing colors, and even suspended, or so I heard, pep rallies due to concerns about gangs. It appears to be a growing problem.
I agree where are the parents that allow there little thug kids to roam the streets looking like a gangster.
As a college student I know many people who fit into this demographic with the gold "grill" and the baggy pants. All I can do is look at them and ask how they plan to get a decent job when they are older looking like that. Honestly, who would take them seriously?
"A church has asked for a citywide ban on low-hanging pants and gold-capped teeth"
Kent-doggie: Read our lips. Repeat after me: That ain't news. You ain't a reporter. Stop typing,turn off the computer, and go outside and play.
My belated apologies in not congratulating you earlier, re: your ascension to the exalted post of Moderator. Presumably, it took place the same day I began thinking of myself as "a reporter," rather than just another guy having fun on the message boards.
Or... you know... not.
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