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Message to Tennessee on saggy pants: Butt out
Memphis Commercial Appeal ^ | 4/8/12 | Wendi C. Thomas

Posted on 04/08/2012 7:32:52 AM PDT by SmithL

Saggy pants in schools are such a menace to society that school boards will now be forced to outlaw them.

Yep, that's what our state legislature decided last week, by passing a "nanny state" bill introduced by Memphis' own Rep. Joe Towns Jr.

The law requires local school districts to create and enforce a ban on "clothing that exposes underwear or body parts in an indecent manner that disrupts the learning environment."

It covers girls' sports bras, and was a weakened version of what Towns proposed three years ago.

The earlier bill would have made it a criminal offense for anyone to "knowingly wear pants below waistline to show underwear or buttocks" in any public place.

Repeated offenses would have been a Class A misdemeanor, putting droopy pants into the same category with simple assaults and prostitution.

On this Towns and I agree: Saggy pants are aesthetically offensive. They don't project an image congruent with maturity or self-respect.

I cringe when I see a man's drawers escaping from the top of his pants, which usually are belted just beneath his rear end.

When these guys have to move quickly and lose their precarious hold on their pants, I think: Serves you right.

That said, I've seen no proof that this is a matter of public safety, or even that kids who sag their pants are proven miscreants.

Towns said the law had lots of support in the legislature and in the community.

"In schools, high schools, places of academic training, those are places the kids should learn all the good habits they need" for a successful professional life, Towns said Friday.

Parents should be the first line of clothing defense, Towns said, but sometimes kids leave the house dressed appropriately only to succumb to peer pressure and sag their pants at school.

Only nine state representatives, eight of them Republican, voted against the bill, which passed unanimously in the Senate.

Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, was one of the no votes.

Before the vote, "I looked into different school boards to see if they had adopted policies already that had dealt with that," Sexton said. (Towns acknowledged that he did no such research, not across the state or even locally.)

Several had, Sexton found, yet Towns' bill would require school districts to create a policy, whether local districts felt like they needed one or not.

"I thought it was too much of a reach," Sexton said, and an issue best left to local powers.

Rep. Andy Holt, R-Dresden, another no vote, was surprised by the margin with which the bill passed.

"I don't want (my) vote to come across like I wear saggy pants or I even endorse it," he said. "I think most folks were casting their votes because they don't like people wearing saggy britches."

Said Rep. Scotty Campbell, R-Mountain City: "My preference is that the local school board...be allowed to make decisions regarding what is appropriate in their schools."

Imagine that: A local entity empowered to make its own decisions.

(Here is where snarky Wendi would note that the legislature had no qualms rewriting state law to dictate the merger of the city and county schools, but snarky Wendi has the day off.)

Legislators are not elected to be the fashion police, particularly when the style is likely a passing fad.

"The school system, there's a lot going on and a lot...it may not be a priority," Towns said.

Exactly. If school districts can ban saggy pants and haven't, then why should the state step in?

Pursuing such legislation is a waste of our elected officials' time. Bills like these only reinforce the perception that our representatives in Nashville are majoring in the minors.

If legislators think any such non-problems require legislative intervention, maybe they need a swat right above the area where saggy pants usually start.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Editorial; Government; US: Tennessee
KEYWORDS: pantsontheground; saggers; saggypants; tennessee; tn
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To: SmithL

Make em walk through a prison with their pants like that. Thats all.


21 posted on 04/08/2012 8:59:36 AM PDT by TomasUSMC ( FIGHT LIKE WW2, FINISH LIKE WW2. FIGHT LIKE NAM, FINISH LIKE NAM)
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To: SmithL

I just love the various episodes in COPS where the perp tries to run from the cops & his pants keep him from making as much speed as usual, and he gets caught, often with his pants down around his ankes.

They are disgusting, IMO. I hate the baggy, hoodies, gangsta look. Then they all wonder why we are not nice to them!!!!


22 posted on 04/08/2012 9:39:49 AM PDT by ridesthemiles
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To: Conservative4Ever

To top it all, I was what was then considered to be a JD (juvenile delinquent for any liberals here)because I wore a leather jacket with the collar up and had a DA.

I was a tough guy who was scared sh*tless of the teachers because if I EVER said a word back to them with a hint of disrespect, depending on the teacher I would either get sent to the office where I would get a couple days detention, or if it was a second offense (or greater) a note goes home and the folks needed to come to the school and speak with the principal. That meant ass kickin’ time at the homestead and a few more days in after school including at least one weekend. There were 1 or 2 teachers who weren’t shy about slamming you against the locker if you wised off to bad and of course no one would ever dare complain at home because that would just bring down more grief on you. the teacher was ALWAYS right and we had nothing to say about it.

Basically as far as school went back then it was “Sit down, shut up and learn”


23 posted on 04/08/2012 9:52:52 AM PDT by getgo
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To: TexasSecede79366
"really low cut blouses on overweight women..."

So you're not against low cut blouses but you want to designate who wears them?

Geez, of course? What is WRONG with you? Would you rather see a real fine body sporting a low cut blouse or a Hippo wannabee dressed the same way?

24 posted on 04/08/2012 9:56:00 AM PDT by getgo
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To: SmithL

When I went to school in the 60s you got three swats with a board if you were caught with your shirtail hanging out. You could possibly get expelled if your hair was too long. Two weeks before graduation I was told to get a haircut or I wouldn’t bet a diploma. I got a diploma.


25 posted on 04/08/2012 9:56:57 AM PDT by Terry Mross ("It happened. And we let it happen." - Peter Griffin, Family Guy)
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To: oh8eleven
We've become a nation of irresponsible slobs.

As a sailor in the U.S. Navy, I've traveled the world. You can always spot the American tourists in foreign ports. They're the ones dressed like they're about to go mow the lawn. My wife is from Ukraine and the first time she went to a grocery store in America and saw other women wearing sweat pants, she couldn't believe it and called her friends back home!

And, yes, I'm occasionally guilty as well (though I've made it a habit to wear more button-down shirts and I try not to look "American" when we pull into foreign ports).

26 posted on 04/08/2012 10:02:01 AM PDT by Drew68
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To: TexasSecede79366
So you're not against low cut blouses but you want to designate who wears them?

You've dialed a wrong number.

27 posted on 04/08/2012 10:14:21 AM PDT by who knows what evil? (G-d saved more animals than people on the ark...www.siameserescue.org.)
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To: Drew68
Thanks for your service.
I was USMC mid to late 60s and we weren't even allowed off base unless our shirts were tucked in.
If I have any criticism of today's military, it's that too many appear in public in their cammies, BDUs, utilities, or whatever the work UD is called today.
Example - yesterday, a Navy Admiral (4 stars) was being interviewed at the Virgina Beach crash site and he was wearing cammies. Ugh.
28 posted on 04/08/2012 10:18:52 AM PDT by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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To: SmithL
Pants on the Ground
29 posted on 04/08/2012 10:26:46 AM PDT by spunkets
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To: SmithL
I don't see any older men with the baggy pants look but styles do seem to sometimes filter up to older generations.

Hip hugger pants in young women and girls is one that has go on to women who should not dress in that fashion. The over weight ones should leave it alone but older women should as well.

Recently at a demonstration by an artist I saw a 70ish woman dressed like a teenager. She was slim and attractive but when she sat down in front of me (in a folding chair) her skimpy blouse went up and her hip hugger jeans went down and exposed her butt crack.

I wanted to tell her but after a few minutes I just decided to move to another chair.

30 posted on 04/08/2012 10:33:43 AM PDT by Ditter
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To: SmithL

It is now very clear that parents cannot control the clothing their child wears. Yes, each “nanny state” should impose “uniform” restrictions.


31 posted on 04/08/2012 10:42:45 AM PDT by SgtHooper (The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it's still on the list.)
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To: SmithL
What I find particularly disgusting is how these hoods walk around fondling their privates, holding up their pants from the crotch, not being able to let go of their jewels or their pants will fall down.

Makes them look like they're masturbating in public. They probably are. Gross. Sons of b***es and ho's--

Why should we have any respect for them?

32 posted on 04/08/2012 10:43:03 AM PDT by Mamzelle
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To: SmithL

“Yes. Government can tell those kids to pull there pants up and dress smart!”

Then the same FReepers wonder where the TSA got the idea it has the power to fondle you before you get on a plane.

Yeesh. Big enough to do things you like is big enough to do things you hate folks.


33 posted on 04/08/2012 10:50:26 AM PDT by Eyes Unclouded ("The word bipartisan means some larger-than-usual deception is being carried out." -George Carlin)
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To: getgo

I was a Senior in high school, in 1970-71, before we girls were allowed to wear pants, and those had to be part of a ‘pants suit’. This was MS, so not being allowed to wear pants must have really been awful for girls in the northern climes. Even the most toasty tights just don’t do the trick.


34 posted on 04/08/2012 10:58:50 AM PDT by SuziQ
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To: oh8eleven

I was in Oceanside, CA outside Camp Pendleton in 1968, doing my laundry. I decided to throw the sportshirt I was wearing into the washer, leaving me with a striped, colored T-shirt on. After the washer started, I walked down the street to get a hamburger. Shore Patrol busted me for being on liberty in a shirt without a collar. Had to grab my wet laundry and return to base. I was Confined To Base for the next two weekends.

BTW, blue jeans could only be worn when working on a car or participating in a rodeo.


35 posted on 04/08/2012 11:16:07 AM PDT by BwanaNdege (Man has often lost his way, but modern man has lost his address - Gilbert K. Chesterton)
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To: getgo

OK, maybe you’re older than I am, but I remember coming back to my public high school in Nashville, and one of my classmates had grown a mustache over Christmas break. Our Latin teacher wouldn’t let him into her class until he’d shaved it off.


36 posted on 04/08/2012 11:49:19 AM PDT by SmithL (If you reward certain behavior, don't be surprised when you see more of that behavior)
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To: BwanaNdege

I was looking for photos of school attire for my high school class(1965). I didn’t find exactly what I was searching for, but did find a link to this.

Pieces of Our Past

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZoYbzdrPtY&feature=player_embedded

Durwood Fincher, “Mr. Doubletalk” & I graduated together, and this tribute to his mom gives a good picture of life when we were kids.


37 posted on 04/08/2012 12:03:18 PM PDT by BwanaNdege (Man has often lost his way, but modern man has lost his address - Gilbert K. Chesterton)
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To: getgo
Now you have an idea of my age.

Somewhere in my ballpark, no doubt; sounds real familiar!

One of the rules: "Beards, if worn must be at least 32 inches long. Otherwise it is more manly to be clean shaven."

38 posted on 04/08/2012 12:46:16 PM PDT by JimRed (Excising a cancer before it kills us waters the Tree of Liberty! TERM LIMITS, NOW AND FOREVER!)
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To: SmithL
(Art.) Said Rep. Scotty Campbell, R-Mountain City: "My preference is that the local school board...be allowed to make decisions regarding what is appropriate in their schools." Imagine that: A local entity empowered to make its own decisions.

So, where are they? Where are the county and city commissioners, the city and county school boards? Where are the parents on this? (Parents? What parents? We don' need no steenkin' parents!)

Meanwhile, thugwear has matured into The Knockout Game and "Reparations". Thug "representing" has been around for 25 years now -- I remember seeing "formal FUBU" mesh shirts being worn into a courtroom in Houston 15 years ago, by two guys doing a thug stroll for the white folks. Going to visit their cousin, no doubt, who was up for 20-to-life.

No, it's a state problem by now. Just ask George Zimmermann, who's going before a grand jury Tuesday.

39 posted on 04/08/2012 8:11:45 PM PDT by lentulusgracchus
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To: SmithL

Saggy pants are great.

They give the wearer a well deserved sidewalk sandwich when they try to run from the po-po.


40 posted on 04/08/2012 8:21:52 PM PDT by lightman (Adjutorium nostrum (+) in nomine Domini--nevertheless, Vote Santorum!)
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