Residents in St. Louis suburb must pull up their pants

PINE LAWN, Mo. -- Word is spreading quickly in one St. Louis suburb that people need to pull up their saggy pants.

An ordinance passed Monday night by the Pine Lawn Board of Aldermen outlaws droopy drawers and imposes fines on violators.

Anyone who wears pants below the waist that expose underwear or skin is subject to a $100 fine, including girls whose low-rise jeans sit too low.

Parents face up to a $500 fine or 90 days in jail if they knowingly allow their children to wear saggy pants.

Telvin McKinney, 16, said he should be free to dress how he wants. If politicians think seeing part of his underwear is offensive, he wonders why it's OK for others to wear short skirts, show cleavage or have nose rings.

"I sag because, to me, it's what I'm used to," he told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "I don't see how saggin' hurts anybody. They see it as indecent exposure. I don't understand it."

Pine Lawn appears to be the only city in Missouri to ban sagging, according to the executive director of the Missouri Municipal League, Gary Markenson. Some communities in the South have banned the practice, and cities like Baltimore and Atlanta are considering similar ordinances.

Mayor Sylvester Caldwell began seriously contemplating an ordinance against sagging this summer, when the St. Louis County Economic Council brought a group of developers to Pine Lawn to discuss its potential for redevelopment.

He said the developers talked about how to improve the city's image, and specifically mentioned the propensity of Pine Lawn's youths to let their pants ride low.

At an area barbershop, patrons supported the new ordinance.

Victoria Davis, 34, who was getting her hair done, said, "They need to outlaw it. It's not good for children to see."

However, Redditt Hudson, the racial justice manager for the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri, predicted the ordinance would lead to charges of racial profiling because Pine Lawn's population is overwhelmingly black.

"What's next?" he said. "Are we going to ban certain hairstyles?"

Police chief Rickey Collins is getting support to enforce the new law, but is asking officers to use it during regular patrols as an opportunity to explain to youths how their style can be offensive and to inform parents who might not know how their children are dressing away from home.

"We just want them to be mindful," the chief said. "And if you come into Pine Lawn, you pull your pants up."