I would have said this was too far out if the Onion published it. The Agitator.
In other jaw-dropping nanny news, we turn to Loo-sianah, where "House Bill 1626 would punish anyone caught wearing low-riding pants with a fine of as much as $500 or as many as six months in jail, or both."
And it's not the first time they've tried it!
And a year earlier, state Rep. Cynthia Willard, D-New Orleans, filed a bill requiring Louisiana's 66 school boards to ban baggy pants that expose underwear or backsides. That bill, which was never heard by the House Education Committee, said the fashion "encourages youth to engage in inappropriate behavior and shows a lack of respect for others in society."
Shepherd, an attorney, said his bill aims to change the fashion sense of teenagers, who have adopted the "disrespectful, obscene and unprofessional" practice of letting their pants hang off their hips at school, at the mall and even on the basketball court.
"There's a way to shoot hoops professionally," he said. "You don't have to shoot hoops with your pants below your waist."
He admitted, however, that the bill does not target minors specifically and therefore does not directly mirror other laws that restrict teenagers' curfew and the kinds of movies they may see.
Shepherd said that like Willard's failed bill, his legislation aims to correct a fashion faux paus that has implications not only on a young person's sense of style but also on his or her sense of self.
"Hopefully, if we pull up their pants," he said, "we can lift their minds while we're at it."
What in the world does it mean to "shoot hoops professionally?" |
