News

ALDERMAN DROPS PANTS LAW

By AmyJo Brown/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Tuesday, October 2, 2007 9:57 AM CDT

Third Ward Alderman Derwood Smith dropped his campaign to ban sagging pants Monday night, acting on the advice of a senior alderman who told him it was a piece of legislation “that will go down like the Titantic,” despite her own support of the measure.

Smith’s announcement that he was pulling his proposed “unlawful exposure” ordinance before the City Council had a chance to vote on it elicited a roomful of claps and cheers from the more than two dozen people who attended Monday’s council meeting.

“I am very happy,” said Idonia Trotter, a Pine Bluff resident and law student. “It sounds like the city council listened to the community.”

The proposed law would have made it illegal to expose certain kinds of underwear in public and fined violators $200. It was primarily meant to target young men who sag their pants low and expose their boxer shorts.

First Ward Alderman Irene Holcomb, chairman of the public safety committee and the most senior council member, asked Smith to pull his proposal after a meeting earlier in the day where Smith faced strong objections from Mayor Carl Redus Jr., 4th Ward Alderman George Stepps and representatives of the local chapters of ACORN, the NAACP and the Arkansas Civil Liberties Union.

State Rep. Earnest Brown, D-Pine Bluff, also attended the meeting in support of the ACLU’s position.

“I feel like there are more pressing issues the city can focus on,” said Brown, who is also a lawyer. “I don’t want to see the city sued again.”

In the meeting, Redus told Smith he thought the legislation was a “parenting issue” that would utilize limited government resources.

Dorothy Oliver, president of the Pine Bluff branch of the NAACP, said she thought the case could be made that the law was racially motivated because it targeted a style of dress primarily worn by young black men.

“I don’t want to give you the impression that we’re in favor of sagging pants,” she said. “But we are definitely not in favor of this ordinance.”

Holly Dickson, a staff attorney for the state ACLU, said she was worried that passing the ordinance could lead to racial profiling.

“I’m not here to promise a lawsuit,” she said. “I’m here to avoid one.”

Stepps said that although he initially thought Smith’s proposal sounded good, he had changed his mind. He pressed Smith on the question of what the city had to gain by passing the ordinance, saying he thought the city was becoming a laughingstock because of it.

“If we go and legislate instead of educate, all we’ve done is create a problem,” he said.

Smith defended his proposal throughout the meeting, backing off only minutes before the council meeting.

He told the group gathered at the council meeting that he was pulling the legislation “because of a lack of support from the council and mayor. I still think it’s a good ordinance.”

Also at the meeting Monday, the council voted 8-0 to give $50,000 of state turnback funds to the Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas to help it replace a leaking roof. That leaves about $260,000 of the funds still unearmarked.

The council also voted 8-0 to allow the detachment and annexation of 2.44 acres from Pine Bluff to the city of White Hall. The owner of the land said the total of his property — about 5.34 acres at 7010 Sheridan Road — crosses the two cities’ jurisdictions preventing sale of the land. All the utilities for the residence on the property and fire and police protection are already provided by White Hall.

Print this story   |   Email this story