Collinsville Mayor Apologizes for City's New Anti-Sagging Law, Calls It a "Step Backward"

Council members representing the Metro East town of Collinsville, Illinois, voted last night to pass the anti-sagging ordinance Daily RFT told you about last week.

The law passed by a 3-2 vote and makes it illegal for people to wear their pants more than three to four inches below the waistline of their underwear. Those found guilty of the offense would be subject to a $100 fine. Get caught sagging more than once, and you could be fined $300 and forced to do community service.

Council members in favor of the ban say that their constituents demanded the legislation and associated saggy pants with gang activity. In 2007, the city of Pine Lawn in north St. Louis County passed a similar ban.

Meanwhile, Collinsville's mayor, John Miller, did not mince words yesterday in denouncing the new law.

"I don't think anyone has a right to tell anyone how to wear a certain pair of pants," said Miller. "This country was founded on liberties given to people to be different. If we inhibit that right to be different, we're obstructing that nature that this country was founded on. People have rights that don't change just because they live in the city of Collinsville."

H/T Belleville News-Democrat, which has all the lowdown on Collinville's saggy pants debate.