Petitioners: End sagging pants in Brundidge

Published 9:30 am Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Brundidge resident Roscoe Terry presented a petition to the Brundidge City Council Tuesday afternoon asking for the city’s support in the petitioners’ efforts to keep young men’s pants in the appropriate place.

Terry said what prompted him to start a petition on the matter was an event at a local gas station.

“A young man was walking toward the store with a cell phone in one hand and pulling up on his pants up with other,” Terry said. “He had to turn loose of something to open the door and he wasn’t about to let of the phone, so he let go of his pants and they fell down around his ankles. There were women at the gas pumps and they just turned their heads. It was an awful thing to see.”

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Terry said the “fad” or “fashion” has gotten out of hand and something needs to be done.

Mayor Jimmy Ramage said that the idea of some kind of citywide dress code has been kicked around by the council and Terry is not the first person to mention the way young men sag to him.

“But Roscoe is the first person to get serious enough to come to the council and we appreciate it,” he said.

Bagging and sagging was not on the council’s agenda but the council members did accept the petition and will consider the merits of it, Ramage said.

The council worked from a two-item agenda directed toward the installation of LED lights that will complete the lighting on North and South Main streets and S.A. Graham Blvd.

The council passed resolutions that awarded the administrative phase of the project to Monroe & Associates and the engineering phase to St. John Engineering.

The $80,00 project is funded through stimulus monies with the city’s match at $11,000, a part of which will be in-kind work done by city employees.

Britt Thomas, city manager, presented a draft of the city’s comprehensive strategic plan to the council and outlined the procedure for accepting the plan, which will include reviewing the document and holding a public hearing for community input.

“The full 84-page document is up on the city’s website,” Thomas said. “The four-page executive summary will be mailed to those who participated in the strategic planning sessions. We will make the full plans to those who would like them but would hope that citizens will utilize the full plan on the city’s website.”

Ramage told the council that he received word from Rep. Alan Boothe that the city has been awarded a $5,000 grant to promote events in the city that create tourism opportunities.

The grant application was for $20,000 so Thomas said the plans will have to be scaled back to the amount awarded.”

Lawrence Bowden, councilmember and president of the Brundidge Historical Society that sponsors the annual Peanut Butter Festival, expressed appreciation to the city for its support of the annual harvest and heritage celebration that was held on Saturday.

“The city workers did an outstanding job in helping get ready for the Festival and in the cleanup afterwards,” Bowden said. “It takes a lot of people working together to make the Festival happen and it wouldn’t happen without the city’s support.”

Thomas reminded the council that 2012 is an election year and that, if the council is considering a change in the $500 a month the council members receive and the $800 the mayor receives, it will have to be done six months prior to the election.

The Brundidge City Council meets at 4 p.m. on the first and third Tuesdays of the month at Brundidge City Hall. The meetings are open to the public.