Saggy trouser wearers will be prosecuted, says city mayor

Standards of dress have been slipping in Pikeville, Tennessee, and the city's elected leaders mean to do something about it.

More specifically, they are tackling the increasingly familiar problem of trouser slippage.

The city council, with full support of the mayor, has begun the process of passing an ordinance aimed squarely at saggers.

The order that mayor Phil Cagle expects to sign states that exposure of nether-garments (or regions) in this manner - the top of the trouser must not be more than three inches below the top of the hips - amounts to public indecency.

Offenders will be fined $25 (£14) for a first-timer, rising to $50 if they persist.

Read David Usborne's full report here

Other weird laws in the United States

Florida

It is illegal for anyone out of doors to shelter themselves from the elements using blankets, cardboard or newspapers. Umbrellas, however, are fine.

Boulder, Colorado

Neither mules nor llamas may be allowed to graze or run at large on public lands. The same goes for goats, pigs and sheep.

North Carolina

It is illegal for law makers to take climate-change studies into consideration when it comes to protecting the states coastal regions.