Jasper County wants you to pull up your pants!

Jasper County officials are keeping an eye on residents' waistlines -- not because of the prevalence of obesity and rising health care costs -- but because of fashion sense.

The sagging-pants look has been around since hip-hop artists popularized it in the 1990s, but Jasper County Councilman LeRoy Blackshear wants to ban the style he says is a common -- and indecent -- sight.

"It's out there. Even in the supermarket, if you're in line behind them, you should see them trying to get change out of their pockets. Their foreheads are almost touching the floor," he said Thursday.

"It's more or less common decency. I don't want to see anybody walking in front of me and you can tell them the color of their underpants ... . Would you?"

On Monday, the County Council will take up Black-shear's proposed ordinance to make it a misdemeanor for anyone in public in Jasper County to wear pants more than 3 inches below their hips "and thereby exposing his or her skin or intimate clothing."The council must hold a public hearing and pass the ordinance with a majority vote at three separate meetings for final adoption.

Isidro Magos, a 16-year-old who attends Hardeeville Junior High/High School, was not pleased when the proposal was explained to him."That's really messed up. Everyone's their own person and should be able to wear what they want," he said. "As long as it's not too indecent, you know. ... Like down around the knees -- that's disturbing."

Hardeeville High classmate Justin Adams, 17, also weighed in. "Granted, most people in school 'sag their pants,' but it's not like they're going around and flashing people."

Both were wearing untucked shirts that covered their waistlines. Underneath, they wore their pants just below their hips with perhaps an inch of their boxers exposed.

Amarien Baldwin, who lives outside Ridgeland, said she understands the spirit of the effort, but thinks it would be a laughable and unenforceable ordinance.

"I would really like to know who's going to be in charge of going around measuring everybody's waists," Baldwin said. "If that's the most important thing they've got to worry about, hey, that's fine," she said sarcastically.

Council Chairman George Hood said it was put on the agenda primarily to start the discussion.

"Being a former (school) administrator, I've always felt people should dress decently and to the occasion, that at no time should your underclothes be showing," he said. "I know it's a new day now ... but I always required students to dress appropriately.

"You go into a bank, you wouldn't expect to see a banker (with sagging pants). Into a restaurant, you wouldn't expect to see that kind of thing. You wouldn't expect that at Golden Corral. ... That's my feeling about it. How I'll vote, I don't know."

Blackshear acknowledged that enforcement would be challenging, but said there's more at play than just fashion.

"As a council, we are trying to change the image of Jasper County," Blackshear said. "I think the way that a person dresses would be a good place to start. To me, it's more like indecent exposure to see people walking around the streets or the public with their pants more than halfway ... (down)."