No sagging pants in Hawkinsville

The middle Georgia city of Hawkinsville says no to sagging pants. City officials unanimously passed the indecent exposure ordinance. The new law states that it is "unlawful for any person to appear in public wearing pants or shorts below the waist, which expose the skin or undergarments".

Violators will be subject to a 250-dollar fine and community service. Other Georgia cities have considered similar laws, but the small city of Hawkinsville is the first to actually pass such an ordinance.

When Atlanta officials discussed such a law, the American Civil Liberties Union said it targeted African-Americans and could be viewed as racial profiling.

Federal Judge says Bible must be taxed

People who buy the bible in Georgia must now pay sales tax. That because a federal court struck down a state law that gave an exemption to the bible, testaments and Holy Scriptures. The ruling also struck down a law that allowed religious insitution to sell texts withough charging a sales tax.
The law suit was brought by a woman who ownes a bookstore and a man who complained that he had to pay a tax on other spiritual books like “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle maintenance” or the "Bhagavad Gita." Jerry Webber with the Georgia Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union argued the case for the plaintiffs. "The government can’t choose which religions are the right religions and which ones are entitled to a tax exemption," he said.

Federal Judge Richard Story wrote in the 18 page decision that allowing a sales tax exemption for selected religious texts violates the first and fourteenth amendment.